You absolutely can have the fixture hanging at the edge - I have the same situation in my house and it looks fine -- our breakfast area has half of a vaulted ceiling - it's weird. As someone said above, the most important thing is to make sure you are centering the outlet box directly over where the table will be. As long as the light is centered, it will look ok. (Our light was not centered when we first moved in, and we actually paid to have it moved because it was so annoying!). I would probably stick with a light the same shape as your table as well - if you're going with a round table, I'd do a round fixture, not a long one. We have a very long and skinny table and recently swapped the fixture in the pics below (a round one) for a long skinny one like the one linked above and it looks much better. I'll link to some pics I have, but they're really old -- we have color on the walls and a different light and table (and my kids are 6 and 10 and no longer sitting in the blue plastic high chair, LOL!). Plus the angles I have don't really capture how the light fixture looks jutting out into the vaulted area, but hopefully you can get the idea -- it's not that clear from the pics, but part of the ceiling is wooden and slightly vaulted and the other half (the part closest to you in the pics) is an open area straight up to the second floor ceiling with a balcony looking down at the table. I need to find the cord to my camera to take some new pics!

Oh wow, thank you powermuffin - I had NO idea! I am new to gardenweb and the format is still a bit new to me. I will seek out the kitchen forum!

WhostheBosch, I agree it IS a flat out gorgeous kitchen. The whole the purpose of the thread is to explore any and all solutions that would be the least destructive to all that beauty. That 20 inch aisle is really quite wacko though, and the range island is woefully out of scale and has no work room. After seven years, it is time to think of how to fix it. Loves2, An island (with reasonable aisles) can't fit without taking out the Advantium AND bumping into the breakfast room (which means moving the porch door). The alternative is Buehl's much earlier drawing of a range penninsula where the skinny penninsula is now. Buehl, appreciate your keen thoughts on deploying each inch. 42 would be better at the sink for sure. A few of you have noted that point. Well taken. Valins, the counter treatment is dicey. (Great memory on SIL Barrelhaus' kitchen BTW! She remains thrilled, and while breaking all kinds of clearance 'rules' the kitchen still works great for her and her family. A Gardenweb triumph! And what IS with my family and weird kitchen design challenges anyway...?) I could see a different counter treatment for a work island, but that still leaves seaming in the range area. Sure would be nice to somehow recycle the skinny island's 19.75 x 54 granite to left and right of the range... First thing first though. Sis needs to determine her limits - dollar and energy wise. This has been a very helpful and fruitful discussion. I know my brain got well exercised. Whatever direction she chooses, I feel pretty sure all the options have surfaced here. Just as I hoped. Thanks!!

Thanks, Lisa. I do plan on going over all the sizes with her. Mostly to make sure my pot and pans will fit. The rest is all gravy, really. Here is my old layout Starting at the fridge. 2 20 in uppers. I only used the bottom shelves for baking supplies, flour sugar, baking soda, etc. I'm not tall. 2 lowers with 8 inch pullouts and drawers. One drawer was for junk, the other had my measuring cups and spoons. The pullouts were useless. I ended up removing one and putting my Panini press in there sideways, because it wouldn't fit in the pantry nicely. The other I kept the hand mixer, bread pans, flour sifter, etc. This was my baking area, where it says "hole in wall". Next was 2 30 in pullouts. That held all my plastic storage, mixing bowls, glass cookware. I've gotten rid of most of the plastic and traded it for glass. I don't have close to the amount of storage containers that I had when this started. Next is the corner cabinet and lazy susan. Used neither. The corner upper cabinet was too deep, stuff would get shoved back and I couldn't reach it. I hate lazy susans. It held 2 jars of peanut butter, seriously. 30 inch upper that held all our dishes and glasses on the 2 lower shelves. The lower is a drawer base. It holds towels, foil, ziplocks, etc. Dishwasher and 20 inch upper. The upper was protein mixes on lower shelf. 5.5 inch open lower cabinet for cookie sheets. sink A divided 30 inch lower with 2 12 in drawers and 2 12 inch pullouts. Pans on the bottom shelf and one pullout. Lids on the other pullout. Utensils and knives in one drawer. Spices in the other range 2 oddly shaped cabinets, upper and lower. Upper was too small to put anything in. Lower was used for grill stuff. Pantry was also problematic. Small appliances top shelf. Pastas, pasta sauces, a few canned goods, popcorn, oatmeal, steel oats, etc. In conclusion (lol), I don't have a lot of fancy kitchen stuff to store. And, much of my old kitchen was a waste of space. I'm pretty sure that I've accounted for everything in the new kitchen, plus some. But, again, I'll go over everything with her. And, I'm sure she will tell me if something is screwed up. When I first went in there with my rough draft, she thought I wanted floating shelving surrounding the refrigerator. She came right out and said it was a stupid idea and it wouldn't work as a pantry. Then, we both realized we were misunderstanding each other and got on the same page. She won't pull any punches.