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Need Advice for Lighting kitchen island

14 years ago

We're gutting the 12 x 12 kitchen space and opening it up--both to the dining room (9' opening) and what is now the pantry and entry to sunroom. Because of steel beam issues, it won't be a flush ceiling. (and the pantry ceiling is about 5" lower) We'll have headers into the new space, framed out. So my issue is with lighting the island. It'll be 8 x 3.5 and about 1 foot of that is into the (now pantry) space. The range and a decorative hood will be centered on the original kitchen wall--and will be a focal point. My architect recommends pendant lighting to highlight the island and several cans, but my concern is that with the ceilings divided, it might be strange to have pendant lighting that isn't centered in the room...it (or one of them) would be just a foot from the header into the pantry space and they would not have any symmetry with the range hood. I'm wondering if it might be better to just have 4 period ceiling lights centered in the 12 x 12 space instead of all the cans and pendants (it's a 1928 house)...opinions? I'm sorry if this is confusing. I wanted to post the design plan but can't figure it out.

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Comment (1)

igloochic
14 years ago
Ok old house snob alert....understand it before I finish posting...

1928 house and your architecht is recomending cans? Bleh bleh bleh bleh!!! Ya, cans are great, I love them, have them all over my 1980's townhouse, but in a period home....well bleh

My kitchen (in the 80's townhouse) has an island, which is not in the middle of the room, and is not centered on the range, nor the fridge, nor the nook with the table....it's centered in the space it occupies :) And centered on that is my 1913 light fixture :) It is not centered on teh range, sink or fridge, or any of the other (I have 3) 1913 light fixtures).

I would personally fire any architecht that recommended cans in a 1928 home...but aside from that problem I have with them, I would not worry about centering the light fixture's on anythiing but the feature they're being used to highlight, ie the island. My stove is the feature item in my kitchen, and the island and lighting is not a detracting factor, despite the lack of centering. I doubt yours would be either.

One of the things they taught in design school...too much symetry can be too much. You get to a point where it looks like the whole package came out of a kit, especially in a period structure.

Example...even the sink is off center:
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I am doing a kitchen remodel which will increase our kitchen size (going from galley style to a U-shape with an island. Proposed layout from the cabinet builder is attached (I penciled in the bar top and I put circles where the cans approximately will fall). The island is sized to be 64" x 83" -- a prep sink in one corner and seating (15" knee spacing) on opposite sides of the sink. This puts the bar top off center of the bases. My wife has a preference of a particular 6" pendant. My questions are: 1) Do I install 2 or 3 pendants? (two looks too far apart for the 6" pendants -- three looks too close together at times to me) 2) Do I put the pendants on center of the bar top or on center of the base? Center of the base will put the pendants on the kitchen/food prep side, but I worry about symmetry. Your thoughts and recommendations are appreciated! If you need additional information or have thoughts outside of the two questions, I would appreciate them! Thank you!
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