Oh, man. This is all making me so sad. The whole reason we got two new sun tubes in the living room was to pull in full spectrum light, but now I find that in order to counter the blue cast from these things, I might have to add more cast. What I will say is that if your have the 14" sun tunnels from Velux, they sell a "neutral light" filter that is spec'd at around 3600K, so, not sure how that compares to using a theater gel, but it might work for some people, and you don't have to cut it yourself. For my purposes, I am going to have to do some other experimenting, because I need more of the spectrum, not less of it (for me to do artwork, but also my plants). If anyone has been able to track down the source of the bluing (is it the diffuser, or the inside of the tube, or possibly the dome on top?), that would be a huge help. Of course, I will check for the blue film! Thank you all! Addendum: I just took the diffuser out and looked at the light coming in, and it is definitely not the diffuser causing the bluing, nor is there a film in there. It's the top dome I think. I conveniently have an older sun tube in my bathroom that does not do the bluing thing, and it also does not have a tinted dome on top, so that seems like the main difference between them. Now I am wondering if the dome can be replaced maybe with something not tinted...

Sorry, my 21" W x 30" H cabinets came w/6 lites...2 across (columns), 3 down (rows). The inside or our cabinets are finished to match the outside of the cabinets. Personally, I think that looks best. Can you order your cabinets with a finished inside? I'm not a fan of wallpaper anywhere, so I wouldn't want wallpaper in my cabinets. If you cannot get your cabinets finished on the inside to match the exterior, then I would paint them to match and then apply some sort of sealer/top coat to protect the paint from chipping & discoloring. Some cabinet lines use paint colors that you can get as well, if yours does, then you're all set...you'll know which paint to get. I also recommend you get glass shelves...then lining up the shelves w/the grid won't be an issue. (For some people, it's important that wood shelves line up w/the grid. Unfortunately, since we all have a different perspective on the cabinets based primarily on our height, what lines up for one person will not line up for someone else!)

Stunning it may be (or not). But if you are concerned with privacy why would anyone do this? There are solutions to let light in, have a view of who's at the front door, and still maintain privacy. These solutions involve transom lights, side lights and door lights above eye level. Another option is to use partial or full height glazing and install movable wood louver panels on the inside, which can be open in the day time and closed at night as may be desired by the occupants.

Organics are pretty dark. Not a lot of opportunity there. Aluminum foil on the ground probably isn't "landscape acceptable". White rock mulch is a possibility, but you're not going to be doing much cultivation there, I guess, if you use it. You could consider painting a wooden lattice panel bright white, and propping that up just above the soil, maybe with bricks. It would last for a while that way, and it could be attractive. Plant through the lattice holes. Pull the whole thing up when you want to till and cultivate. Worth remembering that most non-specular (e.g. not mirror-like) reflective surfaces diffuse the light in all directions. So white paint and or mineral mulch won't reflect the light straight back up, but at all angles, which may not help plants that much.