Well, I planned to have 4 recessed lights over the counter where the sink
is...and after opening a few holes in the ceiling, and finding obstructions,
I finally gave up. I basically torn down a narrow strip of the ceiling
(about 12' long and 2' wide) so I can see everything.

There are rigid conduits running along the length of that space, and joist
every 24" across it. What makes it worse is that it's not one EMT conduit
but about five that run along and a few that cris-crossed to the outdoor BBQ
area. Given that I cannot come up with three "holes" that can be situated
such that they would be evenly spaced.

There is no top cabinets, only bottom cabinets and in the middle a sink, the
rest counter space 24" deep. On the wall is a wide window about 11' wide,
and the top of the window is 26" below the ceiling.

It seems I have three options.

(1) Patch up the ceiling and wire three equally spaced 1900 boxes instead.
Just use 3 pendant lights that hangs 24" below ceiling, stop right above the
window top.

(2) Consider unequally spaced recessed lights. I don't mean spaced totally
randomly where there is room, but asymmetrically. I was able to find a few
spots, if I do 4 recessed lights, the middle two spaced 2'8" apart but the
other ones spaced 3'2" from the middle two. I marked this on the floor and
I think it looks odd.

(3) Build a 8" tall soffit from the ceiling down along the length of the
counter to hold the recessed lights. If I did that how far will the soffit
need to be? Do they need to come out as far as the counter - 24"? I assume
it's bad to have the lights directly above the head since it would cast
shadows from the person standing there. Should the lights be say 12" out if
the counter is 24" deep?

Thanks,

MC