Our peninsula is 7 feet, seats 2, has 3 pendants.

Have fluorescent under cabinet lights. The fixture is basically centered under the cabinet. Also have dimmable can lights, but rarely use them. I keep the fluorescents on all day. Didn't want halogen because of the heat issue.

We have mini track lighting underneath our cabinets. The tracks are placed closest to the light rail molding so they can't be seen. You can place as many or as little bulbs, and they can be moved around to any position on the track. Much more versatile than fluorescent or stationary halogens. They can also be placed on a dimmer.

Our house is 10 years old, so I don't know if our under-cabinet lights are still made. They are the mini-track type fivefootzero describes. Ours are Juno Trak 12. They provide a warm glow, unlike fluorescents, and they aren't *hot* like halogen pucks. I'd guess that the bulbs last at least five years; I'm just replacing some for the second time.

That's an interesting idea, I never thought of mini-track lighting for under cabinet lights. I priced it out quickly on=line and it came out to about $100 for everything except the light bulbs (about 10 feet of track, 1 90 degree elbow and 3 transformers for the three locations.)

Are these track light solutions dimmable by a standard 120v wall dimmer?

OCJeff: Juno are the ones we used. The bulbs do last a long time. And no they are not dimmable with a regular wall dimmer. You have to buy a special type of dimmer that works with the transformers. That being said, we did use one before we knew this in our old house and it worked just fine. Not sure of the safety aspect of it. We chose not to put a dimmer this time around because we didn't feel we needed one being that they are so versatile to move bulbs around or remove them.

That may very well be the lighting solution I ultimately go with... but the fluorescent will have to do for now.

As for mounting my fluorescent lights, they are either going to aim backwards towards the wall (lighting up the back splash and the counter) or aim forwards towards the kitchen and counter (but still lighting up the backsplash, but not as bright as aiming towards the wall).

I guess I could always move them around if I don't like them... but who wants to do that :). I don't think a "middle" location would work for me since they are not aiming downward.

3 pendants on a 6' island seems like a lot in my head. Are they mini-pendants? Can you mock it up somehow? Even just put some blue tape on the floor in your island size and put some big Xs with tape on the floor to check your spacing. I generally like to work with odd numbers, but three non-tiny fixtures sounds busy.