I could see in big box store lighting displays the difference in color temperatures side by side. I already had experienced in my living room having both old fashioned incandescent bulbs and daylight (5000k) bulbs in reading lamps. I grew to dislike both in terms of ambient lighting, one is too yellow and the other, although good for reading, too blue (too warm or too cold). I chose 3000k for the kitchen and think it is perfect, nice clean white light that I can see well by. Why do you prefer the much cooler light for under the cabinets?

Several comments 1. The typical operating temperature for Led diodes is much wider i.e. most should operate between -40 to +140 degrees celsius. Real example The max junction temperature for a Cree XM-L Led diode is ~ 150 celsius or 50 above the boiling point of water. 2. There is a wide selection of LED diodes on the market with a wide range of color, efficiencies, current drive, voltage, ... 3. A LED lamp's longevity is affected by how the lamp/ fixture designer design decisions for example- i. Over driving the current at the expense of lifespan. ii. Which LED components to use - more efficient vs greater max output vs cheaper (given the anticipated production run), ... iii. The quality of the other necessary components - capacitors, resistors, ... iv. The quality of the manufacturing process. SMT (surface mount technology) consistently beats the quality of manual soldering and individual wires. 4. Active cooling (i.e. - fan) is no longer used - not effective or cost efficient, prone to failure and reduces the overall efficiency. The use of the motherboard as a heat sink/ spreader is preferred. The Switch lightbulb utilizes an inert liquid and convection circulation to sink the heat produced. 5. The pricing will drop more when the the LED diode costs are reduced as well as when lighting device designers figure out how to reduce the BOM (bill of materials) cost and simplify the manufacturing process. FWIW, the L prize bulb is not competitive with the Cree bulb (or even the newer Philips LED bulbs) from both a manufacturing and end user consumer standpoint. 6. From an electrical standpoint, the E26 connector is no less efficient than a GU24/ bi-pin connector / wire nuts. 7. The more advanced LED deployments today are done in aircraft, automotive and custom home designs where cost is less of a concern. 8. For the rest, it will take a while before more and better fixtures/ lamps designed with LEDs in mind appear since most folks are used to the traditional glass forms ( bulb, tubes).

Oh, joanie - I love that pic! I am always tagging spam messages myself.

Why not get the Halo in the higher CRI and/or lumen rating? Halo run the gamut in terms of temperature, CRI rating and lumen output. We have a similar layout, and used mostly the RL560WH9930 - that's the 5/6inch, 900 lumen, 90CRI, 3000k variety. They work very well with our Lutron Maestro dimmers. Here is a link to the brochure which lists all of the combinations and model numbers: http://www.cooperindustries.com/content/dam/public/lighting/products/documents/halo/brochures/halo-retrofit-takeone-br518009en-bro.pdf As far as the other topics, depending on their size, I think 2 pendant lights above the Island is sufficient. Our Island is 7x3 with 3 small pendants and it looks good. If it were 2 feet shorter it would be too crowded imo. Our family room is slightly larger than yours at 18x18. We have 6 of the 900 lumen lights there. It has a ton of windows so light is good, but I'm glad we went with the higher lumen for night time - better too much (which you can always dim down) than too little. I'm going to guess that you'll often, if not always, want those 2 hallway lights on when working in the kitchen - especially with them so close to the island, so I'd opt for having them as part of the kitchen circuit.