To clarify, you say that you need a lot of light, but also that you don't use your undercabinet lights?

Ambient lighting over the walkways in the kitchen (i guess this helps light stuff in drawers/cabinets?) plus undercabinet should provide plenty of light for you, but if you design the kitchen based on that idea and then don't use the undercabinet lights, you will not have enough task lighting

If you just straight up don't want under cabinet lighting for whatever reason, don't install it, but plan accordingly and be sure to communicate that to the KD.

If you only put lights in the aisles, your body will create a shadow on the counter when you're working at the counter. I took your plan and added a few more lights. Will you have cans or pendants over your island? Four cans over the island seems overkill, but 3 or 4 pendants could be pretty. You could probably just do two cans in the space to the left of your hood. I also think you should install under-cabinet lighting; it's probably a minimal extra cost and better to have and not use than to later on wish you had them. Put each type of lighting on a different switch, and make sure all switches have dimmers. That will give you lots of options and layers of light.

Hi. We did ours like your designer has it marked …with pendants over the island. We put in under cabinet lighting as well. We used to use under cabinet lighting a lot at our previous house. Now with our overhead lights on, it’s plenty. We rarely turn on the pendants or the under cabinet lights at the new house. I suppose it matters how the house is situated on the lot and how many windows you have. I’d follow the designer plan and use under cabinet lighting as needed.

Thank you everyone. I'm definitely putting in undercabinet lighting. Even though I don't use it to work, I like it as "night lights". Although we have two large sliders, the kitchen is a little dark. Right now there are NO lights over the island. I don't know what the previous owners were thinking because you can't see anything!

@stiley I like the two cans on the family room side and with another in the corner by the sliders, that could be enough. The other two red dots you drew are where the fridge and pantry are so they have to move out.

I'm on the fence about pendants because my ceilings are only 8 ft at best. Below is a revised plan.

If you aren't sure about pendants over the island, I just have cans in a 9' ceiling and they're sufficient. I agree with you that sometimes they don't look right in 8' ceilings, especially since the current trend is for large fixtures. I think either way you'll be OK. You can adjust the wattage/lumens of the bulbs you use to your desired brightness. And then as the other commenter said, dimmer switches are desirable.

You need at least 450 lumens at the counter for task lighting. Stick with your plan.

We have can lights over the aisle, but closer to the perimeter cabinets. There are pendants over the island, then more can lights over the opposite side of the island. We also have undercabinet lighting and 3 can lights over the sink area (a large bay window, getting a lot of light during the day, but the lights are great at night). Usually, we only use the can lights and they provide plenty of light and I have never noticed shadows...the lights produce general illumination. If I am chopping or reading the paper at the island, I turn on the pendants for added light, but it is not usually necessary.

I’m liking your latest plan. I think I’d also add the one I marked in red. It looks balanced and workable to me. No one is really staring at the ceiling much…. They will be looking at all the other pretty things.

They do make very bright undercabinet lighting that you can then put on a dimmer so you have the night light as well. Position the lights toward the front of the cabinet so they are directed on to the are of the countertop you work at and not the top of the coffee maker.

Good luck with the project

Suggestion: Do not put a recessed light in front of a wall- or ceiling-mounted range hood whose angled sheet metal could possibly reflect light from the fixture.

DMF is a source for different lighting options beginning with the H Series. DMF and DMF Lighting - YouTube

I can tell you what my lighting designer told me: 1) center the cans on the edge of your counters 2) Check the specs of the light fixture you choose to determine how far apart to place each - you want the "cone" of light, at counter height, to just overlap (this information was available on the manufacturer's website for my disc LED lights) This can vary by brand and type of fixture 3) adjust the placement to the right or left an inch or two, as needed, to avoid having an open cabinet door block the light from the cabinet interior (you want your light to illuminate the interior, not have the door make a shadow - and you won't notice if the lights aren't perfectly evenly spaced).

My kitchen is much narrower and shorter than yours, no island, and no work counter on one side (just the fridge and pantry cabinets) so 2 rows of lights were sufficient to light both the center and the work surfaces - 3 along the counter, 2 in front of the cabinets on the other side. 850 lumen LED disc lights. When they went in I felt that they were too bright at first LOL!

Oh, that DMF H-series is nice, and reasonably priced. So is the X-series with 2" recessed. Downside: LED modules are proprietary.

designers are not lighting professionals, shadows are not a good thing, under cabs are a layer of light, put them close to the counter. also the medium pendants or two oversized.