Hi R.Hotzenplotz!
May I ask what your lighting planners are quoting? Just as a reference...
I don’t find the last plan too bad. I think you also have to consider what style you want yourself. Personally, I’m absolutely not a fan of ceiling spotlights, neither in the quantity planned by you nor generally, because I find it somewhat too mainstream and the cost for all the ceiling sockets in the thin concrete ceiling would hurt me. Our concrete plant charges about 70 EUR per socket, which is definitely not worth it to me; I wouldn’t necessarily need that much either. That’s quite a bit of general blah from me.
Regarding your questions and concerns. Despite my aversion to recessed spots, I find your planner’s approach good and understandable. The asymmetry is clearly visible and he follows it consistently. Therefore, I would definitely allow this asymmetry in the hallway. I find a consistent concept more sensible than breaking it up. Especially in the hallway, which is basically a connecting element between other rooms, I find that convincing. Also, personally, I see little point in lighting a hallway on the upper floor excessively bright. To me, it looks rather sterile, not cozy. Same thought applies to the WC. I must say, I find the arrangement completely sufficient as basic lighting. The porcelain is illuminated without dazzling the users. The other spotlight adds an accent and probably even gives the room more depth—especially because it is not evenly lit. Similar in the master bathroom. In both cases, I would definitely include a mirror light (please a high-quality one) to get good lighting when applying makeup or shaving. Backlighting with a different color temperature will help little there. For example, I would design the basic lighting in the bathroom more ambient and thus cozy to promote relaxation—complemented by functional light where needed, namely at the mirrors.
In the master bedroom as well as in the children’s rooms and living room, I find the asymmetrical double spots near the walls quite nice. Surely can create a nice atmosphere and bring depth into the rooms because of the light gaps. I think that’s a nice idea especially in the bedroom—and definitely in the living room. I’ve never understood why anyone needs a central light above the bed in the bedroom. Same goes for the living room. Here, an application scenario would be interesting. If you’re unsure, just have an empty socket installed where you’re uncertain and plaster it over. Then you’re safe. I do this, for example, in our living room. There I planned a warm white LED strip under the lowboard and two Occhio Sento E on one wall that also emit light across the ceiling. That’s more than enough for ambient lighting in the living room. The rest is accented by a tripod floor lamp next to the sofa and two strategically placed cubic shelf lights from Ikea; that means the entire living room currently just has the two Sento wall lights (for about 26 sqm). For safety, there’s still a flush-mounted box in the center of the room/by the sofa table—plastered over as a fallback.
Spotless illumination would be important to me in workspaces, for example, in the office or the utility room and laundry room. In living rooms, definitely a no-go for me because I want to live there and feel cozy—and I achieve that more with atmospheric, accentuated lighting rather than sterile office atmosphere.
I have some difficulties with the kitchen. Here I agree with kbt09. Between the island and the stove, the spots don’t really make sense. When you stand at the stove, the light is behind you, same when washing up. You have LED strips over the island (which is okay), but then think about when you would actually turn on the spots in the ceiling or for what purpose.
Since you are installing a KNX system, fortunately you don’t have to worry about how you switch what from where. Some advice might assume you’re wiring conventionally. Especially in the bedroom, you basically get switching from the bed as a gift. What else it should all be can also be comfortably reparameterized as needed—also the whole topic around night setback.
Basically, if you want/should/must watch the budget a bit, you can certainly reduce the number of spots significantly. For example, in the children’s rooms (as nice as I find the idea of spots), maybe also work with shelf or floor lamps to create ambience and atmospheric lighting. Your KNX bus helps you here again because you can create scenes with sockets and switch lights on and off selectively. This would generally also apply to the living room, but I would leave it as planned there. After all, that is the public area, rather than the private area.
Regarding the living room light: sure, matter of taste. My opinion: absolutely terrible. Those things look to me like "trying too hard" and in a single-family house completely over the top; I don’t think they fit the planned indirect lighting either. In a design-oriented hotel as an eye-catcher gladly, but in a single-family house?! But as I said, matter of taste. My Occhios (Sento, Piu, and Mito) definitely don’t please everyone either.
About DALI. I was long convinced I wanted DALI, but now I’ll do everything with KNX actuators. You have a lot of spots (LED I assume), maybe there could be a small price advantage. I think from about 20 LED lights you can consider going to DALI and expect slight price advantages. The question would be why your planner insists on DALI here. I decided against it because the channel price is not much cheaper. Also, you need a DALI gateway, which you have to fairly include in the channel price calculation. Then—and that was the main point—I’m not convinced that with DALI even when the light is off, power permanently flows. These are not like a switching actuator at 0% off, but at 0% they still draw power in the background. Even if it’s probably not much, I see no sense in that. What I would recommend: wire the luminaires consistently with 5x1.5 mm² conductors, then you’re safe for DALI and could retrofit it anytime.
Many greetings and continued good luck!