I think this indirect lighting arrangement is called a "cove light". Is your kitchen ceiling lower than adjacent rooms? That is, is the existing flureschent fixture contained within a 9" deep soffit below the 8' ceiling or is it built into a recessed area above 8'? The former is more common. Assuming it's a dropped soffit, another option is to remove the soffit entirely, which would raise your kithcen ceiling by 9", and make the ceiling flush straight through. We just did this in our house. Of course you can't do both, and the cove light is cool, so I could imagine going either way. I'm glad we went with higher ceiling in our kitchen though.

GK5040 - I've been thinking of getting one similar to yours to go in my foyer. When you are looking at it from upstairs are the candle bulbs at about eye level? Judigal - It seems to me that if you were going to do one with glass shades that shades facing downward would be easier to keep clean. Of course the glass would get dusty anyway, so maybe not. I'm a terrible house keeper, so I always go the low maintenance route.

Good idea, zg. I'll suggest that she scour the attic for an old shade or go buy an el cheapo to test. Tib, she has thought of doing exactly what you suggest. However, because of the screwy way the lights were installed, if she were to put the chandelier over the island, which means it is over the sink, and if she hangs it at a pleasant height, whoever is at the sink will hit his/her head on the fixture. It is 28" diameter, considerably bigger front to back than most flat island lights, Well, I just had an interesting experience! I went to the Visual Comfort website to get the depth of the light fixture. Live Chat was up and running so I thought I would ask if they had information about the suitableness of this fixture for a kitchen. Before I could even ask my question, they wanted to know if I wanted a quote for a lesser price! They knocked off $110!! Also told me that additional shades were available. If I needed it, I would buy this fixture in a heartbeat!

Double check the requirement. A 40 watt equivalent is not the same as a 40 watt incandescent, so you should be able to use much brighter bulbs with more lumens (at a much cooler temp and with less wattage) You will definitely be able to use much brighter leds. We have the equivalent of 3 100 watt leds in our dining light and it is BRIGHT at full. I did have to replace our existing dimmer with an led compatible dimmer (ended up using Lutron Caseta). Just be aware that different brands of LEDs, even when they are listed as warm may have a slightly different quality and hue of light when dim. I forget what brand I bought but it was whatever was at Lowes and seems a slightly greenish when dim, but that may also be a factor of the glass shade. I may eventually try the Phillips ones that dim to a warmer more yellow hue.