I think you'll know better after the cabinets and such are in. You might wait till then to place. You seem to have the major areas covered. Under the sink, under cabinets, over island and around the room.

That's really ok. If you have one or two in question, tell the contractor do those last and evaluate at that time.

Lisa,
I'd not want the sink can to not come on with all the others. If you are standing in that corner, without it on and all the others on, you will have terrible shadows across the sink.

I am taller, so put my cans just inside the counter edge (if you were looking from the top) because when I stand working over, my head would be creating shadows on what I am working on. Consider how you stand and where your head will be, and if it will between the light source and where you want your light. Adjust your light source slightly so that you don't end up with a head shadow. :)

dahoov2, unfortunately we can't wait until the cabs are in. All the drywall work and painting will be done beforehand. I don't really want to rip the work out and redo it. That would be expensive.

kirkhall, we've had our sink light on its own switch, right by the sink, for more than 20 yrs and really prefer it this way. There are many times when we only turn on the sink light to do something quick in that area. It actually saves steps because we walk to the sink, flip on the light, do whatever, flip off the light and walk away. If we had it connected with the main lights, we'd have to walk over to the kitchen entry to turn the lights on and then off again. But I do see your point.

I've been struggling with the head shadow thing. Based on advice from someone who knows her stuff at our local lighting store (should have dealt with her from the start), I've tweaked my plan (see link below for the plan in my kitchens forum thread) and I think it addresses the head shadow issue. She recommended putting them further in from the edge than I initially placed them.

I've been looking through houzz, focusing on kitchens without upper cabs and it seems many of them place the cans closer to center of the base cabs than at the edge. 'Course I can point to numerous houzz images that show really bad plans so I'm taking that with a grain of salt. =)

Here is a link that might be useful: help w/ kitchen lighting plan - x-post in kitchens

Yes. I don't have an issue with the sink light being its own--but, I'd also want it to turn on with all the rest, or you need a filler so that corner isn't dark when you are working there.

Your new plan solves the dark corner issue.

Thanks, kirkhall! I think my last plan is a winner. Added bonus: the current sink light is in the right spot for that corner can so we don't need to move it. Happy accident!

Ok. Last thing to consider (and you might be able to experiment with your happy accident).

Will you have enough "light" for the front of the lower cabinets? You don't really have any center-origin lighting that would light the lower cabinets. With all your cans on that top wall being over the center of the counter, you might find the lowers aren't illuminated enough (for aesthetics. I am sure you will have drawers in all the lowers, so when open, the lights should shine *in* fine. I am talking mostly, the shading of the lower cabinet fronts.)

Can you use your happy accident can to experiment with that? Will your lowers be the same color cabinet as your uppers?

It's a little difficult to experiment with my "happy accident" since it's over a corner sink, which we're eliminating but I can make some good guesses about how it will work and I think we're good. You're right that the cab bases won't get a lot of light on the fronts of them from the cans on the cook top run but they will get light from the cans on the adjacent run so they should get good light. Plus, I figured out that our new plan will add 2 new cans so it will be brighter than it currently is - and why I'm adding dimmer switches for sure!

The uppers and lowers on our perimeter runs are the same: quartersawn oak. The upper to the right of the sink will have glass doors but that's the only difference.

Thanks, again, for your advice and assistance!

What is the model, wattage and color temperature of the recessed LED lights? Are they adjustable?

LED recessed down lights are great but they usually create a strong hard edged shadow compared to halogen lights. Where there are no upper cabinets the recessed ceiling lights should be centered on the counter to avoid working in your own shadow. At the sink there should 2 lights as far apart as possible.

Will there be lights inside the range hood?

I'm buying can housing, not sealed LED can lights as one is required to use in closets or wet areas, so I have choices when it comes to bulbs' spread - flood or spot - and wattage. The lighting rep suggested I try one flood and one spot to see which I prefer but I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with the flood. I want a wash of light, not spots of light.

Color temp is 2700.

If by adjustable, you mean that they can be dimmed, the answer is yes.

We have sealed LED cans in an upstairs bathroom remodeled and in the ceiling of our covered deck area, both areas remodeled about 2 years ago. I never noticed any strong, hard edged shadows but I'll look again. Thanks for that head's up.

The sink lights are about as far apart as I can get them without having the right one washing down the side of the upper cab (which is not desirable). It would also mean that when we use just the sink light - which we do quite regularly - the light would not be centered over the sink.

Yes, the range hood has lights, 2 halogen lights to be precise.

And yes, the cans are MOL centered over the counter without uppers in my latest revision. I provided a link to the revised plan posted in my kitchens forum thread above but perhaps you didn't follow that link? Here it is.

{{gwi:2137257}}

Thanks!

Lisa,
I may be mistaken, but I think the point about 2 lights over the sink is to not have a shadow where you are working/blocking the light when you JUST have that light on...

I am not sure of your height. I know that if I just had 1 light directly overhead of my working area like you have for your sink there, and I was washing dishes, I'd have a fuzzy head shaped shadow right where I'd be trying to scrub the pan/pot (I have fuzzy hair. ;) ) If you don't lean that far over your sink, it might not be an issue for you.

You say you have a single light set up now that you use all the time. Pay particular attention to where it lies in relation to the counter edge and where you stand.

I'm just under 5'4". I currently get shadows on the counter when I'm working elsewhere in my kitchen but my existing can lights are about 8" out from the edge of the counter so there's really no way to avoid shadows. My plan addresses that issue.

Unless I'm really misunderstanding what you mean, my plan has 2 lights over the sink area. They are on different switches but there are 2 lights in that area. I know that when we use the one sink light, it's plenty bright for whatever quick activity we're doing. The existing can is set about 24" from the edge (it's a corner sink) but there's no way I can replicate that when we change the sink location - unless I want to spotlight the window. ;-)

Are you suggesting I have those 2 lights - sink light and the one to its left - on the same switch? I'm quite confused about what you're suggesting as a solution. I'll have to think about that but first thought is that it's not the right solution for us.

To clarify: quick activities include grabbing a glass from an upper cab and filling it at the sink (we are fortunate to have really good drinking water), peeling an apple or an orange (the peels go in a kitchen compost bin at the sink), doing a quick wash of one item (paring knife, for instance), grabbing a plate or a piece of silverware ... IOW, quick tasks that take only a few minutes and don't need more than task lighting. If we're doing anything more involved that that, we turn on the rest of the lights.