I'm unsure of what type of lighting to have installed. I will have 3 hanging pendant lights hanging over the peninsula, however am unsure of what lighting to have installed in the center of the kitchen. I was thinking of a ceiling fan with pendant like lighting. Does anyone have any pictures of ceiling fan in their kitchen, or other suggestions. thanks!

Hi boxerpups, I'm glad you like them. I do think they would look nice in your space. I love that they are pretty without being too overwhelming. They are nice and small... which I had a hard time finding something I liked (with the right price because we needed 5). Since we were putting them up in multiple, I didn't want something too big. They are a dark bronze, which I think blends nicely with our dark grayish/black counters. I'm sure you could spray paint them with a matte black if you wanted them to be a true black. Luckily at $19, you could test one. Here is photo of the pendants as they came originally... the original shades were a bit bigger in diameter. The clear glass shades I ended up swapping were also from Lowes for $3. If I remember correctly, they may have been in the section with the glass bathroom shades (on the same aisle as the rest of the lights at our Lowes).

One of our goals was to make a good kitchen for old age and another was heat efficiency. We have no interest in can lights--are trying to keep heat out of the attic area because of winter snow plus we're trying to cut glare from overhead to keep room from being nonwelcoming. We've put two 3-bulb Besa mottled white glass ceiling lights in the center of white ceiling plus a number of matching 2-bulb units along the accompanying L-shaped walkway to front door. The Besa globes are on collars with screw off threads, not requiring us to mess with clips while standing on ladders. We put 3 + 2 pendants over the parallel work surfaces and two pair of undercounter lights on the other two walls, plus there's a range hood light. Lots of lighting, but it's a large space, relatively speaking, and we don't light the entire space all the time unless we have guests. The pendants in front of the front windows are a feature of the external as well as internal lighting. Yes, it's not standard. We don't have regrets, except that the cab door can smack the closeby pendant globe--too bad the window is too close to the cab. (There are plastic bumpers to prevent damage. ) Sorry, don't have a photo with the pendants plus ceiling lights, but you can click on this photo and then go to the right through Flickr and eventually you'll see pendants alone and you can use your imagination to merge the lighting concepts.

chefkev-I know you posted months ago, but if you happen to read this, I was wondering the color you have on your walls. I am looking for a red to make my natural maple cabinets "pop." I have black counter tops similar to yours and my appliances are stainless. I have SW Blonde in the living/dining area which is open to the kitchen. Others have recommended I use a green, but I am stuck on red for some reason.