We used line voltage lightolier cans in the kitchen. They were less expensive and don't require a special dimmer. Got them from a local lighting store.

We used 4 inch line voltage, 50 watt par 20 flood bulbs. (not sure if you can use CF bulbs with these) Best prices I found were from mmlighting.com We have 3 different zones; sink, island and perimeter. We did a few low volt 4" cans with directional trims for artwork and accents. Very happy with the outcome.

Bikey, thanks for responding. I was told many yrs ago that Lightolier made a good can light, one that did not leak light between the trim and the ceiling ... don't know if its still true. I saw a Nora display and it leaked a little light.

Fothia, thank you for suggesing MM Lighting.com in Texas. They have a very informative website, I must have spent over an hour reading through everything.

Anyone else like to add something .... ?

Bumping up for any more info. Remodel going verrrry slow, still have not decided.

Scalloping is a result of placement, not the type of light you're using, I believe. If the placement of the spread is correctly calculated and the cans are placed properly, that won't be an issue.

Low voltage uses a transformer to step down the voltage. It has nothing to do with dimmers. Dimmers can be used on low or line.

They might be recommending it because it lets you use bulbs that are not quite so hot, which can be good in a kitchen.

My electrcian used the Halo cans throughout our house and there is no light leak between the can and the trim (though I can't vouch for all the trim styles).

Also, it's good to pay attention to the color of the trim (you may already know this). He was putting white throughout and I asked him to change them out for silver but left the white in the kitchen and bathrooms.

In my house, (new construction) I was debating the whole lighting thing for a long time, did the install myself. I opted to use the Halo 4" line voltage lights. The problem with using the low voltage as mentioned before is the transformer that is built into the unit. Yes you can use dimmers, but you will need a different type of dimmer that will match the transformer. With line voltage it's a standard dimmer.
Lightolier-hmm, I talked with many electricians about those lights, I was told by everyone to stay away from them unless bragging rights are your big thing. They are way too expensive and don't perform any better than the Halo that can easily be found at Home Depot or Lowes. Take into account also that the trim can cost quite a few dollars. Having installed about 40 recessed cans into my house the cost of nice trim will be a big hit. Some trims can easily cost $15-20. I will be using dimmable florescent bulbs (energy star rated bulbs), this will also save on heat output as compared to a conventional bulb. Lighting is a science and good information can be found on several web pages about spacing, distance from walls, etc. Check the Cooper lighting (cooperlighting.com) web site. It has an informative area with lighting training, check out the 31 minute training on lighting design, very informative.
Hope this helps!

Be very careful with putting a dimmer on low-v fixtures because it can cause the transformers to buzz. We had this problem in our living room track lights and swapped all the fixtures there out for line-v halogens. This was a disappointment because the 50w low-v lights throw much brighter light, IMO. (After I changed them. my 6-year old daughter asked sadly "What happened to the pink lights?")

In our 12'x24' kitchen, we installed 10 50w low-v cans and a medium-base pendant. Frankly, the lighting is beautiful but insufficient (it would be stunning in, and perfect for, a dining room), as I prefer a bright, bright kitchen. We need at least one more can to light a dark corner, but even if we do that, the kitchen will still seem to have shady areas. Our pendant over the island can take a 150w bulb, but anything over 75w is annoyingly bright when you are working or dining on the island. I wish I had explored more options with florescent lighting before I agreed to go with cans.

I have installed 13 Juno 4" low voltage Halogen lights in our kitchen remodel. There are two in front of the rangetop, one on each side over the counter, one in front of the frig, one in front of the double ovens, one to the left of the sink, two over the sink, two to the right of the sink over the counter, and another two in front of what will be a simulated hutch. There are also 9 more in the family room and three in the hallway. Ha, I should own stock!

The LV Halogens are not cheap, costing around $40 each as I recall, plus the trims at $27 each, but IMO they are well worth it in the grand scheme of things. I have installed 50W, 36 deg Solux bulbs running at 4100K in the kitchen area. They are very white and make everything sparkle. I could never go back to the normal yellow looking Halogens. The family room has 3500K bulbs which are a bit warmer looking.

The main advantages to the LV Halogens are much more light per Watt and MUCH less heat. You can put your hand right up under them and barely feel the heat.

I have all our lights on magnetic LV dimmers. I'm using Leviton Acenti. When I have them turned down really, really low you can occasionally hear a slight amount of hum from one or two... but the sheetrock isn't even up yet, so once that's in I doubt we will ever hear anything.

The light you get from these small Halogens is not very diffuse, which is the way I like it. You have light where you need it but the whole kitchen isn't overly bright.

We'll also have under counter lighting and three pendants over the bar stool area.

Thank you everyone for your comments and suggestions.

rococogurl, I wasn't aware that LV lamps produced less heat than Line-V lamps (thought that only applied to FL).

rockpig, THANK YOU for directing me to the Cooper Lighting website. I'm linking it at the bottom of this post so other people can easily benefit from the video. Do your 4" Line-V cans really give enough light (aren't you limited to 50w lamps)?

soigne, Sorry to hear the dimmer caused your LV track lighting to buzz. Could it have been the type of dimmer (magnetic v. electronic)?

tom_in_seattle, Thank you for your detailed response, now I have more questions! Did you design your own lighting plan? How big and high is your kitchen (mine is 13x18x8 high)? Distance between cans? Is Solux a brand or type of bulb? Did you buy your own cans/lamps (and if so, where?), or did your electrician?
You said, "The LV Halogens are not cheap, costing around $40 each, plus the trims at $27 each." Was the $40 for the bulb or the housing?

Here is a link that might be useful: Cooper Lighting Learning Videos - very informative

Thanks, rococogurl, for your further input.
Our remodel got side-tracked for awhile, so haven't made any decisions yet.

napagirl, sorry I did not respond earlier, I didn't continue to follow the thread.

I did my own lighting plan. Our kitchen is about 9 x 18 with another island counter off at an L for seating. The ceiling height is 7'8", which is lower than I would like, but it's about 9" higher than it used to be with the dropped ceiling :-)

In addition to the LV recessed lights we'll also have three small pendants over one island and Xenon under cabinet lights.

Solux is a brand of bulb and cost about $6.95 each. I purchased them here:
http://www.usalight.com/solux_c_16.html

I purchased the Juno LV lights at a couple of places but I believe this link had more reasonable shipping charges:
http://www.electricsuppliesonline.com

I used Juno TC44 housings, which are for non-insulated ceilings. Wow, looks like the prices have gone up considerably from when we purchased ours a couple of years ago. I paid $44 each for the housings and they are now listed as $64.10 each.

Most of our trims are the 447G-WH, which have white trim rings, adjustable lamp angle and gold Alzak coating (the gold color is very faint and you really don't notice it... there is very little glare, so when you see the reflector from the side you can barely tell the light is on). We paid about $27 and they are now listed at $35.88 each.

Hope this helps.

Tom

I used low voltage because it makes my granite pop. If you have a counter top with any kind of inclusions, take a sample to a lighting store and look at it with halogen. On Black Galaxy, it makes an incredible difference.

Oops, I lost track of this thread ... no time to respond now but need to keep from falling off ...