Jon1270 - This is awesome! Thank you so much. This is closer to what we had expected. First, the position of the cans at the counter edge, then the placement at the peninsula. I felt the cans should surround the sink, your suggestion does just that. We already have undercounter lighting at the places you recommend, in addition to the upper displays - the one forgotten one was the light in the niche over the range. We had an electrical run for it, but forgot to order a light for it so will do that as well. And yes, we were very uncertain about placing a can above the range. We have quite the powerful lighting in our range hood already plus an ambient light bar there as well. It seemed to be overkill, plus the range hood sticks out as far as the range. We're considering a hanging light over the island that is about 28x28 - do you think this is too large/small and regardless still in need of cans flanking either side of the light? Also, do you think having no cans between the island and the peninsula will leave 'dark holes'? It is about 8ft from the center measure of the island to the center of the peninsula. I think the lighting specialist we visited with (who actually visited us) was trying to keep the lights symmetrically in line. And while we are symmetrical with lots of what we do, the suggestions just didn't feel right for us. Yours do. Thank you again.

Thanks for all the great responses! I appreciate you all taking the time to chime in. Oakleyok, the child's chair belonged to my DH's grandparents -the matching "adult chair" resides with his uncle -- no one sits on the little chair, but we like having it on display Rosie, I will work on a floor plan. I have been busy with other things but decided I need to do this so we are ready to entertain this fall. We rarely if ever actually use the fireplace (maybe 3 times in the 25 years we have lived here). You stated it beautifully "You need a room that invites people in and allows them to circulate freely and then find a seat that fits them and, in a few cases, that can be turned to join a conversation or face a speaker, like that nice scroll-arm chair. " My question is how to create a "room that invites people in". Ellendi, we do have a love seat and sofa now because that's what we had when we lived in New York -- 2 sofas sound appealing to me because we can always use more seating -- when you say to line up the sofas with the fireplace, I assume you mean perpendicular to the fireplace and not parallel -is that right? -the chairs are just near the round table because we brought the table from NYC and then my MIL gave us those chairs when she downsized -- we love the china cabinet -we bought it when we were first married and lived in London - it might fit in our dining room but unfortunately that it is the one room in the house that is small -we do sometimes bring in dining room chairs for our meetings and parties Teacats -thanks for the advice about how to use our existing furniture -our sofa is shot, so we will be replacing that and probably the love seat at the same time --it is an excellent point about covering up the air grate -i will have to find something that can be in front of it without blocking airflow -maybe a table with slim bench chairs underneath -and i like the idea of a tall mirror over the fireplace Camlan -i love your suggestion of moving our current furniture around to figure out what works for us -we do not use our dining room much as we have a breakfast room connected to the kitchen where we usually eat -we never go to the dining room from the entry way -and i don't think our friends do so often either One other point -- we are willing to consider a different rug - I like this rug a lot (it has some of Omar Khayyam's Rubiat on it) -but DH thinks we should get something more modern -and we could, of course, get a different size Thanks again!

Yes, another option is to only use one of my leather chairs and have an "everyday" arrangement and then pull up extra seating when necessary. So, this would seat 4-5. And then I'd pull up the extra rattan chair and the two ottomans to seat 8. Or does it seem unbalanced having the larger leather chair and the smaller rattan chair flanking the fireplace?

First, I would encourage you to consult a lighting designer before making a final decision on recessed can sizes and types, and placement. Many independent lighting stores have a designer on staff that can help you if you bring in your plans. That being said, your H's plan looks solid, but I would add another can to the left of your sink, given that it will be a prime prep and storage area (but the size of the cans and their spread will help to determine that choice one way or the other). I would also put 4 cans over your island, given that it's a prep & sitting space.