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Here are the 2 pendants Shakalaka is talking about: Green Pendant (40 Watt bulb) Sundance Pendant (40 Watt bulb) Pottery Barn Chandy for over dining table (75 Watt Bulb): White shade chandy for over dining table (3 60 Watt E26 bulbs): And then the overstock link had an entire page of chandeliers. I wasn't sure which one was up for voting. I think both of the pendants are very attractive. The problem for me would be the 40W light. I like to have more light over my island because that's where I prep. If you have recessed lighting in addition to these pendants, you might be all right. I think then they would serve more as a beautiful accent in your kitchen rather than a really functional prepping light. Of the 2 chandeliers, I like the Pottery Barn Globe more, but that's my personal taste. My concerns with that kind of light are that it might glare in your eyes since the bulb is uncovered, unless it is hung high enough. Also, you'd have to commit to keeping the glass clean. Okay for some folks, but I might let it slide and then suddenly notice, one day, that I had a fuzzy chandelier!! Hopefully you'll get more votes to help you with photos. We are very visual people!

Susha hit the nail on the head. When it comes to lighting, good lighting design generally considers three types of lighting, and often they are combined in an intelligent way in major rooms: Ambient lighting, task lighting and accent lighting. I disagree that table and floor lamps are necessarily the best lighting for tasks or for ambient lighting. While they may assist in these functions, the strongest asset for table, floor and fixtures such as chandeliers is accent lighting. These fixtures create an important and inviting "glow", calling attention to themselves in often attractive ways, and help "humanize" an interior space. Recessed or surface mounted "can" lights may be used either for ambient or task lighting, but are best suited for task lighting since in most cases the light is directed vertical down from their location. The number of lights and their type/wattage depends on the purpose for which they will be used and the ceiling height or distance of light throw. There are a number of tables which give lighting data for various fixtures. To solve your question you really needed an experienced lighting designer or engineer to walk through your house with you. Good luck!

C4 has higher levels of complaints from homeowners than other systems. In our own case we've had TV's and stuff turn on in the middle of the night, difficulty getting stuff to turn on, and recently when we select to watch cable it's fine until about a minute later when it auto switches to Apple TV. C4 does not write many of their own drivers so we've recently been caught without the ability to control all of the LIFX lamps in our house with our C4 system as before since the company who provided the driver was purchased by someone else who discontinued it. That's a rather major problem that C4 don't seem to want to rectify. It's possible that some of the problem is as much with the installer/programmers as with the system itself. Other companies have much more stringent requirements for who they will allow to do installs than C4 does. So perhaps a C4 system installed by someone who is also certified for Savant or RTI might be a good budget option. Overall though, those I mentioned above are more reliable systems and have more reliable installers/programmers than C4. BTW, jury is still out on Elan. They seem to have possibly gone downhill recently.