Light sources have a spectrum. In some cases it is narrow, and in others wider. The sun, for example, emits through the entire visual spectral band, as well as UV and IR. tungsten and tungsten halogen are hot emitters with various spectral bands generally characterized by their apparent color temperature. The sun's spectrum is close to that of a 6000K (degrees kelvin) black body, whereas tungsten lights may be 2700K and tungsten halogens up to 3300K. The latter color temperatures are considered lower than the sun color temperatures, but are called warmer. Arc lamps that are spectrally broad may fall into the same color temperature range as the sun, but depending on line structure from the gasses used and the pressure that they are running at, may appear redder or bluer than the sun. Note that as these thermal sources are turned down with a dimmer, they become redder (warmer color) even though they are getting colder, physically. Now, getting to light emitting diodes, there are two types that I'm aware of being used for illumination (excluding variants). One type emits mainly at a single color, but because they are not true laser sources, this color band may be somewhat wide. Combinations of these sources may be used to try to match the tristimulus diagram of human eye response and look like a black body emitter at some color temperature. High color temperatures are considered colder because they have more blue; lower temperatures are considered warmer because they have more red. Note that this is referring to color temperature, and not LED physical temperature. The Cree LR4s had a scheme for re-balancing the color temperature as the LEDs aged. As I recall they were available in two different color temperatures for different applications. A clothing store, for example, might want a higher (colder) color temperature for interior illumination, whereas a kitchen might prefer something warmer (lower color temperature). (No one should be embarrassed if confused by this contradictory nomenclature.) Cree provided me a (proprietary) spectral chart that showed that their color spectrum was broad, but not particularly close to matching a black body spectral diagram. To avoid any post construction complaints I bought a single lamp and tested it against my soapstone and granite to ensure that the green highlights in each were being properly illuminated to provide a pleasing color balance when illuminated with the warmer LR4 option. The second type of LED source uses a deep blue or UV LED (or array of LEDs) to illuminate a phosphor or a combination of phosphors intended to emit a particular "whitish" color temperature. These phosphors tend to look yellow when viewed with the lamp off. By choosing the phosphor chemistry, and possibly over coating with filters, different color temperature sources are created. The goal is to know what color temperature one wants before specifying the particular lights to be used. If you want a tungsten halogen color temperature, specify 3200K - 3300K. For regular tungsten, 2700K - 2800K is good. Higher values toward 4000K will be bluer and more blue sky matching. As an aside, LG was able to cut the cost of organic LED (OLED) TVs by using all white (phosphor) blue-emitting OLEDs with red/green*/blue filters rather than the more difficult to manufacture sets of red/green/blue single color LEDs. kas *maybe yellow, I'm to lazy to go look

romeisburning - wow, I haven't checked in on my kitchen post in a few years and all of a sudden, a flurry of activity! I am still in love with my kitchen after 4 years (wow, time flies), and I wish you the best! I too had to hunt down my Rosemary as I chose it only to have it discontinued. Your story is much more epic than mine but I think the Rosemary is amazing - my husband rolls his eyes as to this day, I still tell him how much I love it - and I hope that you enjoy it as much as we do (and if Caesarstone is monitoring, they should consider bringing this product back). As for the chopping on the stone, I am not sure as I have wood chopping boards but GO FOR IT - what a great idea for the extra stone. And the color on my walls is Benjamin Moore Citronee - I have it all over my home and love the creamy color. I see I missed some other posts over time - thank you all for the comments - and a2gemini for the "Happy Anniversary" - I remember following your inspiring kitchen. Going on year 4, I have not upgraded anything in my kitchen only added to it some plants by the window and lots of art created by my daughter. The pictures above make me laugh as the kitchen has so much more personality these days. I will post some updated pictures when I can find the time to get some good ones! Enjoy your kitchens!

Hi—thanks for chiming in! Yes, you have it exactly right. It’s a concrete ceiling, and there are holes in only two places with wiring. We actually removed those hideous two fixtures today. They won’t be missed. :) Unfortunately, recessed lighting isn’t an option because the ceiling is concrete, so no matter what, the fixtures have to protrude somewhat. Your concern about track lighting being too much is exactly the same one I have. On the other hand, I feel like putting two “standard” flush overhead fixtures would make it really obvious that the space used to be a separate kitchen and dining room, and therefore wouldn’t look very cohesive in the new layout. Maybe the issue is that I just haven't found the right fixtures--track or flush mount?

Katrina, I am very pleased with my new lighting. We installed canopy mounted spotlights. I much prefer the look to recessed lighting, and I like a minimalist fixture for an 8' ceiling. If you use a wide angle bulb (we had to order them) you can achieve excellent lighting. My fixtures are MP lighting canopy mounted spotlights with an aluminum finish (X01 C3 - 1 NS NA 1 - MC). They were expensive and we had to wait for them. Each fixture is connected to its own junction box. Currently they are lamped with wide angle Sylvania Tru-Aim Titan covered halogen (but they can be lamped with SORAA LED as well). We found the Sylvania to be much nicer than the equivalent Philips. The lamp (= bulb) is naked so you see colour from the reflective part on top and the Philips threw harsh pink lines on the ceiling. The lights are on dimmers so energy savings are possible there. Because of the wide angle of the halogen, we only needed six fixtures to light our small kitchen. For choosing ceiling lighting I was inspired by one of my favourite kitchens: Lauren Liess'. As you can see, drywall & painting remains to be done.