For illumination of perimeter counters, I recommend placing recessed lights ~28" from wall. Centering on walkway will result in annoying shadows.

Did you do the lumens/area math?

thanks for your reply. no i haven't done any math - this is exactly why this forum is so helpful! had no idea there was such a thing - this was given to me by the architect.

so can you help me know where I should look to figure out how to do the math? many thanks

Good discussion at attached link.

Think through use cases in each room (morning, afternoon, evening, entertaining, night, ...), and what light(s) you'll want to use for each. And read about layers in lighting design (ambient, task, accent, ...).

And I suggest you reconsider the dedicated light over the sink. I realize that everyone seems to do it, but I maintain it's sub-optimal in almost every case, yours included. The most convenient and functional design is for a single circuit to illuminate all perimeter counters, including any sinks therein.

Here is a link that might be useful: DavidTay's recessed light guidelines for kitchen

Hi

I am back here to plead for some additional help. I read the above linked post and my head is spinning. I'm desperately trying to catch up my learning in every regard for this project.

based on my read of the link, the fact that I'm going to have undercabinetry lighting, and pendants over the island, it seems that i actually should probably plan to have cans centered over the aisle...right? i am wondering if maybe there should be another can on each "short" end of the kitchen? or at least on the end near the refrigerator? i certainly do prefer a planned/organized layout, which can be achieved since this is being planned before the ceiling is finished.

any further help would be appreciated. i really am a loss as to even how to exactly read the plan. i'm meeting with the contractor tomorrow and plan to press him to sit and help me read this/plan this a bit better

thank you so much

Lighting design is hard, so I hope you gave yourself a little time to think about it.

Regarding placement of lights along the perimeter, you need to decide if you want to rely on undercap lights to illuminate the perimeter counters. Lots of folks do this and I assume they're happy with it. If so, then you can center the recessed lights over the aisle and plan to turn on the undercab lights whenever you use the perimeter counters at night. In this case you'll also need dedicate lights over the sink (recommend 2 to minimize shadows).

If, on the other hand, your like me and you prefer that the recessed lights adequately illuminate the perimeter counters, then I recommend recessed placement like this, with no dedicated circuit for the sink.

thank you very much! can't tell you how much i appreciate your help. in terms of "exacting" placement, were you working with specific spacing off the wall and/or in between cans?

thanks again

Start with the corners and space light's in regular pattern to get ~35 lumens/Sq foot. I figure 4-6' between cans, but it depends on lumens per fixture and ceiling height (the higher the cieling, the farther apart the lights can be)

Better to err on the side of more light, not less. That's what dimmers are for.

again, thank you! we have 9' or 10' ceilings - can't quite remember. in order to determine lumens being "given", i would have to select fixtures and/or bulbs, right?

Right.

Another consideration is illumination of the wall cabinets themselves. The farther the recessed lights are from the wall cabs, the more likely the cabinets themselves will be insufficiently illuminated, especially up high. So if you center the recessed lights on the aisle, then you might also want to consider bookcase lights or something else, possibly on the undercab light circuit, to properly illuminate the top of the wall cabinets.