I'm trying to come up with a lighting plan for a galley style 8'x11'
kitchen (the link to the layout is
http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/kitc...1334403598.jpg)

For general lighting, I'm considering three 5" or 6" cans about 34"
apart as seen. I would prefer the kitchen to be a little over lit. Any
suggestions for the wattage and trim?

I will have undercabinet lights, so I'm not considering lighting the
countertops from the ceilings; however, what I would like to do is to
somehow "accent light" (wall wash ?) the new wall cabinets. They are
dark cherry (like mahogany with reddish overtones) and look really good
when lit. The cabinets are 42" tall and moulding will be 4" (flush with
ceiling) as seen in the drawing. I did an experiment with a 3" MR16
pointed at the middle of a cabinet door (down about 25" from the
ceiling). I placed the light source about 15" from the cabinet angled
at about 30 deg from the vertical. The result was good, but since all
the cabinets are not installed yet, I'm a little reluctant to begin
cutting holes in the ceiling drywall until I'm sure what I'm doing
makes sense. So, I have couple of questions:

- Is wall washing the cabinets this way common; i.e. using an angled
(adjustable) trim (at 30 deg)? Is there a better way? Will a wall wash
trim do the job better than a retractable eyeball, gimbal, etc.?

- I'm considering 3" line voltage cans (with GU10s) (new
construction) or low voltage cans with individual transformers
(remodeling) probably with 35W-50W MR16s. If I use halogen at about
15"-20" from the cabinet surface, will the heat cause any problems? Any
cooler halogens (does dichroic coating make it cooler - not the light
but the heat coming from the lamp)?

- if I install regular downlights (not at an angle) pointing toward the
edge of the counter (24" from the wall, 12" from the wall cabinet
surface), will it have the same "wall wash" effect? (Actually when I
tried it, it didn't look like the same as pointing directly at the
cabinet surface, but I might be mistaken.)

- I'm planning to use 1 can for each door (they are 16-18" wide). Is
this too much?

I really appreciate all the suggestions..

Regards,
Matt