4" cans in 8' ceilings (almost) always, but you want at least 8, and I would probably use a can over the sink so the island pendants are the only thing hanging down,

Hallett & co

Just curious why the rule of thumb is 4" cans for 8' ceilings. It sounds as though you are suggesting that more small cans are better than fewer large ones. Correct?

Yes. We hardly ever use 6" cans anymore- they just appear huge especially with low ceilings. More, smaller fixtures get you more even light.

We have 10 ft ceilings and in the unremodelled section, 6" cans. Remodelled section, 4" cans. Much prefer the 4". The 6" holes are So large.

6" are monsters. Go with 4".

When you give the size of a room and specify the number of fixtures, that alludes to a generic grid evenly spaced across the ceiling. Absolutely the wrong way to light a kitchen. Kitchens are about lighting the counters, and in the correct way, not focusing on the floor space between counters. You can not determine proper placement (thus how many and even size) without a floor and cabinet plan. In my experience, many commercial electricians have knowledge of lighting, but have only met maybe 2 residential electricians that even know the proper name for a "light bulb." They can wire a can to high heavens but don't follow their lighting advice.

I also have 4's in 10' ceiling, plenty of light!

He’s telling me we can’t do 4’s bc we can’t get them that you install from below and are IC rated? Maybe he just means they don’t have them at our local Lowe’s. And then the other guy helping us is telling me I won’t have enough “spread.”

With our layout, planning to put them just above edge of countertops, about 4’ apart.

I just had my kitchen ceiling retrofitted with 4” LED cans. We have 2x10 joists. We did have to cover the box of old fixture and cut a couple other small access points, but it was patched nicely. In our case it required scraping old acoustic and retexturing with knockdown. It was worth it.

Excuse the mess. They’re the only ones on right now, but still plenty of light!

Here’s the floor plan and where I’m thinking of putting cans. Pink are cans, blue are pendants.

Also, love the green cabinets, theresen

I deferred that decision to my electrician. The one near the stove was tricky because it isn’t centered with it. We debated it a bit, but I finally decided symmetry was the better option, plus the hood will have a light in the fan above the stove top. There are formulas you can find online to calculate light cone, etc, but it’s too easy to over analyze it. I think ours are roughly 5ft apart. He didn’t want to overlap with the pendants or sink light. It’s not an exact science. If you’re getting pushback from electrician, maybe find others for different estimates and input. Are you doing a can or regular fixture over sink?

Thanks! It was a leap of faith, and a bit of a long story. But mostly here in MN we have many months of grey and white outside, so I needed color. I love the dark rich navy and English greens, but the kitchen faces north to a wooded lot and is also dark. Plus I was set on having soapstone. So it was either this or colonial blue, lol. We did add a great window too, but improving the electric was really key. We did all this last fall, so the real test will be in a week or so when the leaves finish popping out.

PS, these are my favorite websites for lights. I am still shopping for “something just right” over the sink. My pendants are white cement with an embossed design on the underside. I’m in love with them. Hood is going back up next week after the backsplash goes up, and back rooms are getting tiled. I finally found a convincing bluestone in porcelain.

Www.tudoandco.com
Www.shadesoflight.com
And of course Wayfair and their other sites. (Houzz prices are too high 😉)

Oh, and if you are able, undercabinet light is great too. I also put in a Legrand nightlight as a placeholder for the gang that used to have the disposal switch in it. I have a single sink now, so no more disposal.

Light the work, not the floor. The fridge lights when you open the door, you have either hood or micro over the range, and both have lights. Light the WORK surfaces, IIt's basically a galley, and barely 10 x 15

If you must light the floor, consider a flush, or semi flush that marries well wiith your pendant selection. Centered on the space. No 6 inch please, use 4 .....and 2" is even nicer

Wow- thanks Jan!
Everyone’s been saying to get a whole bunch of the cans...this does feel more reasonable. I hate my microwave light over the stove, though, so still considering one more on that end. (Cheap micro, but we don’t use it enough to put that in our budget right now. Eventually we want a hood there. Hopefully near future. Then the plan is to move the microwave over to the left. (See pic of current cluster.) If I could afford, I’d redo all the cabinets and center the stove, but I don’t think that’s in the cards.
We bought a new fridge last year, so unfortunately counter depth isn’t in the cards right now. Agree it would have been better.

Jan - the light pic you posted makes me think...should I be doing gimbals for the recessed lights?

I think your layout is fine. You may need a light for the pantry and stair landing if there isn't anything there. As an option you can go with 3" over the sink. Ref, is there a cabinet above? The peninsula I guessed is 6'ish long. With the 'L' shape, you may not want to turn the pendants. Also, with only 6' leg, depending on style of pendant (broad shade vs mini?) you may even want to use 3" recessed over the peninsula. Is there a header/soffit above?

Yes planning cabinet over fridge. The peninsula doesn’t exist yet, but will be 6.5 - 8 ft, depending on how our conversation goes with the structural engineer next week. That is the core of our project, and we are taking out walls to open up our space and put that in. So yes to header above that, and we may or may not have a vertical post there in the corner. In fact, we may or may not decide to keep the shorter end of the L.

I just realized I measured wrong, and the length of my room is about 15’7”.