The 4 inch cans generally limit you to a 50w par 20 and the 5 inch will allow for 75. They put out a great deal of heat and on an 8 foot celing you will feel them on your head. You may consider a 75w MR 16 adjustable for those areas. Pay the extra $ for dichroic lamps that allow the heat to esape out the back and last longer. Try looking at fixtures from Eureka, Contrast and Con-tech. You can find them on www.lightsearch.com. Eventually you may want to switch to LEDs but wait until they are more consumer freindly.

You've got an excellent plan. It doesn't leave much room to critique it. I would recommend the 5" cans. They are brighter and there are more options for bulbs and trims. (you definitely don't want the kitchen to be too dim)
The skylights are awesome. I wish my kitchen had those.
I like the track light. Although I like the look of pendants and potracks too. Also I have been able to pick up some very high end ceiling fans here for way less than retail. You'll have to post us some pictures when you get it all done. Good luck on your project. It's looking good so far.

Ya the skylights were KEY. I actually got a incredible deal on them. Found 2 new andersen roof vent windows on craigslist for $400. They are normally more than that each. Then I found a crew to install them for $800...Overall I have $1200 stuck into the windows and trust me it is worth it. I agree with you on not wanting the kitchen to dim. I plan on putting everything on a lutron grafik eye anyways so I probably should go with the 5" can since Ill be able to manipulate light output pretty well with the grafik eye.

I was a little concerned I had to much lighting in the living room area, but I guess it will be nice to be able to dim them and still have uniform lighting.

The other option is to use low voltage cans. The heat output is much less than the Par bulbs. They're also smaller and very bright.
And as you're planning on using LEDs in the future, you will be able to use them in these cans.

At least this way you get a visually nicer can (smaller) and still have the opportunity for LED.

low voltage is brighter than line voltage?

Depending. Low voltage generally goes up to 50 watts. Line voltage goes up much higher. But a 50 watt low voltage bulb will be brighter than a 50 watt Par 20, for example. And it will project MUCH less heat. Not to mention lasting anywhere from twice as long to almost 10 times as long as the line voltage PAR bulb.

If you're talking about a 30' ceiling though, then you'll be using higher wattage bulbs which are not available in low voltage. But for most residential uses, low voltage will give you a better/ brighter light than line voltage.

Thanks guys. I actually worked for a consulting engineering firm and did some lighting design on commercial buildings, so I had a little bit of knowledge. However I havent ever worked on Residential besides my own house. I went to school to be an electrician.

What is a good site to look into buying these MR16's from (Price wise)

Also Im from MN, so doing LV lights prob wouldnt benefit me really besides the cleaner light of a MR16 and extended life. The energy consumption is the same to my knowledge. The heat would probably help in the winter as dumb as it sounds. I think I turned my AC on this year about 20-30 days, max versus 90 days of heating.

Whats your input?

Lightguy i saw somewhere you said something about LED replacement bulbs/ modules for the low voltage fixtures.

Do you have any more info on that? Also where is a good place to get LV housing. I have a little bit of time to make a decision and want to do a pro and con of both.

Wow I just keep posting. I talked to a guy from CREE who said they will be releasing a retrofit kit identical to the LR6 kit only for a 5" housing...Maybe I'll go with the 5" cans for now and get the LR5 when they are cheap enough. Id like to go with a 4" opening though...tough call

The Cree 5" retrofit is already out. I've been using it with my customers. It's not inexpensive, but it really is great.

I did get my hands on an LED module for low voltage halogen cans. It's bigger than an MR16, but that's fine, as there is room in the can.
This one puts out about 60 lumens per watts- with a total of 8 watts of LED. So that's only 480 watts. The next generation, sometime in November, will be putting out at least 80 lumens per watt. If not 100 lumens per watt. Color temperature will affect the light output.

But that's all you'll need for a normal kitchen. The only drawback is the does CRI. I'm not sure what the module will ultimately be. But I know it's not as good as Cree's.

As for where to get a housing, go to a local lighting store. They should be able to take care of you better than any warehouse store.

http://www.dimndimmer.com/vt-600.html

would this dimmer switch work with the LV?? Its says magnetic low voltage
Also what MR-16 bulb would I want for the type of lighting im doing? Sorry just dont know alot about the LV lights. Thanks for the help

That dimmer will work. Magnetic low voltage is what you want.
Just make sure the recessed cans you get are using magnetic transformers. Most do, but sometimes electronic transformers are used.

As for the bulb, I like the Ushio Titan 18,000 hour life bulb. 50 watt flood (EXN) should do the tricl.

Im reading that this throws 620 lumens 3100K and 36 degree spread...Thats a pretty decent lumen rating for such a small bulb...any reason not to go with 60 degree beam spread?

sorry I misread it does show 60 degrees spread....so the placement of my lights which are roughly 4' apart will work well with this? should be enough lighting since its about the equivalnt of a par30 50w at 120v correct? granted I will have other forms of lighting, this is still the main source. Thanks for all your help light guy

60 should work fine. You also can just get some cheap bulbs at 60 and 36 to test them out. See what you like better then go with that.
In reality, a lot of this breaks down to individual perception.

I haven't even looked at the lumen rating for the bulb. Funny. Imagine, that's 620 lumens at 50 watts... the LR6 is 650 lumens at 12 watts. And I'm getting an LED fixture that's 1500 lumens at 15 watts. But that's kind of pricey and is more for commercial applications.