I wonder about that too. I saw some pendant lights at West Elm that looked fab in the magazine and when I went to the store, they seemed shockingly bright. However Malhgold has them and she says they bother her. I love the price and style, so I might go that route anyways.

Sorry I couldn't help you, but I am glad you are asking!

I meant to say that Malhgold says they DON'T bother her...sorry!

We have the filament bulbs, and I love them. They are on a dimmer switch, too, which helps. But the dimmer quit working, and we are waiting for the electrician to fix, so we have to use them at full brightness. They are fine like that, too, but I prefer a bit less. None of it seems *too* bright.

My friend has the filament bulbs from Rejuvenation but they don't put out much light. I'd check the different types to make sure you're getting the ones you want. She uses hers in clear pendants, but they only cast a soft glow, nothing bright at all.

Like firsthouse mentioned, we do have clear globe lights and I just checked and we have 60W clear lightbulbs in them. Now I just turned them on and stared directly into them, and I am seeing some "blinding spots" now that I've looked away. However, I normally don't stare at the light fixtures. I can't imagine that 25W would be enough. I do love the pendants and once I got over the initial shock of looking directly at them, I don't even think about it anymore.

I use filament bulbs from Rejuvenation. They look gorgeous but put out very little light. My pendants completed the look of my kitchen but aren't needed for light, I went really overkill with lighting! They do provide beautiful ambient lighting if we want that. My bulbs have lasted over 3 years...mostly because we don't get around to turning them on too often.

Thanks all for the responses. I think I may get those cool lights, but just may wait a while. My 25W lights are fine for me right now, as like other posters they are more like accent lighting anyway since we have so many recessed cans. I could do surgery in here if they are all the way lit. But in the morning when I'm cutting up fruit for the kids and don't want the recessed cans on, the pendants do the trick.

Thanks again!!

I think it's worth pointing out that most of the people on the boards here believe a 100 watt bulb or even more is standard.

So that's an observation to keep in mind when considering "too bright" or "not bright enough".