The one thing I can contribute is imagine what kind of light spread you want. Do you want drama? Or do you want lighting you don't notice? Or something in between? My house came with recessed cans everywhere. It's annoying in the living room where there are pools of light and dark. In the kitchen, it's great, because there are more cans in less space. They pretty much ring the counter areas, without being directly over them, and the light spread from each one overlaps the next so that there aren't light and dark spots.

If you like drama however, you can use focused spots as highlights, undercabinet task lights, and other similar area lighting to put light where it'll shine on the things you want to highlight, and let the in between areas just use whatever light spills over (so they'll be somewhat darker). This is what we did in my art gallery days. We shone a couple lights straight down on the desk area, but the rest of the lighting came from the floods and spots which were directly on the art. Much drama. (Maybe why I don't love so much drama at home :) )

If you use smaller cans, i.e. 4 inch ones, be aware that you will need more of them to adequately light your kitchen for working in it. Better to put more now- we used too few and have some lighting issues and shadows while working.

Our electrician helped us with the placement.
We have 6" cans for the main lighting and 4" cans over the sink part of the island and the prep parts of the counter. Then pendants over the eating half of the island. All on different swithches with dimmers.
Good Luck, Lisa

If you want to stick with 4" or 5" cans, then I would probably place two above the serving station, left and right, about 25% in from each end.

Two placed the same to the right of the refrigerator. Two placed the same to the right of the range, and to the left of the range. One to the left of the wall ovens. And four above the island.

All cans positioned on center over the edge of the counters. Using pairs helps decrease head shadows.

This is going to sound like a lot, but with four inch cans it won't really look like a lot, and besides all your windows face north, with a couple to the west. Your south is completely blocked from light. So in my imagination there is not a lot of natural light most of the time.

thanks for all the help so far, i am still at a loss over the center of the kitchen, any help would be appreciated!

Here is a link that might be useful: rough diagram

Marle, it does look good so far. You could always just put in another couple of can lights over the path between the table and the island.

Or.....and this may be a bit too much, but I thought I'd throw it out there. You could skip the cans over the island and install a second ceiling fan with lights, as a pair, over the island. You're in the south, so more moving air might not be such a bad idea. And since you have nine foot ceilings, the two of them might not seem so dominating. I actually could appreciate some moving air when I'm cooking in the summer.

You could put the fans together on one switch, separate from the cans - or each on their own.

Other than those ideas I think it's looking really good.

You mentioned you don't know if you can tell if the design is a good one or not. What are your concerns? Was this layout similar to what you had before? Are you "fixing" function problems that you had to live with before? I like the path from the refrigerator to the sink to the range. And lots of generous counterspace for putting down hot things from the oven. It all looks good to me. Are those four foot aisleways between perimeter counters and the island?

SHEZZY, Thanks so much for your time... my comment on not knowing if it is good or not... i am just concerned about the lighting placement. i am concerned about the center of the room. your idea of putting them between the island and the table is a good one. i guess what i am most concerned about at this point is, will it be enough light? what i posted following your ideas is 5" cans set mostly at 5' apart. our old kitchen did not have enough light, i think i will add them between the island table. they will be on dimmers so can always dim them! do you think there will be enough light around the refrigerator and that door next to it (which is a pantry)? i didnt place a can right in front of the door as there will be a tv mounted over the door and i think the light would cause glare.

Your island appears to be set up the same as mine, so I attempted to show my lighting. I would really recommend a couple of 4" cans over your sink area. The pendants typically hang low and are down lights, so I don't think you would receive enough light.
On the pics below, the black holes are where my pendants will go. The 6" cans are over the open spaces. There are two 4" cans are over the sink/dishwasher and one 4" can over a food prep counter. To the right of the lower photo is a 4" can that is aimed at the wall or it can be rotated down to make another light. I have all of the lights on for the photo, but each group is on its own switch.
Our ceilings are 8'.
Hope this helps visualize it for you.
Lisa

Beautiful pictures, lisa.

Marle, is there a light planned for inside the pantry? (I actually didn't recognize the pantry in my first look.) A light inside there would be wonderful. And yes, I think you may be right, with putting another can in front of (not over) the refrigerator.

Or you can go in this direction: Put four cans total at the island. Two on the sink side, on center of the counter, and two on the seat side, on center on the counter. And that may make it enough light for between the island and the table and between the island and the refrigerator, without putting the two in the path between the island and the table and the one in front of the refrigerator.

And, technically, after you move in and you are living there, it usually is not a big deal to add one or two more cans after the fact. Just make sure that the electrician perhaps allows for additional cans on the circuit he puts the kitchen cans on, and then the new cans can be daisy-chained to some of the existing and can be operated from their existing switch.

love the pics lisa, thank you!
shezzy, the pantry is open to the laundry room, and you are right, the pantry itself definitely needs a light! one question, my current home has two lights one on each side of sink, if i put one over the sink i wonder if that would cause weird glare? i ahd planned a stainless sink, but in the interest of getting the lighting right, i could change to swanstone or some other material. i am going to play around with it and repost. i just wish i could find some table or chart or calculator somewhere that would show me how far to space them on a 9' ceiling to prevent too much shadowing. i am surprised how hard it has been to gather the needed knowledge without a professional that i am paying. oh well, i will trudge forth! thanks again for the great help to everyone.

Marle, spacing will depend on how bright you want any given area, and on the particular bulbs you choose. If you're using incandescent bulbs and care at all about efficiency, PAR halogen bulbs are the way to go. They are available in a variety of beam angles, but with 5" cans you'll probably end up with 40-degree PAR30 floods. If you're lighting a counter from a 9' ceiling then there'll be about six feet between the fixture and the work surface. A 40-degree cone six feet tall has a base that's roughly 52" across, so you shouldn't space them more than about 4' apart over counters. If you were using them to light the floor, they could be about 6 1/2' apart and still provide reasonably even light. As far as the overall amount of light goes, I think you're doing fine.

well i revamped it, i am so lost! thank you shezzy though for your diligent advice, and Jon so glad to see you here. HELP ME! HAHA, what i have now is lights everywhere! is this nuts? my current kitchen throws lots of shadows i am trying to prevent that, notes on the new layout are posted, 9' ceilings, light color flooring, walls and cabinets wont be dark either. dimmers will give me flexibility. i am just wanting to be sure that there is adequate light in the room as a whole and that the countertops are properly lit. jon i will explore what you typed and make corrections. i have been following your advice to others for some time and was hoping you would show up at some point. jon i would be happy to pay you to just do the whole house for me:):)

Here is a link that might be useful: rough plan

to try to more accurately tell everyone who is trying so hard to help me what it is that i have as a goal.... i am interested in the lighting being 'correct' or 'generally appealing and as good as possible. i am not hell bent on any fixtures or sizes of cans, bulbs i am beginning to understand but still a novice. there are no particular elements of the room that need any special attention (other than the tv that will be mounted over the SW corner pantry door, so have to avoid cans near it. this entire plan process ahs been one of searching and thinking and stealing lots of ideas from others, correcting design problems in my previous home, etc - when it comes to lighting (same as when it comes to colors) i need others to tell me what to do. i dont know what i want other than what is appropriate. thank you so so much for all your help, my designer handed me a plan for revision with mid isle cans everywhere and i just knew that wasnt best.

Great info jon1270!

Marle, I myself have two four-inch cans three feet apart, on center. They flood the sink from both sides and I get no head shadows. I have no idea about the glare from a SS sink.

i have reposted. i hope i am getting closer to the right layout not further away:)

Here is a link that might be useful: updated kitchen lights