[Here's the sort of fixture I would like to see you use if you want a contemporary look, and you could use 2 of these, or you could find shorter ones and use 3 of them. I suggest you go to a lighting store for help in order to determine how much light you will need.[(https://www.houzz.com/products/fornes-72-24w-4-led-pendant-glossy-white-prvw-vr~38527410)

Clear glass pendants show every spec of dust and are difficult to clean. I’ve stopped recommending them for this reason.

Do you have some sort to ceiling light, as well? Recessed LED cans- anything like that? I've always thought of pendant lights as augments and possibly task lighting, not the whole plan.

I would do 2-3 large open lighting pieces and call it a day. It will look cluttered with a bunch of small pendents. Go larger it will make more of a statement and look cleaner.

That is a lot of pendants. Not only a lot of glass to clean, but a lot of visual clutter. I suggest sticking with 2-3 large pendants.

What is your overall lighting plan?

Pendants are usually accents or task lighting over island, but should not be relied on as the only lighting in the kitchen. With proper lighting from cans and such, 2-3 pendants will be plenty.

Edison bulbs like the ones you show in your photo (from Restoration Hardware?) won't give you the task lighting you really need/want. If you post a picture of your current kitchen space, we can be much more helpful about the style of pendants to choose, but in general, pendants with the shades pointing downward with dimmable LEDs are a great option. If you don't want the light to be too "cold", go with a warmer temperature range at roughly 3000 to 3500 Kelvin.

In answer to your question Carolyn, the house is modern - this is my upstairs area (the start of my personal kitchen) ... thinking of doing my "cooking class" kitchen downstairs along the same lines but with some wood detail to break all the white. This is where the kitchen will go downstairs.

Will take the glass comments on board and starting trolling the sites and shops for other light fixture ideas.

Much appreciated for all the input

Three of these could work, depending on what other lighting you have in the space.

Lan Colson Led 32" Island Pendant, Chrome · More Info

Never thought of something like that - think I had been fixated on glass pendants. Thanks for broadening my thinking Carolyn ... Like your idea :)

If you are fixated on warmer light, you could also consider getting a "dim to warm" light fixture. They are relatively new to the market and there isn't much available just yet. But a quick search finds something like:

It is 3000K at full brightness. That's an appropriate day-time color temperature for most residential settings. But if you dim it down to darker "mood light" brightness, the color temperature drops to 2000K. That's a decidedly warm tone and more on par with what you might be used from dimmed incandescent lights.

Thanks for the "up to date" info - didn't know about these type of fixtures. Will definitely investigate further.

For a teaching situation such as you are creating, 3000 Kelvin LED lighting would be an excellent choice. I can't see any time you'd need 2000 K in a cooking class.