I highly recommend LED bulbs; we have about 100 3.6W MR16-style LED bulbs in our house in 3" mini-can housings, all at about 4500K (neither warm nor cool white). Each gives about as much light as a 35-40W halogen bulb. Our 19 x 21' kitchen has 15 for general lighting, plus the following task lighting: 4 over our 13' counter with main sink; 8 over our 5 x 9' main island; and 4 over our 3'3" x 9' small island. The 72" wide range hood came with ten 40W PAR20 bulbs but light a 9' wide area including range and landings; we'll be replacing the 40W bulbs with 5W dimmable LED bulbs. This is a good amount of light, not too much, not too little. Well, in the range hood area 50W of LED bulbs (equivalent to about 500W of halogen lights) is actually too much light but it's dimmable, not that my wife will use any setting but MAX. (There are also 10W LED bulbs available, but my wife has no self control when it comes to light and WILL burn out her retinas if I let her.) The standard medium base "Edison" bulb is not a form factor well suited to LEDs because while filaments (tungsten, halogen) are point sources and radiate in all directions, LEDs are VERY directional and have limited dispersion (15-60 degrees). Most LED medium base bulbs have more LEDs pointing outward with very few pointing up, some nearly exclusively point upward (downward in a pendant application). The distribution and "point" of the individual LEDs will affect whether the ambience (outward glow) or the task function (downward lumens) will work. Most pendant shades do have an inner white lining to even out the light distribution, and that will improve your downward light output for task lighting. LED color is tricky as well, as many are very cool white and won't give you that warm glow you expect from the pendant shade. A warm white (3000-3500K) bulb will give you the best ambience, whereas a pure white (4000-4500K) will give you the best task lighting. Another caution: pendants spaced too far apart look odd, but too close looks worse. I would recommend a spacing of about every 2-3'. Also, there should be ideally 3, or 4 max. Slimmer/smaller ones can be spaced a little closer and you can have more of them and still look fine. There are metallic shades (if modern works for your kitchen) that will give you a lot more task lighting. Here is a link that might be useful: [Houzz Pendant Light Ideabook[(https://www.houzz.com/magazine/kitchen-islands-pendant-lights-done-right-stsetivw-vs~158689)

Well, it sounds like schoolhouse pendant wins!! Definitely in pewter? Is brushed nickel ok? (one manufacturer I'm looking at only offers that.) Faucet is chrome but it's the only chrome thing in the room, so that shouldn't make a difference, right? Would the brush nickel coordinate well enough with the appliances? I'd think so, but I'm no finish expert. EEEEE I'm getting so excited! I ordered all the appliances yesterday, should be in in 10 days! And my contractor just sent me a picture of the island in with the new floor!

I vote for 2 of the smaller pendants. I agonized over this decision too, and I found it helpful to take some bowls in the corresponding sizes, wrap them in alum foil, and coerce some volunteers to hold them in the proposed sites, just so I could get a visual perspective on my options.

There is no "size rule", but there are good principles for both proportion and for illumination. Some folks like "decorative" light fixtures, sometimes called chandeliers. Some folks, like me, don't like light fixture which call attention to themselves and attempt to dominate a space. Pendants can be large, complex and visually strong...or they can be small, simple and unobtrusive. Pendants can be clear and transparent, or they can be metallic and opaque. Thus, it's virtually impossible for anyone here to give you a definitive answer to your question, especially without seeing your house, the interior space and furnishings. If you are having trouble figuring out all of this, why don't you pay a designer for an hour's time and help you select pendants which will be workable and in good taste for the style of architecture of your house?