I find the direct bulbs with no covering to be intrusive. I don't like the glare and I find my eyes don't adjust to the different level of direct light very quickly. So, after looking intentionally or just glancing at the light, I see bright white spots.

Thank you so much! That is what I thought might happen, especially since my eyes aren't the best.

I also find the glare distracting, and in my house (we heat with wood) I feel like I’d be constantly dusting / cobwebbing fixtures like that, even though I like the look....

IMO if these are to be functional lighting they need to have the lighting pointing to the island not the ceiling and if you don’t want to be cleaning glass all the time these are not a good choice at all.

In your case, you should first pick the kind of bulbs you want to use and then figure out the fixtures. As Patricia notes, you want your light to point directly at the island, especially since they will be you main source of light. But you will probably also want some light cast out to the sides. And you are going to have to go for some really large bulbs if this is going to be your main lighting, so I'd look for dimmable bubs (reduce the light when you aren't tasking). If you want both task and ambient lighting, I don't see how you are going to get away from open-bottom glass covers.

I don’t like open bulb fixtures over islands. We have them in our rental and while I’d like to use them for task lighting over the island, i can’t. Having a powerful enough bulb in there can be annoying visually and the decorative bulbs don’t cut it.

Thank you all, for your help. I'm so happy I asked otherwise I think I would have made a mistake and ordered open cage pendants. I'm wondering about these with seeded glass. I think maybe seeded glass would cut down on the glare. What do you think?

Are these for "pretty light" or for actual task lighting?

Also, don't forget that you would never look at a pendant from that angle. You will see it from below.

These pendants will be lighting the island, along with track lighting above. We have high open beam ceilings and can only use track lighting, no cans.

So the track is for tasks and the pendants are mostly decorative?

I would say that although the pendants will be mostly decorative, any extra light from them will be appreciated.