I like to buy local when I can, and we did for our recent bath reno. I shopped alone to get an idea of what was out there at a local plumbing supply showroom and a local lighting store. Both very reputable and both where we bought original fixtures for our home. Then I went back to the plumbing house with my GC when it was time to pick out the plumbing fixtures. That didn't take long since I pretty much knew what I wanted. The sales guy had also helped us when we replaced a kitchen faucet and was actually the same guy who helped us when we built our house. For the lighting, it was a little harder, especially for one fixture, so my GC just told me to tell them he was the GC when I placed the order. It was easy. I compared prices to online prices and was pleasantly surprised. So I have supported local business and economy, and if anything goes wrong, I have much easier, if not better overall, recourse for getting a problem solved. And at a slightly better overall price.

I had good luck with shopping for light fixtures at Overstock.com. For example, I picked up five Kichler art-glass mini-pendants for my kitchen island for less than $25 each (including shipping charges!) Overstock had originally priced them at something like $59 but when I saw them and grabbed them, they were on sale for 60% off from Overstock's original price. At the time, my local lighting store had a very similar Kichler pendant light for sale at over $250! Overstock did not say that these were Kichler lights on their website but when the lights arrived, they were in Kichler boxes with the Kichler warranty cards still inside. And when I mailed in the warranty cards, Kichler accepted them. Just for comparison, here is a picture of one of my lights and linked below is a very similar Kichler light currently being sold for $210 at another online company that indicates the list price is $315. And you can bet that if my local lighting store has this newest version, they've got a price tag on it of at least $275. Apparently Kichler - and maybe most other lighting companies - changes their styles a little bit every year or so and gets rid of the old inventory by selling it off cheap to companies like Overstock.com. Then, eventually Overstock.com puts anything they've had in stock for awhile on sale too, so the discounts get even deeper. So, $25 for the model from last year (or maybe from 2 or 3 years back) versus $200+ for the very latest version??? I'll take last year's model - Thank you very much! BTW - With Overstock, oftentimes if you purchase enough at one time, they'll have free shipping and handling. And thus far, I've never had a problem with customer service with them. Here is a link that might be useful: VERY similar light from same manufacturer for $210

Soonermagic posted this in response to another query about the pendants: The island pendants are from westelm and are ridiculously affordable. They are my favorite low cost item in the whole house. I just checked westelm's website and it appears that they no longer sell those lights. Link to thread: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/build/msg110012455696.html?53

I haven't seen that one specifically but I've seen some similar on circa lighting's website. http://www.circalighting.com/details.aspx?pid=2020