I have neither, but I don't like the recessed lighting. Just my opinion.

Moni

Here's my thought; if you buy hanging light fixtures, you will be having to forever update them as they go out of style. If you put in recessed, they will always be stylish. Some people enjoy always updating things to be stylish so to each his own.

I have recessed now, but keep questioning whether or not I should get pendants. I get so excited at the prospect, but never pull the trigger.

I have wanted pendants, but the missus says no. When I ask why, she just stares at me. We have solved the problem though, we sold the house and the new place doesn't have that situation! Ta-dah!

It depends on the overall lighting on the kitchen.

Are there other hanging lights that will need to compete with pendants or will they be the star?

I have pendants personally.

My kitchen is all recessed lights.

I have both.

My daughter remodeled her kitchen, and she put pendants over the island/kitchen table unit in the middle of the kitchen. She needed to scramble up onto the table to clean the pendants, and they do need it with all the cooking that goes on. I have recessed lights over my island/kitchen table unit, and I much prefer the carefree element.

I think of pendants as more the small, sometimes teardrop shaped fixtures, but maybe not. Some also use chandeliers, which I think can look gaudy in a kitchen.

We have what were called "hanging lights" over our island. In doing our kitchen remodel, we picked out three quasi-industrial clear glass shades at an antique store and they were made into fixtures. I consider them to be functional, not decorative, although they are quietly attractive. They provide bright task lighting for working at the island. They're on a dimmer switch to provide general room light at a lower level when desired.

sheilajoyce, I wonder if your daughter has a cooktop without an exhaust fan over it? It looks nice but doesn't work well. We placed our cooktop is on the wall (not the island) and it has a strong exhaust hood over it, so our over-island lights aren't subject to food spatter (unless a food fight erupts in the kitchen).

I have 3 pendants over my island and one over sink, a center fixture in center and recessed around the perimeter.

It can be hard to get adequate light from a ceiling can, especially in a high ceiling. We only have 9-foot ceilings, but I would like to change out three cans over the island for pendants. My kitchen ceiling has a barrel vault to accommodate the tall archtop window over the sink; I *needed* pendant lighting over the sink. (It doesn't seem to cleaning very often.) I seldom use the cans in our house and wish I didn't have 'holes in my ceilings'. I constantly use the under-cabinet lighting in the kitchen.

They're actually for different design purposes. When you have an area that's supposed to be a division between "rooms" in an open floorplan, a bar, peninsula or island that is the dividing line between the kitchen and family area (counter seating on the family room side, but no other part of the kitchen), for instance, pendant lights are used as a further demarcation of the "wall" between the two rooms. It's a visual divider.

OTOH, if you have an island or peninsula in the middle of the kitchen, perhaps with the working side mostly on one side, but pantry cabinets, or even ovens and/or fridge, or a blank wall forming a corridor, behind the counter seating, recessed or flat to ceiling mount lights are used so that there won't be a barrier in the middle of the kitchen, cutting up the visual space.

You speak as if reading from a rule book. There's no rule book.

We have a high peaked ceiling in our kitchen. Having enough recessed lights to light the task areas would have looked like lights marking a runway approach at an airport. The hanging lights avoid that problem and don't block any visual effect.

Lighting preferences can vary by room requirements and by personal preferences. We have recessed lights in other rooms but I personally dislike them in kitchens. To each, his/her own.

Yes, every rule has its exceptions, and your personal preferences trump everything. If you don't like my way of expressing myself you're certainly welcome to skip my posts.

That doesn't negate the functionality behind the design. In your case, SW, hanging lights that come from the high ceiling to the level of a "normal" ceiling (8-9') or higher would be in place of the recessed or ceiling mount lights. That is, above the eyeline and not creating a division in the space. Pendants that hang down to normal chandelier height, which is about three feet above the surface, within the eyeline, can be used as room divider lights.

If you put in chandelier height pendants over an island in the middle of an enclosed kitchen because you think they're pretty, there's no harm. The pendant police aren't coming to give you a ticket. You might like having that visual separation within the room. Or like the pretty in spite of it. It doesn't negate the fact that there is a visual separation, however. Some people don't consider how the physical space is used when making lighting choices, and a lot of people redo their lighting because of it. That's why I mentioned it.

No, Snidely, the stove is on the side wall and has a vent. But the lights are hanging clear, pressed glass balls. They do get dust on them and require cleaning frequently. And they are a bear to clean because she has to climb up onto the table and polish them. However, they moved in December, so now that is someone else's problem

We started out with recessed LED with dimmer. A few months ago we switched to pendants (retrofit). So, if we decide to change I'll just pull out the retrofit pendant and reinstall the recessed LED. Nothing is permanent in my house.

Sorry if I misunderstood, sheiajoyce, but you did say they got dirty from "all the cooking that goes on". My glass shades don't show dust much but the clear bulbs I have in the fixtures do and it's true they benefit from a periodic wipe. That's my job, others who might do it are too short.

This house has recessed canned lighting. I don't find it attractive,

My last house had a hanging light that stretched about 5 ft across and had three lights hanging down. It was a part of a family of lights we had in our house. It had a more upscale look.

"Yes, every rule has its exceptions"

Except, with this topic, I don't think there are any rules. Are there?

I had 2 recessed lights over the end of the island where we sit....then after 20 years decided to put in halogen pendant lights. They look cute...but the amount of light the pendants put out is not as nice as the canned lights.

In the kitchen I'm remodeling now, there are canned lights along the counters, task lighting "and" pendant lights over the island. In this case the pendants add style and class to the kitchen. They're pretty plain & traditional. Not likely to tire of them or go out of style.

nicole- we have 2 cans over the island and the task lighting (all kitchen lights on dimmers) is quite good. I do wonder if I'll lose the light flooding if I go to pendants.

I know, it's not earth-shattering, but it keeps me dithering!

mimipadv....the bullet pendants I used over "my" island are little and produce a 12" light pool under each....buuuuuuuut the glass globe ones in my new remodel hold a 100watt regular bulb and really light it up! :0) So it makes a BIG difference in the pendant you choose. I still have canned lights at this house I own, but the tract lights are pointed over the island too(it has hockey puck task lights)....with the pole, there was just too much going on for pendants to look good.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Murray-Feiss-Lighting-P1267BS-Cumberland-One-Light-Mini-Pendant-Brushed-Steel-/311378534714?hash=item487f9b613a:g:bHwAAOSwcBhWVnpz

Oooh, I love that Murray Feiss Lighting!! Love it!!!!

It's the Feiss lighting that has me tempted.

I've used Feiss on my remodels before. They have nice products!