Question about wiring 2 light circuits with dimmers in small space

[bml]

Hello, thanks for any help you can provide. Here is the situation.

I bought a house with two circuits of canned ceiling lighting in the kitchen - one set of four incandescent lights over the sink and one set of four over the island. The set over the sink had a dimmer, the other one did not. Both switches are in a hole cut in the granite next to the sink. The hold is three inches wide and standard switch height. Recently the dimmer switch blew. I took off the face plate and they had two small crappy switches in there. I want to replace them both with new 600w dimmer switches. But all I have is 3 inches wide to deal with in the granite, about an inch less than what is needed for two dimmer switches. What are my options here? Is it possible to wire all 8 lights on one dimmer? But then I have extra space. Please give me your thoughts, I can provide more details if you need them.

Thanks!

Brian

[JoeSpareBedroom]

What is the total wattage of the bulbs involved? If higher than the capacity of one dimmer, you might want to try smaller bulbs, see if it's enough light, and go from there.

[George J]

You can always use more receptacles.

[RBM]

A double switch box,or 2 gang box, should be wide enough for two devices, regardless of type, including two "standard"dimmers. Sometimes when granite or similar materials are cut, they don't quite cut enough to match the box opening. When this happens you won't have the room for wide devices, such as dimmers, which is probably why you have one dimmer and one narrow switch. You could have the opening widened, or possibly use a high wattage dimmer to control both banks of lights and just install a dummy switch next to it

[Joseph Meehan]

If you are running close to the maximum capacity of the dimmers, putting two of them in the same box is likely to result in an overheating situation. As someone suggested, unless you need the lights at full brightness, it may be a good idea to use less wattage in the lamps.

[kevharper]

You can get 1000W dimmer switches. One of those may fit your needs.

[kevharper]

1500W switches are available too: