Hi All, I am looking
for some advice about a lighting plan for an apartment. I am deciding
between flush-mount lights and recessed lights. I have never liked
recessed lights--the pinpoints of light in the ceiling bother my eyes
and they don't seem to spread light around. I much prefer more diffused,
less focused lights provided by ceiling fixtures and table/floor lamps.
I would like to avoid recessed lights, but am wondering if they will be
better in some situations--they are so unobtrusive compared to flush
mounts; also, they are dimmable.

Ceilings are 8-feet tall. One of the spec sheets mentions 6” High
Efficacy LED Remote Emergency Battery Pack Housing with 0-10V dimming
to 10%, so I assume that is what is being used. The builder's flush mounts are not dimmable. Please let me know
what you think about my plan.

Here are some details:

Entry Hall

Builder is using 12" diameter, 1-bulb flush mounts in this area.

Is
this area too small to use flush mounts? Will the ceiling be too
crowded with 3 fixtures? Again, I favor flush mounts because of the
diffused, overall light they provide. I want the hallways evenly lit,
not spotlit from above. Can recessed lights in the same locations
provide this type of light?

Kitchen
I
am not interested in highlighting the exterior of the kitchen cabinets
themselves with lighting. I really just want lighting for practical
purposes.

Cabinets will go up the the ceiling, topped by crown molding.
I
am using under-cabinet lighting (including under the cabinet over the
sink) to light the counters. Is this enough to light the sink and the
cabinets? It seems that many people use recessed lights over the edge of
counters for the sole purpose of lighting the counters. Is this
necessary if I already have under-cabinet lights?

Builder is using 14" diameter, 2-bulb flush mounts in the kitchen.
I
would like some ambient lighting to light the walkways and hopefully
see into the under cabinets. I would really like to use recessed lights
here because they are less
obtrusive (I don't like the idea of having two flush mounts and two
pendant lights in such a small area--too busy for me); however, my
experience with recessed lights is that they have a pinpoint/almost
spotlight effect. Because of that, I am hesitant to use them to provide
overall lighting to the kitchen. I have always been happy with the light
produced by a single, very large fluorescent tube fixture in the many
kitchens I have had. While it is very unattractive, it does a great job
of lighting the entire room all by itself. Are flush mounts (instead of
recessed) the best way to achieve this type of overall lighting? If I go
with flush mounts instead, I was thinking of one in each aisle. Again,
this is just for overall lighting in the kitchen--not to light the
counter tops.
I will be doing two pendant/hanging fixtures over the island to light that area.

I will "turn off" the entire kitchen when not in use at night so the living room feels separate.

Dining Area
Built-ins are 12" deep, plus crown molding.
The
round dining table will be tucked over a bench in the built-ins on that
wall. I will pull out the table some when dining, then tuck it back
when not in use. (I hope that makes sense without a picture.)
The
built-ins will have two wall sconces flanking the bench to provide
dining lighting, but I think I need some more lighting, as the sconces
will be only on the right side of the table.
I don't want to do
a ceiling fixture in that area because the table will move in and
out--it will bother me if the ceiling fixture is not centered over the
table at all times. Because of that, I am considering some recessed
lights just to light the general area while dining. I can't see another
alternative. I'm not sure about placement, though. Should they be
directly above the left side of the table when it is pulled out? Or
should they line up with the wall sconces on the right side of the
table, which would have them basically flanking the left side of the
table?
Do I need to worry about lighting the area between the dining table and the island?
I
will "turn off" the dining area when not in use. I also will "turn off"
the kitchen while dining, so I don't want any lights used while dining
to light the kitchen area.

Thank you!!

TF