The primary electrician on the job is a little OCD (by his own admission); he uses a laser level for everything. He's very precise or as precise as one can be in the real world. My GC told me that this is why he followed this electrician when he moved to a different company recently.

Good point, though, for anyone else following this thread.

I would move them closer to the island. I think it would give you a more even light spread.

Do you mean keeping the top left and bottom left can in the same location side to side but moving the top one down and the bottom one up? That would work for the top one but moving the bottom up upward puts it farther away from the cab next to the door, which could be a problem. That can also provides light for that cab (it opens towards the doorway, not into the kitchen).

I'll give this some thought, though, and hopefully I'll come to a decision shortly. The electricians will be here in half hour but hopefully I'll have a little more time than that to figure this out.

Thank you!

I have 6" cans with LED's and they give a nice, even light dispersal. With the 4" over your counters, you really don't need extra light there, but if you had the 6" toward the island then they would help cast even light over it so you don't have to rely on pendants for light and can have strictly decorative ones if you want. At this point though, it looks like the cans by the range are the concern. Are you ok with the right one in front of the range?

You need the light bottom left for the cab, so I would move both the top cans by the range down. Keeping them aligned to the cans at the bottom.

The same thing happened to me when the electrician was here! Had to make last minute decisions and now I wish I had done more cans! Hope you come to a good resolution.

JI would either leave them where they are (in the kitchen) or move them to the other side of the joist (walkway between kitchen and nook). Not the 3".

Good point, bbtrix, but relying on the pendants isn't a big deal to us. We're re-using the existing pendants with 75 W halogen bulbs (will likely switch to LED when they burn out). They put out a lot of light. We started out with 100 W halogen to replace 100 W incandescent and they were waaay too bright.

Anyhoo, I prefer a mix of lighting from cans, UCL and pendants and the ability to use all or only some of them, depending on what's going on in the kitchen. And dimmers for all, of course.

I just talked to my KD. She had designed the cans to be 54" OC (wasn't marked on my plan so I forgot this) so moving those 2 cans to the other side of the joist is only about 3" beyond that, putting their final location closer to her plan than their current placement of 48" OC. We can get away with slightly wider placement between cans because we have 9' ceilings. I'd forgotten about that when I was stressing over this yesterday. = )

I'm happy with this decision. I really didn't like having the 4" and 6" cans so close together in that one spot, plus I know for sure that moving the bottom can out a few inches will definitely provide light to that side cab.

It's because of "the wall is open, this is in the way, what do you want to do, we need to know now" situations that I planned and planned and planned all the other details so I'd have to make as few on-the-spot decisions as possible. So far, so good (thank you, thank you, kitchen remodel gods!).

... I've read this sentence several times and can't quite fathom your concern: "At this point though, it looks like the cans by the range are the concern." Is it because it's not centered on the hood? Or for another reason? But to answer your question, I am ok with it, as is hubby. I thought he'd have a problem with it because it's not centered on hood (he can be a little OCD about that kind of stuff) but he's not bothered by it in the least.

My new kitchen will be lighted better than my current kitchen, which is lighted better than it was when built 21 yrs ago, simply because we switched from incandescent to halogen bulbs. When I think back to how poorly lit all my childhood kitchens were.... My grandmother's kitchen had a light over the sink, a light over the range and a central ceiling light for a room that was 18'-20' square. How on earth did we never slice off a finger while making a meal?

Thanks, oaktown! We must have been posting at the same time so I missed your comment until just now.

Lisa, no, I was just referring to them being too close to the 24" cans - the ones in your photo. Maybe the one to the right in the pic isn't as close as it appears. I'm glad it is all working out! You have tons of light and a nice mix. I've never had cans before and love having layers of light. I had a kitchen like your Grandma's!

I haven't had a chance to comment on your other thread - I babysit for my 4 mo grandson, but congrats on finally starting your remodel!! Exciting times. Take pix everyday. I find my pix so helpful now. And it's a nice memory!

I count each temporary hurdle surmounted as a victory for me and my sanity. Although when I think about it, I should question my sanity just because I *am* remodeling. I'm keeping my sense of humor and that's standing me in good stead. Plus we have an aces contractor and crew.

I'm taking photos but DH has also set up a web cam that is taking photos every minute. We'll end up with a stop action film. The photos aren't the best quality but it's still going to be a fun thing to review later (and wish that remodeling took as little time as the movie).

Enjoy your babysitting duties!

Kitchen cam, what a great idea!

I do cherish my time with GS, but he'll be starting daycare soon. Then I'll have no excuse to not finish my remodel!