We put speakers in the ceiling of the kitchen & DR when we remodeled (2 in each room). It's been well over 2 years and they haven't gotten dirty yet. Is your DH thinking of dust? I can't imagine them getting dirty unless you're tossing pizza pies? :-)

Dusty, maybe, but I don't think they'd get dirty...at least ours have not.

We put speakers in the ceiling. Lots of folks I know do that. I can't imagine them getting dirty. And if they did, they have a cover on. DH painted the cover to match the ceiling. I'm sure he could always pop it off and clean and/or repaint it!

We have a fold-away radio/cd-dvd/tv undercounter unit but the thing has to have the screen folded down for CD use--not for radio, which has decent sound. A dedicated undercounter music unit would have better sound I suspect. Disclaimer: At our stage of life, sound quality is primarily determined by how well the volume button works, not the surround sound. This unit is poor on CD/DVD mode but louder on Tv and radio.

Put the speakers on the ceiling if you like. It's YOUR kitchen

My DH insisted on ceiling speakers - I thought it was overkill but I love it now. We went with a Sonos system so we have wireless access from our phones (and computer) to our music library plus all of the Pandora stations, NPR, etc. - it has been a serious life improvement. No dirt on the speakers that I can see.

I've had speakers in the ceiling all over the house, with centralized components, for nearly ten years, including in the kitchen. They don't get nearly as dusty as lower ones do because gravity has its way with dust. If you don't put them right where your hood should be, or directly over an unvented oven, they don't get cooking effluent either. I'd say the ceiling is the best place for the speakers. Rather than just going to a cupboard, you can run the wires to a component system in another room. Or you can put them on bluetooth to an ipod dock.

One pair of decent speakers should do you fine. The good ones aren't particularly expensive nowadays. Just pay attention to the locations so most of the people spots (work zones and seating) get both speakers instead of just one channel.

Cleaning is just a matter of getting up on a ladder, removing the grill and dusting. If you have a lot of dirt incursion into your house, a lot of exterior dust (earth), pollen or pollution, you might need to do this once or twice a year. :)

Some people don't like music in the kitchen. I've found that XM caliente is fantastic cooking music! And while I don't generally play holiday music at other times, it's great for cooking for holidays, especially the massive run-up to Passover.

Frankly, your husband's argument sounds to me more like an "I don't really care and can't be bothered" than a real concern. That is, it would be if it were any one of the men in my life. If that's what it sounds like to you, overrule him!

We went with a Sonos system also. We use it to control both outdoor wired speakers and an indoor wireless speaker. Rather than putting speakers in our ceiling, we opted for the wireless (just has to be plugged into an outlet) speaker that can be moved to different rooms. Love it! I do have friends who put speakers in their kitchen ceiling and have had no problems.

I do home theater stuff. In ceiling would be the way to go for the most unobtrusive look. I would not worry about the grills getting dirty at all. You also can paint the grills to color match the ceiling.

Sonos would be the easiest system in terms of least amount of wiring. Also can expand the system easily into other rooms since its wireless. The benefit of Sonos though really comes out if all of your music is digital (itunes or mp3). You also can pull in almost all radio stations and Sirius and music services like Pandora & Rhapsody.

You would only need 1 pair of in ceiling speakers in the kitchen. A second set only if the table area was far away from the cooking area. Or if you wanted music also in the dining room as well. In that case you would use an additional Sonos Player and pair of speakers.

Like laurainlinciln, my DH insisted on ceiling speakers. We put 2 in the kitchen and 2 in the living room when we remodeled. Each set can be worked independently or together. I originally wanted something "Easy" to use and was going to get an undercabinet system. DH assured me that this time it would be simple (he tends to go for the complicated systems with 5 remotes!) I can honestly say I am glad I listened to him and went with the ceiling speakers. We put all the electronics in a cabinet, its easy to use and I love having music in the kitchen!
I think as long as you don't put the speaker directly above the oven/range you should be fine.

To add to what Todds said -- the music on your cds is digital too, and WAV files (what's on cd's) sound a lot better than MP3's do. If you have an old computer that you've upgraded from, you can turn it into a music server. A couple of terabytes of external storage doesn't cost much and will hold a large music collection. You can also get dozens and dozens of cds onto one of the large storage ipods without degrading the music to MP3s.

Thanks again for all the reassurance. I was thinking of the grime on top of the current cabinets, somehow that would build up on the speakers. But it doesn't get on the ceiling lights.

The kitchen ceiling has multiple scars from water coming through from the master bath above (You know it's time to remodel when!) So I'm sure it's coming all down. So I shall insist (thanks for the backing!) on speakers wired through the ceiling to a connector where we can put jacks for an audio device. There's a corner that might house an intercom, and a network jack too. And let my husband shop for the device after the fact. That will keep him from getting too interested in the faucet. It's like distracting a toddler.

Thanks again! You guys are the greatest!