I'm redoing my kitchen and at the same time upgrading the lighting of the rest of my first floor. I have a general concept, shown in the following picture. But I'm having trouble figuring out exactly what fixtures to use in the DR/Office.

Here is the floorplan:

Its a bit hard to describe. The LR and kitchen all have a ceiling height of 7'6". The area behind the garage has an even lower ceiling (7'2") extending half way back. (To where the dashed line is.) The other half has a cathedral ceiling. It is about 12'6" high in the middle, dropping to 7'6" at the rear wall.

The bump out at the rear of that area is a window. It extends up and becomes a skylight almost to the ridge of the ceiling.

This area is currently sparsely used. The furniture shown is how I plan to use it. It will have a dining table that will do double duty as a misc work surface. (I rarely eat at the table. Only holidays and sometimes on weekends.) I will normally be using the space as an office. But I don't work from home so it will not be used extensively.

I have planned to put a couple of cans in the low ceiling. For the other part, as shown, I have been planning on track lights, mounted low on the vertical surfaces, probably about 8' off the floor. I was thinking I would point the lights on the long track at the sloped ceiling, to bounch down and provide ambient lighting. And I would point the lights on the short track down to light the table.

My problem is selecting specific hardware, and getting the right amount of light. I went to my local lighting store (a branch of Fergusons). They have some things to look at, but not a lot of selection, and the people there don't know much. They could give me no help on sizing the lights.

I was looking at a Lightolier catalog there and found some interesting things, but they were all special order so I couldn't see them or even get prices.

I'm afraid that a lot of the heads I am seeing may not put out enough light for my needs. But I'm just guessing. Note that my house (condo) has few windows and is surrounded by trees, so it doesn't get a lot of light. However the window/skylight in this room provides more than anywhere else. At some times it can be very bright. But at night it is a light sponge.

Some specific questions:

How *much* light do I need in there?

When selecting light heads, what kinds of bulbs should I be considering? (PAR, MR, ...) and what size/wattage? (Since its a small space I would prefer small heads, but still want enough light)

What are the pros/cons of low voltage vs line voltage for this application?

Where are good places online to pick from?

Is there a place in the suburban Boston area where I could see a broad selection of options, and that might actually *know* something?

BTW, I'm looking for a contemporary style - with heads probably in brushed stainless/nickel.

Here is a link that might be useful: