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Need track/pendant lighting over large island, suggestions? PICS

16 years ago

I have a flat kitchen island that measures 4 feet by 9 feet. The sink is in the island. We use the countertop on either side of the sink for food prep. The other side of the island is a breakfast bar with 3 barstools, where we eat breakfast and dinner.

I have shopped exhaustively for a light fixture to go over this island and have not found one that I love. They are either too small or not bright enough or the wrong style for my house. I keep coming back to the idea of track lighting with multiple pendants shining light on the breakfast bar side of the island and the sink/workspace side of the island. I want alot of light here - the intensity and quality of task lighting, really. We would like to put a dimmer on the light so that we can turn it up when prepping food or reading a magazine on the counter and turn it down when we don't need as much light.

I've seen examples of track pendants that have a curved rail on the ceiling and some with straight tracks/rails. Most of them are more contemporary in appearance than I need.

Does anyone have any suggestions of lights to consider or photos that could provide inspiration?

For your reference, I have included photos of my kitchen. You will notice some track pendants above the island - they are a disaster. They are from Pottery Barn and broke as they were being installed and don't give off enough light. That is the fixture I'm trying to replace.

My kitchen table light fixture:

Thank you!

Try_Hard

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Comments (2)

User
16 years ago
Here's what we have. I think finding something along this idea to match the chandelier over your table would work great. That's what we did. (Pic was taken shortly after we moved in.)

I realize your island is longer than ours, but it might still work. Just make sure to check the fixture you get to see what the max watt bulbs are allowed.

~Becky {{!gwi}}
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Valerie Noronha
16 years ago
I think you are referring to monorail lighting. It definitely has a more modern vibe and is not for everyone. The reason I think what you have now does not work well is that the shades are very small/narrow and you probably have lower watt bulbs in them. It looks like you have recessed lighting as well. Is that not working for you as far as lighting the sink/prep side? I can't quite tell, but the spacing may be too far apart for the size--plus it looks like you have tall ceilings and all this has an impact. Do they cast a shadow when someone is working on the prep side?

What I'd do is make a scaled drawing of your kitchen with the light fixtures and wattages and take it to a good quality lighting store that helps with lighting design and see what they recommended since you already spent money on one solution that is not working. When we remodeled our kitchen the place I ordered my lighting from did our lighting design. In many cases, their recommendations differed than my electrician's and most cases I went with their recommendations and am very happy that I did.

The kitchen forum is another source you can solicit feedback for your lighting problem.

I'd love to see something like this in there

Here is a link that might be useful: Schoolhouse pendants
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Flo - I wish it was just the light itself...we renovated our kitchen. It was connected to 2 family rooms. Almost fully open to a small family room on one side, and a small doorway (32” opening) on the other side. We are a family of 5 and no one ever used the larger family room bc of that small opening. It seemed cut off from the rest of the house. We opened up that side, added a breakfast part and stools so it’s now a useable part of the house. We hired a kitchen designer. That was our mistake. He did a great job with the kitchen...but we needed someone to look at the big picture. I started to realize this after it was too late. Everything was going in. I kept thinking I’ll find a way to pull it together when the kitchen’s done and yesterday when I put the 2nd light up I realized how hard it will be ... I am in way over my head. It’s a very long open space. Open floor plan gone badly. I’m beside myself. I need to now just focus on finishing the last few details in the kitchen and bring in some different interior decorators, designers ... I’m not sure what - to figure out how to fix this.
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Thx, Beverly. The rough-ins are 32 inches center to center so the spacing between the lighting would not be 30 to 32”. It will be less. Do you still think 32 inch centers on an island this size is good spacing? I’m thinking 12 to 14 inch wide pendants is the maximum I should go. Just wondering if they will be too small considering this oversized island.
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