Kitchen lighting question

Hi. We're about to build a new kitchen in our loft. It's a very open plan, with 14 foot white concrete ceilings which don't allow for recessed lighting. We're thinking of installing some halogen track lighting along the cabinets and possibly over the peninsula. The peninsula could also get some track pendants. We have a few questions:

1) We have an island that will have a pot rack hanging from the ceiling directly over it. If we're doing track lighting for the cabinets and counters, how do we light the island to prevent shadows while working at it?

2) How many track lights should we install and how far away from the wall/cabinets?

3) For 14 foot ceilings, we can either install the lights at ceiling level or drop them a few feet. How big should each individual light be for the height that we want.

Thanks in advance for any help. Please email responses directly to

There are tons of ways to skin that cat. You can have track lights on the ceiling, or suspended above your island. May also want to have sevral light depending upon the work space size.

You might be able to reduce (though not entirely eliminate) shadows over the island by hanging the track low enough that the lamps shine between the pots, and not from behind them. Draw a good _cross-section_ of the whole thing and seriously study it on paper