You did not say what wattage the schoolhouse pendants would be. Also whether they are incandescent or fluorescent lights. Also, how high off the island to you plan to mount them? The schoolhouse pendants in general will give you a great quality of lighting. They will provide lots of ambient lighting, and you will get much more "bounce" from your white ceiling than your current light box. Ambient light is important to give an open feeling to a room. Your kitchen has dark floors and wall, so you do not get much reflected light from them. I am not a fan of recessed lights for general lighting because downlight is not good for people. It creates very unflattering long shadows on the face. Also, you get no uplight for the ceiling. Recessed lighting is great for task lighting. With your schoolhouse pendants, you can experiment with the height you mount the lights if you want more light on the island. If you have the room, you can mount a couple of adjustable recessed lights on either side of the island on the long dimension. Use PAR30 75W bulbs semi-spot, and angle them onto the island. The idea is to create cross lighting onto the island. I think you can get recessed fixtures that angle up to 30 degrees. This may not work because the hanging pendants will interfere with the light path from the angled recessed lights. One more piece of advice is to put the pendants and recessed lights on separate switches. You may find the pendants are enough light and only need to use them. Good Luck...

I'd try to learn to live with it instead of buying a new one. Are you completely convinced it's a safety issue, or is that influenced by the fact that you're unhappy it's not in the right place? I've had remodels where a few things weren't done right and it seemed a big deal at the time...later I didn't notice it.

Your over-sized clock is hung behind the door. : [ Your art is hung even with the top of the curtain rod : [ Time for the wallpaper border to say adios amigos. These are things I can see. I cannot see the areas you mention in the Design Dilemma. It is most always a mistake to buy a loveseat along with a matching sofa and oversized chair : [ Sectional in a small room = difficult

You measured. You have the inches, right? If it is too much trouble to move the tv/cable line or get a router, you buy a sofa LESS than 102 inches : ) for the shortest wall . I would limit my self to 90 inches including arms. At that point? You put a desk under the window on the adjacent 160 inch wall. No more than 54 wide. And add an 8 x 10 rug. I assume this isn't the only tv in your home, it's for kids. They'll flop anywhere, including the floor. Or............. as drawing below" You have a friend add /splice cable line , run it around to the other 160 inch wall. Mount the tv next to that window, which gives the tv a better look. You have more space there. Then get a sectional . As below . That can be UP to 102 inches on the 160 inch wall and up to 96 facing the tv wall. It is all just inches ( and yes I wrote 72....you can fit 96 and not crowd the entry to the seating )It is drawn as 96" You can print that, and take it shopping. Locally, so no mistakes in sizing occur Or as Flo suggested, router..or splice that same cable line to get all the way to the 102 inch wall. and have basically the same sectional. Decide a firm location for tv, first.