ᐅ Recessed or surface-mounted lights in the kitchen above the countertop – but which type is best?

Hello professionals,
we want to illuminate our kitchen countertop with recessed spotlights. The electrician installed six outlet points, but the drywall installer forgot to cut the openings, so we still have flexibility regarding their size. Now, there seem to be countless different spotlights available on the market.
I understand that the lighting in the kitchen should be around 500 lumens per square meter (approximately 46.5 lumens per square foot). Our kitchen area is about 15 square meters (160 square feet). Do you have any recommendations on which spotlights would be suitable for this? It would probably also be practical to have ones with adjustable color temperature, allowing a switch between warm and cool white.
Regards, Homer

Do you want to illuminate the kitchen or provide task lighting? It sounds more like the latter... However, task lighting should not be installed on the ceiling but rather close to the countertop.

We have two wall cabinets above the countertop that are illuminated from underneath. Therefore, proper lighting is the more important aspect...

In our kitchen, we installed 3 rows of 4 downlights each, so a total of 12 ceiling spots (68mm (2.7 inches)) with a color temperature of 4,000 Kelvin. We are completely satisfied with the lighting. Four lights can always be switched on at once, so one row at a time, and they are dimmable as well. These are relatively simple dimmable GU10 LED bulbs. For basic lighting, I would avoid playing with color temperature variations—it doesn’t make much sense. For accent lighting, it’s better to use an LED strip light under the kitchen countertop at the island. We only chose a ceiling lamp above the dining table with adjustable color temperature to allow warmer white light for cozy gatherings. The basic lighting (orientation/work light) throughout the entire house is standardized at 4,000K. I find it unpleasant when different Kelvin temperatures mix in the same space.

Recessed spotlights are out of style. I installed LED strips instead.

hanghaus2023 schrieb:

Recessed spotlights are out of fashion. I installed LED strips.

Hopefully COB strips or at least behind diffusers.