If you haven't already done so, I recommend you post this on the "Discussions" side of the Kitchens Forum. This is the "Gallery" where mostly finished kitchens and few picture-heavy threads are usually found. However, not much goes on on this side on a day-to-day basis, unlike the Discussions side...which can be quite lively! Good luck!

Sorry all - I let this thread slip through the cracks while I've been busy or else concentrating on other things! Profrip - The middle of the room pendant that i have now isn't meant to be anything too permanent. I do love that disc/flying saucer look - whether it's turn of century or 1950's diner. I guess it reminds me of the funky huge red one my mom had in our bright yellow and red and orange Matisse-inspired kitchen in the 1970's! But that particular pendant in my kitchen was cheap and too modern (not that I mind inexpensive)! So am I correct to assume then that the general idea is that if you have a pendant or two above the sink, it's generally good to have recessed in the center of the room or else the opposite? Generally speaking? I wish I knew how long I'll keep that pot hanger in the center of the room above the island. I know most people don't do that now but it IS very convenient. I thought I could get rid of it and get the wall pot hanger style to put next to my stove, thereby freeing up the center of the room more...but if I move the stove where I might move it, there will no longer be a wall just to the side of it as there is now...in which case the pot hanger would have to go on the wall behind the counter to the right of the stove which I imagine would mean I'd have to reach over a ways? Plus another convenience of it being in the center of the room is that it's close to the sink for filling w/ water. Those w/ pot-filling faucets wouldn't have to worry about that, obviously, but I don't have one! Where did they put pots in 1913 I wonder? On an open shelf? On a wall hanger? I know a few hundred years ago they went over the island. It sounds like talking to a real lighting person would be a good idea for your space. Have you done that since you last posted here? Thank you for the warm welcome to NYC! :) I somehow believe you that New Yorkers would be perfectly nice to strangers. Well, what do I know! I love your description of your earliest memories of it. Someday...I'm determined...someday! As for that last link you posted: I think those lights are kid of strange! The row of them in the background is just a bit odd to me - but there are some things I really like about that kitchen. EVERY SINGLE TIME I see wooden counters I drool. I love the look of American cherry but it's too soft, and all the hard woods I could find were either too light to me or else too red - or else too stripy - or both. The nice brown woods w/ just a hint of red/orange, e.g. Pacific Madrone, are too stripy.

If you're worried about yanking out the valance, just get a new fluorescent fixture. My old kitchen had one of those with the plastic sheet over a very retro tube and it was nasty yellow but otherwise a great fixture. New diffuser and new bulbs (and maybe new fixture to get modern fluorescent bulbs) can make a big difference. It's actually a pretty good system as far as useful lighting goes, although there is no decorative element involved. I skipped the valance after the remodel and put in a surface mount can sort of fixture (still fluorescent); in a more traditional kitchen I would have (and have) done a pendant because they're fun. You can pretty much put in anything with good lighting that won't hang low enough to bonk your noggin. Get something that makes you smile. With good output.

I'm with the stones-and ground cover crowd. I'd use big squares of bluestone or a concrete paver you like, plant vinca minor (the dark green small-leaved periwinkle), put in tons of daffodil bulbs to come up through it in the spring and be gone by the time you have to do maintenance, and mulch heavily so you can be patient for the two or three seasons it takes for the periwinkle to make a dense, thick mat. Absolutely worth the wait. And then, because the area doesn't go anywhere, I'd put an exterior grade full length mirror on the back skinny wall, surround it with natural trellising, plant a vine to cover it eventually (not ivy - a huge headache to control), and set a big birdbath just in front of the mirror. The mirror solves the dead-end problem and throws the light around a bit, the vine and trellis furnish and mask the wall, the birdbath gives you a focal point, the vinca is deep and soft, and the big stepping stones give the space some scale and a comfortable surface to walk down and to support the tasks of maintenance. A large-scale edited scheme like this would give your skinny little alleyway some real presence. It's a perfect "go big or go home" situation!