I think a nice pointy baldcypress would be good contrast to the rounded crown of your dogwoods. As a bonus, it's native. I know you said smallish, but it will keep a narrow crown, and if you had an oak anyway... Just water it well until it's established.

You all raise great points and I'll try to answer some here. No, I haven't seen them in person, which is partly why I asked the question about focal points - I think it's easier when looking at them up close and online to obsess rather than once you see them hanging. Plus I'm not sure about the glare. I think they are beautiful, but I wondered if IRL they would just look like any other type of glass pendant. I actually found them here but I can't remember the user's name. They looked beautiful in her kitchen, though. NYCbluedevil, your beehive pendants are part of my inspiration! I loved them but they are WAAAY out of my budget. I do wonder about the shadows and glare to some extent - both my parents had migraines and I occasionally get super horrible headaches (not sure they're technically a migraine or not). However, I have good recessed lighting and UCL already and would probably use these as more of an accent, less for task. I'm attaching a photo, but am hanging my head in shame at what you're seeing. The bases are IKEA and the drawer/door fronts are arriving from Scherr's today, so half of my stuff is in but not covered and the other half is still out, so it looks horribly cluttered. My counters are also not in yet so I'm using plywood at the moment. You obviously can't get a great idea but maybe an overall snapshot of the shape of the kitchen and how the pendants will be viewed. The peninsula will have a rainbow-shaped counter where we'll put chairs, so seating will be there as well. As for adding personality - I have bright fiestaware, which will be displayed behind glass doors, so I want to bring out those colors but also don't want the kitchen to move to resembling a clown. I had considered colored pendants but nothing speaks to me, so the personality I thought I'd bring in would be in the counter stools (with a funky print on them) and a throw rug. I like deb's pendants and also considered something like those or restoration hardware's benson pendants. Even at $200, that's a $150 savings when you buy 3. However, because of the size of my kitchen, I thought I may need something that was clear rather than colored so the eye doesn't stop. I like that one from ebay, too (and the price!)...the rest of my house is not modern but more transitional, so I think I can get away with something a little funky. Thanks for making it through my l-o-n-g thought process!

Good morning. Fun to see some action on this thread, I wasn't sure it would take off. I don't get the red accents in the picture that started this off, either. I do like how the cabinets/ss relate to the stone. Mostly, I was struck by that stone mimicking a landscape, cut like a mountain. It's a very good point that the BS will trump the counters when the same materials are used, given how our eye sees the vertical versus horizontal application. My comment was meant more in reference to how a calm, even solid, counter is often indicated to balance a busy, focal-point BS - as is shown in many of the subsequent examples. @coastal love - Can't wait to see! How exciting to be at that point. @ICF - Those tiles appear to be magical. They look so different close up than at a distance. I would have never assumed they had so much color variation had I just seen the close-up. Of course, that could all be the camera, I suppose. The texture is so interesting! How great to have your elements chosen. When do you expect to be started/done? @sas95 - I do love that tile. I think I just recently saw your kitchen for the first time. You and willtv are both reminding me that I should have been more specific in my introduction. Subways don't have to be a neutral field, any more than any other size/type of tile. Which reminds me... @Bellsmom, you make a great point that it's not just about color, it's about the lines. Lovely tile - and the solid-looking counter really contrasts with it and makes it stand out. @CluelessinColorado - If your link isn't the exact thing I was thinking of, it is very representative of what I was trying to get at. I actually really like that, though I don't think I could manage to make it work. There's just something so organic and simple, yet so very distinct at the same time, about it. I'm still very curious how my BS window will end up playing into this discussion - and what I am going to do with my non-window wall. I really, really need to get inspired and find some idea boards, inspiration pictures or a darn direction. At this point, I'd settle for 2-3 clear options. I don't want to hire a KD, really, but I'm beginning to wonder if I should. In the meantime, I keep lurking and surfing and playing.

I always wondered why anyone - even those with Wolf ranges & fancy cooktops - made their range the focal point of the kitchen... Easily explained. It' a primal thing...fire and all that. Home & hearth. A cooking range replaces the campfire, the open fireplace. And it's hard to imagine a cooker like an Aga, some of the French ranges, a Chambers or even an Okeefe & Merrit NOT being a focal point. It's not like they can hide away (unlike an induction cooktop). Conversely, I can't imagine a refrigerator--not even a Big Chill nor a glass front SZ--ever being a focal point--without it being disguised as something else, like say an elaborate armoire. Even though a refrigerator contains Life's Blood (food!), it's just cold and doesn't have the ambience of fire. All that aside, perching a huge plastered hood over an induction cooktop does seem a bit incongruous...kind like wearing a Ten Gallon hat with ballet slippers... I vote for something sleeker and making the island the focus.