If your current soffit lighting is great, I don't see any reason to change to pendants, as I doubt the light quality would change and the look won't be that striking because of the short drop. To improve the quality of lighting at a mirror you would be better off with side-lighting. Overhead light is supposed to be less flattering and casts shadows that make it harder to apply makeup, etc.

I know; I know; "medicine cabinets" are so out-dated...(that they're sure to stylish again before long!) LOL I'm installing two recessed mirrored medicine cabinets above the bathroom vanity. I need to know what style and size of lights to use above the cabinets. The vanity will be either 48" or 42" long, 18" deep, and kitchen height. The one small, undermounted sink will be on the right side of the vanity. (Dove White cabinets from Kraftmaid. The vanity top is "Stellar Night" by SileStone.) The medicine cabinets will about 17x27" inches. (NuTone Soho or City Traditional). I'd like to put lights above them. Would this work? How big can the lights be and how high should they be above the cabinets? I have 8' ceilings. I have a Panasonic Whisper Quiet ventilation Fan/Light/Heater in the ceiling, but I nned more light over/around the vanity. It's a tiny bathroom, 7x9. I appreciate any ideas you can offer.

Mclarke, See? that was (and still is) my thinking too --- or at least how my mind's eye saw it should/shouldn't be. But taking into account all the replies (and they were all so right-on about it), I realized I was focusing too much on 'the look' and not what would be the best function for us. My plan when doing this bathroom: I'm not leaving this house without a toe-tag so I wanted everything as perfect for me as I could get it, for the long-term. This same height cab and wall is going to be very hard for this slightly (ha!) anal person to get used to! LOL Annie1971, Oh shoot---had I known, I would have saved all zillion white with pink speckled tiles for you! *g* Before joining this board, all those years with the pink tiles, I was brought up to 'match', to coordinate. So, all those years I went with a pink or mauve or burgundy bathroom. After joining this forum I learned how I could have worked 'with' that tile. I wish I had known about this forum years ago--would have saved me years of bathroom color boredom! And Mclark, I DO have very old, very pretty amber colored glass bottles. They remind me of pharmacy glass bottles. I'll dig them out of storage sometime this week and hopefully they will fit on the top shelf of the med cab. With the new, bigger window the light will reflect on the pretty amber color of the bottles. Great Idea - Thank you! You all were so helpful in making me focus on the function and other little points I hadn't thought about I figured I'll stick some pics in here to show you what we've done. As much as I'd like the cab to stay where it's at (held up with 2 screws so we could get the books out of there/out of the way so we could work on other things), function would be wrong so it's going up a couple inches. During the med. cab height dilemma, we also found the rounded front of the plywood countertop hindered me from getting close to the mirror. Countertop shape has been changed and I'm very pleased with that part. Again, all of you -- Thank you so very much!

I have a three-light in my 5 x 9' bath and it's enough light for me. I'd probably do a four light for the size of your mirror and vanity. You can mock it up by making boxes for the shades with flexible cardboard, like cereal or gift boxes.