We centered our recessed lights in the aisles. ie half way between the base cabinets and the island.

The second, and maybe your solution, is to use a gimbal trim. This allows you to angle the light in any direction. So it will not solve the problem of 'closeness' but you will be able to direct the light where you want it.

We have some lights directed to the floor, some toward the counters, some on the stainless appliances etc.

Same thing happened to us with two recessed cans. I misjudged the fact that the refrigerator/oven cab extends beyond the regular base cabs... sigh. But we bit the bullet and our electrician was happy to come move them for us at no addt'l charge, on The DAY we called him (frantic) and the lights were moved in no time flat! Of course then there was the sheetrock guy who had to come back who did charge us $100 and then there's my nice new ceiling that we had already painted which got patched and now needs repainting. But in the scheme of things, I'm happy we didn't settle. Crown molding adds LOTS to most installation in appearance. Your cabinets are GORGEOUS by the way! Good luck

we had a similar problem, although with only one light, and we used the trim that pharaoh is talking about. it kind of looks like an eyeball and you can rotate it to direct the light.

it's an ok fix, as far as positioning the beam of light is concerned, but i'm not super-happy with it since the fixture is still too damn close to my cabinet and plus it's got this kind of goofy 80's look to it. which is not what i was going for in my kitchen.

ni_2006, your cabinets are beautiful and it appears that you're going for a traditional/arts and crafts kind of look with your kitchen. you should add the crown. it really dresses up the room and cabinets. with seven lights affected by this, i'd advise you to bite the bullet and have the lights repositioned.

it'll cost you some, and you'll have to deal with drywall dust again for a day or so, but, in the long run, i think it'll be worth it.

off-topic; i've never heard those directional can things called 'gimbal trim' and now i'm off to see if i can find one that doesn't look quite so eyeball-ish.

good luck!

edlakin,

Here is a gimbal trim that we used in the kitchen. When it is not tilted, it is totally flush with the ceiling.

If you open your cabinet door, you'll see that the carpenter fitted the trim around the cabinet block evenly. However, he should have taken into account that the front of the cabinet has doors, while the side does not. Our guy figured that in:

hi alku,

Do you mean that the trim should be flush with the cabinet box all around? In my case, the trim is flush with the doors. Now I am confused. I wonder if the contractor did not do this right throughout the kitchen (not just the sides). Please let me know what you see when you open the cabinets.

The trim should be flush with the doors on the front side, and flush with the cabinet box on the sides with no doors.

Thanks so much, alku. I feel a little better!

One more question: Is your light rail flush with the frame or the door when you are looking directly at the cabinets?

Thanks again!

The light rail is flush with the doors on the front, and the cabinet box on the side:

(I took this picture during construction, so please excuse the dust!)

Alku, you are awesome! Thanks so much!!!

Can you give me your opinion of the alignment of the soffit on these corner cabinets? My gut tells me that the width of the soffit should be the same that of the cabinet it sits on. As you can see here, the soffit length is shorter than the cabinet length. Am I being a PIA or did my contractor mess up?

Thanks a lot!

From those pictures, it looks like you have some really intereting corners in your kitchen. Sometimes you just have to stand back and let go of how you think it should be and ask yourself, "Do I think that looks good?"

Really, only your opinion matters. But since you asked us... Usually the trim corners do align with the cabinet corners. With your tricky angles though, I think the first three shown above look fine. The last one looks off to me only because it's different than the others, not because it itself looks wrong. But that's just my opinion.

Thanks! I will talk to my contractor on Monday to see if the length of the trim can be adjusted. It kinda bothers me, although in the grand scheme of things, I should probably let it go. We'll see....

Thanks to everyone who responded to my endless questions!!

A quick update: The crown molding actually looks good and the contractor explained why he installed it the way he did. He installed gable doors for the exposed cabinets so that.

Still have to figure out whether we should move the lights or live with them for a little while and see if they bother us...

Here is how it looks so far:

We have 4 inch cans that were installed very close to the crown molding on the recommendation of our designer. We are pleased with the lighting effect. Our cans are probably about an inch further out from yours. My suggestion would be to give them a go and see what you think.

@pew1 @ni_2006, I'm currently faced with the same dilemma. Any way to see a photo of your finished kitchens with the lights super close to your cabinetry. All these years later, do you hate it? Does it drive you nuts? Are there all sorts of weird shadows? Many thanks in advance!

me too!!!