Our layout's similar...the family room, then the kitchen table, then island, then cooktop. We have a separate dining room so it's slightly different.

If I were you, I'd do either spectacular pendants over the island, or a spectacular chandelier over the dining table. Either or. Segbrown and I chose the island pendants, while the first inspiration photo you showed doesn't have either but I suspect it has super-duper high (higher than 10' probably) ceilings and that a lighting fixture or two is hiding up there somewhere. Since you've got 10 foot ceilings and whatever light fixture you choose will creep into the view, I think you need to choose. Either or.

Here's our view:

Thanks redroze. I love your space!!! I agree- I need to pick either or. I'm leaning towards a chandelier over the dining table b/c this is our only dining space and I feel a 8' table deserves a fixture. Also our hood is 60" with a 60" soffit so any pendant would visually overlap.

My next question is if I do away with pendants, how many recessed light would I need to provide adequate light for a 8' x 4' island?

I don't think so. As always, depends on what you choose. My lights are actually over my table, not my island. Only recessed over the island, because the ceiling is vaulted and the island isn't in the center of the space, and we couldn't figure out how to hang anything that would look right.

On the other hand, the lights at the breakfast table, hallway, and dining room are all in a row, and that gave me fits. You can kind of see the lights from this photo:

I like how it turned out, but I don't know if that's just because I was tired of thinking about it, or what! :-) LIghting was definitely the hardest decision in the remodel. Everything else came pretty easily.

Segbrown,

I agree choosing lighting seemed to take forever and was harder than choosing many other elements of our kitchen too.

I wanted to share three possible reasons for why your lights bother you. One, while they are similar in shape, they are different in materials and style, and it causes my eyes to see them as separate units rather than being visually connected.

Two, I am wondering about the orientation of your lights in your dining room. Am I correct, in that the lights and table are running perpendicular to each other?

Three, I think the style of your kitchen and the hallway lights clashes with your kitchen style. The clear glass ones strike me as more contemporary and the the white upright fixture strikes me as more modern in style.

MHO OC!

One difference I see between roseabbey's and redroze's is that RA has two visual divisions when looking from the DR, one being the painted header, the other being the tray ceiling in the kitchen, while RR's ceiling is connected visually all the way through. Segbrown has the same visual division as RA.

Segbrown's DR light (hope you don't mind me answering for you) is actually circular and goes beautifully over her oval DR table when you look at it by itself. I would never have noticed how they line up and aren't really visually connected, because the three spaces seem separate to me, though not unrelated. (But if you are sitting at the table and you are the owner, I can see how it might occur to you because you see it so much. My guess is most people don't see it the way you do; they are too busy enjoying the rest of your kitchen!)

Here is a link that might be useful: Segbrown's DR

AHHH.. the lighting debate/issue.. I wish I had some great answer for you, but as you know I am struggling with this myself and continue to struggle. However, I don't think it will be too much/ "visually cluttered" as you said, as long as the lights correspond well with each other and don't block the flow of the room. I am thinking of just getting a plain old chandy (with the candles exposed -not sure if that is the technical way to describe) so it is not blocking the flow of the view to the family room.

Recently i visited a local lighting store.. I showed the lighting"expert" who also said she is an interior decorator my pictures of my space. She said she couldn't get an adequate view of the space, the light in question- that big rectangular boat we are removing0, but from what she could see,she didn't feel it was blocking the flow of the room rather creating another "layer" to the room..

Obviously, due to the size of the fixture and location of it, I disagree b/c i do feel it is blocking it, however, I did get what she was saying about adding another visual layer to the room.

So to answer your question, I guess my feeling is as long as the fixtures dont' compete with each other, it would just be another "layer" to the room..B

When you do figure out your fixtures.. let me know.. maybe you can help me finally figure it all out!!! Good luck! :)

Wow Jsweenc, good point about the headers! I just love looking at Segbrown's home photos. Sigh...

One difference with Segbrown and PPS7 is that PPS7 will have the range at the same sightline as the island and dining room table. I can't tell if Roseabbey's family room is on the other end of the table. Our layout is similar to the very first photo, in that our island is facing the familly room. We chose not to do a chandelier above the table so while I was island prepping, I could see directly across and watch tv, and not be obstructed by a chandy.

Hope that helps - good luck OP!

earth_pal, I didn't mean to say they bothered me. I'm very happy with them! It was just a hard decision.

The table pendants are really not modern; here's a better pic. They even have those old-fashioned filament bulbs in them.

And the dining room light is circular. Our table is usually round, but the photos are from the holiday season where we have extensions in, so it's an oval.

I was trying to choose lighting of the same "feel," sort of modern vintage, but not matching. The sconces in the foyer just outside the butler's pantry sort of tie things together, since they have the same clear cylinder shape as the pendants surrounding a white opaque shade. I love these things.

Segbrown,

I apologize for any offense that I might have caused. As I stated, this was my opinion of your light setup. I do appreciate the clarification from jsweenc and yourself regarding your dining room table being oval in shape because that isn't apparent in the one photo that I was looking at.

I do respectfully disagree and stand by earlier opinion tho.

I hope you have many years of enjoying your kitchen. :)

I'm not offended at all ... you seemed to think I was unhappy with my lighting, and I was just explaining that I'm not.

Is it perfect? Of course not. But I am not one to pick a bunch of fixtures from the same little suite. None of my furniture matches either. :-) (Okay, my dining room chairs do, and my island stools.) I'd rather do this than play it too safe. Maybe I missed, but oh well. I like it. All the fixtures come from lines described as vintage modern, though, so to me, they are close enough.

Thank you everyone for taking the time to comment. It's tough b/c the electrician does the wiring first before there's drywall, cabinets, really anything to help figure out what will look right. Redroze is right; our range, island and dining table are all centered on each other and in the same sightline. Our hood will be very similar to the first picture except it will be 60" instead of 48".

I definately want a chandy, but I plan to hang it higher than normal so I can see the tv from the kitchen.

The island pendant decision might need to made later, I'll just tell the electrician to wire something.

Redroze, how wide is your island? And your range? I'm thinking since my range is 5'and my island is 8', if I do 2 pendants like yours, they will visually overlap with my hood. Your hood looks smaller and the pendants frame it nicely, but I don't think that will work out in my case.

Also segbrown's space works b/c of her header and some of her fixtures are quite high above eye level. That is key. Her pendants are "light and airy" and don't occupy alot of volume in space. The ones I've chosen are more substanial:

What's the standard height for kitchen island pendants?

PPS7 - Our island is 8' long...our 5-burner cooktop is 36" wide, and the range hood is 42" (did that whole 3" on either end, capture-the-steam trick that I learned here on good 'ol GW. Not only good functionally but also makes the range a true visual focal point).

Since your range is 60" long, I agree that it may be better for you to go with a chandelier above the table. See Mamadadapaige's kitchen in the FKB...she did just that, and she has the same layout - range, island, table, family room.

I don't think there's a standard pendant height, as it depends on the style of pendant. There's a balloon trick where you hang (non-helium filled) balloons that are roughly the size of your pendants from your ceiling, and see how it looks, and whether it obstructs your view. Keep the taller person in your household in mind.

Oh, just dawned on me that you will have pendants as well. Is the range hood stainless steel/metal, or the same finish (painted or stained) as your cabinetry? If the latter, then I think you're fine with hanging your pendants slightly within the outer edges of your range hood. If the former, then the range hood and pendants will both be metal, and the placement of them will be trickier.

Your pendants are similar to Katieob's. She also has ss range hood, although it's placed perpendicular to her range rather than across the same length as it. Have a look at her placement of pendants.

Here is a link that might be useful: Katieob

Here's ours. Ignore the stuff not completed! We're past that--been in the house for 2 yrs now. I know our range is in the corner, but the paneled fridge and freezer units are centered behind the lights. Behind the camera is our great room, so it looks like our layouts are the same. Anywhoo, thought this would give you an idea of the chandelier/pendant mix. We don't have any trouble seeing the TV in our great room...