It's a personal preference. My DH is tall so I don't want our pendants to hang too low and block his view when he's standing at the island. Have you heard of the balloon trick? You inflate balloons to about the size of your pendants and then hang them from the ceiling to give you an idea of how high and far apart they should go.

HTH,

Erika

Dining table lights are usually hung about 30" above the tabletop. See if that height would work for your pendants.

This is how you determine the height and placement of the pendants.
1. Have someone hold the pendant
2. then have the tallest person in the house stand at the edge of the island and lean into the pendant. They should clear it.
3. Now move to the other side of the island and repeat 2.
4. Then try it with another location of the pendant.

So the combination of the location and height should be such that the tallest person clears it.

THe tallest in our family is 5'6" so I guess the height shouldn't be an issue for us.