snipped
Juno 4 foot track (line voltage) $27.99
Juno Cord and Plug Power Feed $24.99
Juno PAR30 Flatback Track heads ea. (Uses 50 watt halogen
bulb).

My personal opinion on track it is for people who do not know what they
want. some humor intended.
As it has been said track is directional. So at something less than 8 feet
high, your looking at circles of light on the counter. Oh, by the way it is
considered against the building code to have anything hanging down below
7'6". It is your apartment and I doubt strongly that the building inspector
is going to show up.

Do you have a light in the ceiling? If so replace it with a 4 foot 2 tube
fluorescent fixture, like one of the posters recommended. You can still use
the cord and pull chain if you want. Guarantee that this will brighten it
up! Look mom no shadows.

In my kitchen I have 3 recessed cans over the counter and 2 round
flourescents in the ceiling. They are on different switches so I can have
different levels of light. I hate dimmers. All of the cans have 100 watt
compact fluorescents in them.



Now for the questions:

1) Does this seem like a reasonable way to go, or am I missing
something?

2) How heavy are these systems? Do I have to have a beam to screw it
into to?

Toggle bolts or the new screw in wall board fastners are fine.

3) I'm more concerned about simplicity and initial cost than long-run
energy savings, so I have ruled out the low-voltage systems, but am I
overlooking some other advantage they have?

Halogen is watt in and watt out, plus the heat that they produce,
Fluorescents are watt in and usually 2x watts out in light output. Light is
really measured in lumens. Take a compact fluorescent, draws 28 watts and
puts out a 100 watt equalivant. Do not get as hot and draws less energy



4) Does my choice of track heads make sense for the application? Is
the light going to be bright enough and widely dispersed enough to
work under? (If that depends on the specific bulbs I use, what would
you recommend? And by the way, what does the "30" mean in PAR 30?)

Par 30 is the size of the bulb. There are par 48, like the incandescent for
outdoor floods and spots. There are Par 20 a little bigger than a normal
bulb and so on. Regular incandencets are called A bulbs.

5) Are there any common mistakes to avoid when installing (other than
forgetting the shadow issue)?

Depending on how you cook cleaning can be a issue. Lots of frying is well
lots of frying if you do not have a vent.

Many thanks for reading--with your help we won't need to keep the
bandaid box so close to the chopping board any more!

Mark