Thanks for all of the input!!! It sounds like a pendant may not be in my future. I loved the idea of it but as I was looking at it more, I was worried that there might be too much going on there. I was having second thoughts and wanted to get opinions from all of you. Holly-Kay: we are planning on changing out the chandelier above the table to a bronze finish to tie in with the darker wood and fireplace things. But I see how a pendant above the sink might be too much. Snookums2: we removed the dark screens and it looks much better. I can't wait for everything to get started! I thought about tiling to the ceiling but wasn't sure since our cabs don't go to the ceiling. We are going to add a taller crown but nowhere near ceiling height. That may be the subject of another post. Nosoccermom: great idea about hanging a balloon. I don't have photoshop but maybe I could cut and paste something there and post again. Thanks for the suggestions!

For the uplight, you could go a few routes, especially with respect to dimming functionality. And some fixtures don't support dimming, so you need to figure that out. To that end, I suggest you think through the use cases. For example, the use case that I think I'd appreciate most is late evening, after you've retired to another room of the house, at which time a mellow indirect glow from the skylight cutout would be particularly pleasant. You might also want the more light from this source on occasion, in which case you'd want brighter lights on a dimmer. That being said, here's some options. I'm thinking two, centered on the skylights, mounted near the bottom rim of the cutout (just above the beam probably). Regarding the pendant, I know that selecting pendants is hard enough without more to think about, but one downside of a single pendant vs multiple pendants is thhat single sources create worse shadows. And the clear glass pendants above exacerbate this harsh shadow problem by being point sources, whereas the Fillsta, for example, mitigates this problem because it's effectively a uniform 31" sphere of light. This large diffuser also makes it possible to use a brighter source. For example, you could put a 300W equivalent CFL in the Fillsta, but such a bright light would be unacceptably harsh in a point source like the clear glass pendants above.

I like them all, but not number 2, but maybe that one will work for your taste- it's just not mine. I really like 3 and 4 (the one your husband likes).

It might seem like semantics, but there are no "rules" of spacing lights. It is based on fixture size, lumens, throw, and the use and design of the space. When you do enough of a design though, basic patterns start repeating for the same set of variables. For a proper lighting layout, I would suggest drawing the plan to scale. Use 1 square = 6" and show thickness of walls. It looks like you are adding lighting to an existing untouched kitchen. So soffits, stove hood/cab above, and cabinet above ref usually act as snags to think about.