Placement of cans...oh boy! There are definitely two camps on that question, and both placements make sense. Here is a link to a posting I made recently about can placement. There is a lot of good information in the replies.

http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/4723058/help-can-location-garden-web-versus-electrician?n=83

We have white shaker (relatively bright white, not off-white) and steel grey granite countertops and went with 3000K 6" cans, which are great. Still warm, but not quite as yellow as 2700K

Center of cans is 36" off wall. I know many people feel strongly that recessed lights should be centered over edge of counters to prevent shadows, but I've never been distracted by -- or even really noticed -- shadows on our counters. (It may help that our countertop is relatively dark). We went with that spacing side we've got a wide galley kitchen and I wanted to make sure cans cast adequate light across whole kitchen, and not just on countertops, since they are the primary light source.

We tried 5" led 3000k 980 lumens and it wasn't bright enough at night for my dad so I switched to 5000k same lumens and I love it.

We use the yellow 3000k for my pendant lights. If we want atmosphere, we use those.

Technology being what it is, someday people will say "remember the days when you had to decide in advance what color temp you wanted your light."

I just bought remote controlled color-tunable/dimmable LEDs for my living room. I had daylight LEDs in there before and loved how the room looked with them but found I was having trouble getting to sleep--too much blue wavelengths late at night.

Anyway, I ordered 2 lamps with the dimming and color change circuitry in the lamp (the fixture is not on a dimmer) with the necessary remote control and have found they are working pretty well. I don't know if I would necessarily recommend this brand (iThird) based on subtle performance issues, but the technology is working for me. High K in the morning and early in the evening; lower K later in the evening to help me transition to bedtime.

I don't know if anything similar is available in undercabinet and recessed lights, although I saw a presentation at work about strip LEDs for the commercial market that was actually what sent me looking for the tech for my living room.

Rantontoo--just read that thread--did it help you decide ?

dovetonsils and cawaps--that's exactly what I'd like. Warmer yellowed light at night with brighter whiter light during the day for the exact reasons you mention. That is one reason I don't want to pay a premium for the current generation of dedicated low voltage LED fixtures at this point

beachem--how far apart are the cans? How high is the ceiling ? I would have thought that almost 1000 lumens would be blindingly bright

Island garden,

Haiku has tunable surface mounted lights. Tech Lighting, Pure Lighting, and a few other manufacturers have recessed tunable lights. For general lighting, I prefer 3000k with at least 90cri.

islandgarden: I am still undecided; the electrician ran the wires so I still have a month to "stew" about placement. I am leaning toward 30" centered from the wall because of the under cab lights...hoping they take care of any counter shadows.

I have been "testing" various distances with the LED cans that have been installed in other parts of the house...there are shadows with the can right in front and slightly behind me. The problem is they are all single cans so I cannot replicate light coming over my shoulder from two cans.

I wish I could look at other kitchens with LED can lights to see the placement shadows, but that is not an option for me...no one has them that I know. I have found lighting issues to be the most confusing and agonizing decisions for my whole house remodel.

I do know that I prefer 3000k lights the best. Good luck!

I've got my cans centered on the edge of the counter. No shadows and no glare (honed finish on the counter). My counter is on only one side of the kitchen, except for one 15" section next to the fridge. I do have a 2nd row of cans - a total of 5 cans for the entire room - positioned in front of the pantry cupboard and fridge - those took the most thought in order to place them so they would illuminate an open cupboard/fridge and no shadow cast by the open door. My kitchen is only 9.5ft wide so those 2 rows/5 cans have it very well lit.

I have 3000 k LEDs -- 2800 is far too yellow for my aging eyes, plus I didn't want the yellower tone with my color scheme. But, I have noticed, that when I dim the lights, the more dim, the more yellow, so the color temperature does shift with dimming.

Color temperature shifting with brightness is awesome. I don't think most LED fixtures are capable of that.

But it matches the behavior that humans expect and feels more natural. Read up on the Kruithof curve for all the gory details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kruithof_curve