Ok first of all let me say that the modern kitchen with layers of lighting is completely foreign to me. At the moment we have a fluorescent fixture and one pendant over the sink in our kitchen and that's it. Building a new house however and want to do things right.

The recessed lighting guide in the Lighting forum has been invaluable. I've browsed all over the internet and gotten tips there as well. The general consensus seems to be that 6' spacing for 6" cans is a rule of thumb.

Now enters a high priced lighting designer (don't ask..part of a lighting system husband wanted and I know better than to argue with him) that took our design and tried to absolutely fill it with recessed lighting. He tried to put it everywhere and I really had to come back at him and say no...I don't want that much swiss cheese in my ceiling.

So now I'm trying to really decide which way to go with our kitchen. I have 2 100w max pendants planned for over a 6' island that will house the sink and DW. They are lovely and I really want to keep those recessed cans away from them! The designer however says pendants over islands don't provide enough light and he wants to stick cans right over each of the work areas.... Note that we're doing 6" cans because its an 11 foot ceiling and that would put 6" cans 3 feet apart and right next to pendants...I'm thinking overkill but husband takes the position its better to have them and not need them..bleh. We're also interested in going LED bulbs for most of the home..either now or eventually. CREE cr6 or the home depot equiv in the cans.

I'm thinking of going with the online suggested spacing of cans 6' apart and if I do that lengthwise in the kitchen at regular intervals I would have one recessed can right over the island. Again not my aesthetic ideal but better than 2. Also note that we will have some UCL task lighting so at the end of the day I think we'll have light more than covered without going crazy with cans...

So what would you do? 1 recessed can over the island between the sink/DW, 2 like the designer wants to, or none at all and keep them just in the isles either side of the island. Those of you that have pendants are they sufficient light? Is it crazy to stack recessed cans so close if you have them? Help!

Heres a visual of what the lighting designer had in mind..you can probably take it from there based on my descriptions