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