How far should the recessed lights be from 24” kitchen cabinets?

Question

Most of the info on the web calls for lights to be centered at the counter’s edge. However, my upper cabinets are going to be 24” deep - basically matching the counter.

The upper cabinets, as well as the range hood will have an led lighting, so lighting for counters is not a huge issue. It’s mostly to light the immediate area of the cooking area. There will also be a soffit right above the cabinets, that is housing duct work. The soffit is stepping out another 1.5-2” from the cabinets edge.

In front of this area (about 40” from the counter) there is also an island that will have its own recessed lighting.

How far should I place the lights from the upper cabinets’ edge?

Answer 1

Your situation is bad for cans

The reason why you're seeing advice to set your recessed fixtures ("cans") in line with the counter's edge is so those cans can provide additional light to the work surfaces in the kitchen, as standard undercabinet solutions just aren't good enough on their own to meet IES standards of 50 footcandles at the prep surface. However, your deep upper cabinets make that approach impossible, so you'll have to find another solution. Furthermore, without cans near the cabinets to at least somewhat illuminate open uppers, it's going to be very dim when you're rustling around for a plate or a bag of pasta up there.

As a result, I'd jettison recessed lighting entirely in this situation, instead using a low-profile, but projecting, fixture over the island to throw ambient light both down and over (a standard ceiling-mounted linear LED is fine, provided the diffuser wraps around the sides) and a double shot of undercabinet lighting to provide the task lighting, with one set of undercabinets at the front edge and the other at the rear edge. Note that you'll need some seriously hotshot undercabinets to pull this off; most garden-variety home-improvement-store fixtures aren't going to have the output required, nor will things you scrounge up on Amazon Marketplace or such.

Answer 2

Although code is not a limiting factor the light density will be. Based on homes I have built and redecorated I would have under cabinet lighting at the stove top, and a light above at each end shining down on the fridge and oven. Then 2 or 3 in-line at the island. The actual spacing depends on the fixture themselves.

Some recessed lights have a narrow beam some are quite wide. I tend to split the width of the oven and fridge in this case and mount the fixture centered and 1/2 the with of the opening away from the cabinets. With this method any openings at the bottom or top have light. If two close the bottom shelves are dark, and the cabinets reflect the light away from where it is needed. Two far away the upper shelves are dark and you have shadows when standing there looking.

Answer 3

Regarding under-cabinet lights this is more a question of aesthetics rather than meeting construction/electrical regs. The reason they suggest placing them at the front edge is so the reveal at the front edge of the cabinet will block the light from shining into the eyes of anyone sitting at a table or anywhere in the kitchen that is lower than the light, such as at the island seating you show in your sketch.
The further back toward the wall you move the lights the more of an issue it might become. So it's your call.
I suggest that you sit at various points in the room to see how visible the light may be from each point. A lot also depends on the type of light. LEDs can be very bright but most all have diffusers or tend to direct the light down, such as hockey puck lights.
Just play with them a little until you find the optimum location for your situation.

Answer 4

I know I'm very late to this discussion, but did this get built the way it was described? No one addressed the idea of the upper cabinets being 24" deep. Upper cabinets are shallower so that people can lean slightly forward and look down to see the counter. While there aren't any readable dimensions shown in the original SketchUp image, it appears the bottom edge of the upper cabinets is lower than the top of the refrigerator, so approximately 5'-8". No one much over 5'-4" would be able to stand at the edge of the counter without hitting their forehead. Anyone over 5'-8" probably can't even see the counter surface while standing at it.