It's all about the bulbs.

I have seen some Ikea information about the quantity of light that bulbs produce. It's in lumens or candelas. These are the units to measure light. BUT the bulbs are not an Ikea product. So, Ikea might give you information about lumens from various bulbs, but that just happens to be a public service. It's all about the bulbs, and they are ANY bulb that Ikea may or may not sell. You can get bulbs from anywhere.

An Ikea lighting track system = could be any one of a thousand or a million or a gazillion. Ikea discontinues products all the time, and introduces new product. So, drop this line of questioning.

It's all about the bulbs.

Learn about lumens from light bulbs. Whether fluorescent tubes or CFL or LED or incandescent (halogen/xenon or ... olde fashioned bulbs.)

See the Lighting Forum.
And web search beyond the Lighting Forum.

Hth

Here is a link that might be useful: Lighting Forum

I have the Ikea Magnesium spotlight system, 3 of them. My kitchen has a vaulted ceiling and the lights are installed on the horizontal beams. This is the one of the pictures of the lighting in my album, not the best but you get the idea.

3 x 5 x 20W is quite a lot of light in my 14'x 14' kitchen. I like that you can point the spotlights to highlight specific parts or just shine down as general lighting. The Ikea website shows the rail (flexible, bend it any way or straighten it)
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40148066/ and the spotlights are two separate articles.

HTH, Petra

Here is a link that might be useful: Ikea Magnesium spotlights

Not just about the bulbs. Also about the transformers. Petra, you're in Spain, aren't you? Yours looks great and I'm sure it's satisfactory, but just as the appliances in the US aren't the same as the ones they sell in Europe (I wish they were!), neither are the lights.

I don't trust the quality of their US lighting (some fine, some way not) for all that I love their kitchen cabinets. It isn't enough of a bargain to be worth the risk of having to replace soon.

@ writersblock: yes, i am in Spain. The added links do refer to the product on the US site, so I assumed they would be fit for the US market.

Thank you David, I will need yet more research I guess. Grrr!
Petra, your kitchen came out fabulous!!! I do like your lighting as well but the U.S ...hum what to do. I am very grateful for the picture so thank you again.

Writersblock, thank you! I'm having a bit of mind fog on son's kitchen lighting. The situation is that he bought a townhome here in Florida that needs and is getting much work, there is a tight budget. The 30yr old kitchen needs to be replaced, but not now. It had a drop tray ceiling with plastic thingies and concealed florescent tubes that are in the process of framing that will leave the center area at 8'h with a bulk head and surround 1'or so.
Our goal here is to set things up for a future kitchen so I need something inexpensive in that area that will give off enough light but look sort of cool. The townhome is at the low end of a very good area but is close to an undesirable area so it's more of a place where Ikea would be perfect for cabinets with laminate tops,but I'm stumped on the lighting.
I was thinking high hats/recessed up there but was hoping for an inexpensive trendy solution where one could have control of where the beam landed. I guess I could do some moveable eyes if all else fails.

Well, you can get decent track lighting in the big box stores for not an awful lot more than the ikea lighting costs by the time you put all the pieces together. Lowes has some options from Portfolio and Allen+Roth that are less than $100.

Thank you writersblock! I think I found the lighting. I decided to look online in the big box stores as you suggested, there was not much "in" the big box stores for pick-up when I looked. This Eglo Ona light has great reviews and it's on SALE, yippee! It was $100 and is now 64.98 with free ship. According to the reviews it gives off a lot of light. Now I just need a few spots in another area.

Same experience here. IKEA Sanda track light bulb and spotlight replacement is really iffy, and the spotlights seem to fail after 3-5 years even with new bulbs. Weak interior wiring? Anyway, can't fix, can't replace parts, IKEA has abandoned the track lighting line, and we will have to rip out all four tracks in 3 rooms -- sure not going to buy lights from IKEA again.