www.LedBuilder.org has links to some of the high quality and affordable LED grow light companies where you can find afforable pre-built LED grow lights that work really well. DIY kits and information to complete build your own from your own parts are also listed on that website. Some of the best complete LED grow lights are as follows. Put your lemon tree under these and they will produce lemons in the winter. Tasty LED Grow Lights, Johnson Grow Lights, Northern Grow Lights. Chilled Chilled Grow Lights If you want to build your own there are links to lots of resources, and some half-way DIY options you can purchase pre-selected kits of parts like: Growmau5 Grow Kits from Cutter Electronics Timber LED Grow Light Kits If you want to build your own from scratch, you have lots of options on what LEDs and power supplies to buy, you can grow watermelons in your living room if you wanted to. Some of the best parts around are Quantum Boards from Northern Grow Lights. Cree, Vero and Citizen COB LEDS from COBkits Chilled Grow Lights DIY kits These are all high quality options made with mostly the same high-end components that are better than regular shelf-bought grow lights. All this info is available on www.ledbuilder.org

Oh Sheila, don't lose sleep over this. I will have loads more questions to keep you up at night! LOL Mayflowers, I have no idea what the new tile and backsplash will be. I'm going to the tile place on Wednesday with my GC. I thought I had something chosen, but when I saw a picture of a whole room, I didn't like it. I have hardwood floors open to the kitchen, so I'm struggling with that decision, too. I like every one of the lights you posted. The fourth one from mdln and the one from Olychick are similar, and very pretty. We have a lighting store that sells Progress lighting, so I'll see what they have on display. It's hard when you have to buy something without seeing it in person. Thanks all for the advice.

I currently have a kitchen with 12' ceilings. I have all recessed LED lights. Because there are no hanging cabinets, you don't need under cabinet lights. The recessed lights are not blocked by the cabinets. I'm sure there is a preferred measurement from the wall. Mine look like they are about 18" from the wall and shine directly on the counter top. My recessed lights are all switched so that each of the four walls operates from a different switch. Most of the time, I only need one wall on, but occasionally I'll have a two walls on. All four walls and it looks like a retail store. They are all on dimmers. I do have a huge center island with an enormous pot rack over it. The pot rack is lit with halogen puck lights. I rarely turn the pot rack lights on. Actually, I'm thinking of getting rid of the pot rack. It's visual clutter and I don't need the storage. It's just my opinion but I find the wires running across the ceiling visually busy.

By the way, for future passerbyers, it seems like there are a few schools of thought on ideal placement of recessed lights…from electricians vs light experts/kitchen designers… I had read advice about placing lights away from the wall at 18” (design forums, rationale is it is the halfway point between face of uppers, and edge of counter, maximizing unobstructed light on counters/prep area, supplementing with undercabinet lighting), 24” (kitchen design forum feedback, placing at the edge of countertop, to light more space on your counter, including reducing shadow cast by the uppers closer to backsplash, but accepting some shadow from your body) and 30” (electrician, aesthetic and aisle lighting….this is what confused me and brought me here, do not recommend, it will cast shadows on your counters). I guess the efforts are to optimize lighting content of uppers, counters, while minimizing shadow cast by uppers and by our heads and bodies, with lights to the right and left of where you’d work. The answer is probably somewhere between 18” to 24”. Since I am lazy and I hate turning on my undercabinet lighting, and am not a serious home cook anyway, I wanted my ceiling lights to be the main daily workhorse light… they ended up at the edge of my countertop - 25”, slightly in from 26” depth countertops… My uppers will come out to 15”. it was done this morning before I saw some of your comments based on the attached diagram of lighting tips from another houzz pro user: https://www.houzz.com/magazine/how-to-properly-light-your-kitchen-counters-stsetivw-vs~117403233 I only bought a box of six cans! But I think I could have gone with Hallett & Co.’s suggestion of putting six neatly along the edges but I hadn’t thought of that! Oh well. All in all, we probably have enough lighting - since our house is small and open, we are probably ok at ~7500 lumens for a 130 sqft kitchen. Another rule of thumb I saw was to multiply the square footage by 30 or 40 foot candles to get a lumen range. For example: 100 square feet x 30 to 40 foot candles = 3000 to 4000 lumens. We will have LED tape that is 300 lumens per linear ft. (~10ft under uppers, 3000 lumen) Above the sink, I wanted a pendant but with two lights to minimize shadows, and so will have a two-light track/spotlight pointing down, about 2 x 500 lumens (1000 lumens) For each recessed can, most GU10 LEDs I have seen cap out at about 500 lumens per bulb. (6 x 500 lumens, 3000 lumens) The linear LED pendant above the peninsula is 600 lumens