Hi! Would really love some help with lighting in my kitchen. We are currently installing stainless appliances and "Yellow River" granite with a cream color travertine backsplash. My walls are a butter yellow color. I have honey spice oak cabinets with Bronze hardware. I have one of those very large rectangle flourescent lights on the ceiling with an "old fashion" bulb type fixture above the sink. Need suggestions for something decorative to replace those lights. Would two pendant lights if they were shorter work? I do not have an island in the kitchen. Or one semi flush mount light? I also need to replace a ceiling fan over the table. I have a white one now which is also outdated. What color should I go with on the fan? Possibly a cream color one to pick up the cream travertine color? Or would a bronze one with dark blades work with the stainless? Thanks so much for any suggestions. Pics of a fixture would be great also!

Rebar is essentially what you described in your post. It is a thin strip of metal, maybe about 3/4" wide. It can be steel, zinc, iron, a metal that does not bend/inflexible. When used outside the glass, the rebar is placed on its side and is soldered to the joints/solder seams. Rebar from these materials can be challenging to solder since they don't take solder well. You can tin a thin wire (like a paperclip) to soldered seams to hold wire in place and then twist the wire to the rebar. I couldn't see any metal rebar on the piece, which is why I suggested. Where is it located? Usually it is fairly easy to spot since, especially in your piece there are not a lot of straight lines. Rebar can be unsightly since often it goes across the entire piece (in a straight line) and can be visible to the naked eye. Depending on size of the piece, there are often several rebars added (all going in same direction). One can see them in a lot of old stained glass construction, like in church pieces, etc. The preferred method today is to plan reinforcement during design stage and hide it within two pieces of glass during construction stage. Did the fireplace screen come encased in metal channel framing around each piece? When screen was dismantled, was the metal frame around the pieces left in tack? I would think so, since each of the perimeter glass pieces are attached/soldered to the metal framing. Metal framing also helps keep the piece together. I would not recommend using plexiglass. It's too flexible, so I don't think it would not buy you anything. The glass piece is much heavier than the plexiglass. Following your thoughts, a better option than plexiglass, *might* be clear glass. Glass doesn't bend, per say, it just breaks. HTH!

Bronze hardware is a neutralized and darkened orange. Orange and gray are not the most harmonious of colors. I'd go with satin chrome or nickel if you can afford it. Good luck on your project.

I had satin nickel hardware in my kitchen before and was really hoping to do something different, which is why I was considering a matte black or gold option. What about doing satin nickel for the faucet and light fixtures and hardware either gold or black?