jx, I was talking about the light that goes through the glass, not downwards. With a directional bulb, you don't have much of that "through light." But a directional bulb also tends to make the glass look more opaque and cut down on general light in the room.

Hey melrogirl, It depends, I think, if you want the new pendant lights to be the focal point of the kitchen or not. If you do want these new lights to be the focal point, then have them not be brushed nickel but the Tiffany style or the red colour. If you want some other part of the kitchen to be the focal point, keep with the brushed nickle style. In our kitchen we want the flooring (dark hardwood) and the counter top (quartz) to be the focal point, so we have light cabinets and all hardward (faucets, cabinet handles, etc.) and non-recessed lighting (i.e. pendants) are of the brushed nickel (actually, come to think of it our kitchen sounds a little like yours, except we have no red). And, the cabinet handles are thin so they blend in and do not draw visual attention away from the countertop and flooring. Heck, even the kitchen sink matches the off-white cabinets to it does not attract attention (reminds me of a kitchen sink joke :-) ) The eye will gravitate to contrasts. Its a question of what you want the eye to gravitate to. I've included a link below to one of the articles on our blog about our recent kitchen makeover experiences, including pictures of our kitchen, which may help. Dan Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen Remodeling - Colour Coordination Critical

I had a very hard time posting the pics so I reposted under heading" lighting help please" with photos. Thanks!!!

Pendant lights for this situation are best going to be centered on the island and in the first / third quadrant farthest away from the stove. Centered because the eye will look at the island as the anchor and in the first / third so that they emphasize and encourage people to sit at the bar and engage with you. Enjoy and let us know how it turns out!