For the uplight, you could go a few routes, especially with respect to dimming functionality. And some fixtures don't support dimming, so you need to figure that out. To that end, I suggest you think through the use cases. For example, the use case that I think I'd appreciate most is late evening, after you've retired to another room of the house, at which time a mellow indirect glow from the skylight cutout would be particularly pleasant. You might also want the more light from this source on occasion, in which case you'd want brighter lights on a dimmer. That being said, here's some options. I'm thinking two, centered on the skylights, mounted near the bottom rim of the cutout (just above the beam probably). Regarding the pendant, I know that selecting pendants is hard enough without more to think about, but one downside of a single pendant vs multiple pendants is thhat single sources create worse shadows. And the clear glass pendants above exacerbate this harsh shadow problem by being point sources, whereas the Fillsta, for example, mitigates this problem because it's effectively a uniform 31" sphere of light. This large diffuser also makes it possible to use a brighter source. For example, you could put a 300W equivalent CFL in the Fillsta, but such a bright light would be unacceptably harsh in a point source like the clear glass pendants above.

We're glad you asked! We have advice about this very subject. Pendant size is determined by taking the width (not length) of your island in inches and subtracting 12. The number you get is a good maximum size for a pendant light. We recommend spacing pendants about 2 feet apart, so with your 8 foot island you could definitely go for 3 pendants. If you do choose 3, choose ones that are a bit smaller than the maximum size per pendant as mentioned above. If you go for 2, you could pick out larger pendants (which is a popular look these days), more towards that maximum size per pendant. Please let me know if you have any questions or want me to pick out some item recommendations for you!

Is the granite staying? Have you thought about doing a longer island w/table seating? look at some of these neutrals for the walls. as for that fan, if you really need a fan, can it be relocated? what if you tried a sun shade on the slider to help block off some of the heat from the windows? it does help. a fan over a dining table is never a good look. a fan near a kitchen just blows the grease and grime all around the room. what If you did a regular light and go a nice floor fan like a dyson or something? another idea for island/pendants.

Can all single pendants be used with a canned ceiling insert?