I highly recommend LED bulbs; we have about 100 3.6W MR16-style LED bulbs in our house in 3" mini-can housings, all at about 4500K (neither warm nor cool white). Each gives about as much light as a 35-40W halogen bulb. Our 19 x 21' kitchen has 15 for general lighting, plus the following task lighting: 4 over our 13' counter with main sink; 8 over our 5 x 9' main island; and 4 over our 3'3" x 9' small island. The 72" wide range hood came with ten 40W PAR20 bulbs but light a 9' wide area including range and landings; we'll be replacing the 40W bulbs with 5W dimmable LED bulbs. This is a good amount of light, not too much, not too little. Well, in the range hood area 50W of LED bulbs (equivalent to about 500W of halogen lights) is actually too much light but it's dimmable, not that my wife will use any setting but MAX. (There are also 10W LED bulbs available, but my wife has no self control when it comes to light and WILL burn out her retinas if I let her.) The standard medium base "Edison" bulb is not a form factor well suited to LEDs because while filaments (tungsten, halogen) are point sources and radiate in all directions, LEDs are VERY directional and have limited dispersion (15-60 degrees). Most LED medium base bulbs have more LEDs pointing outward with very few pointing up, some nearly exclusively point upward (downward in a pendant application). The distribution and "point" of the individual LEDs will affect whether the ambience (outward glow) or the task function (downward lumens) will work. Most pendant shades do have an inner white lining to even out the light distribution, and that will improve your downward light output for task lighting. LED color is tricky as well, as many are very cool white and won't give you that warm glow you expect from the pendant shade. A warm white (3000-3500K) bulb will give you the best ambience, whereas a pure white (4000-4500K) will give you the best task lighting. Another caution: pendants spaced too far apart look odd, but too close looks worse. I would recommend a spacing of about every 2-3'. Also, there should be ideally 3, or 4 max. Slimmer/smaller ones can be spaced a little closer and you can have more of them and still look fine. There are metallic shades (if modern works for your kitchen) that will give you a lot more task lighting. Here is a link that might be useful: [Houzz Pendant Light Ideabook[(https://www.houzz.com/magazine/kitchen-islands-pendant-lights-done-right-stsetivw-vs~158689)

Oh my I see this has been rejuvenated! I ended up with another thread because I kept finding potential lights. It's funny because the one luckytiff liked, I did like but no one else seemed to think it belonged... I ended up ordering this one about a month ago and of course, it is out of stock everywhere, but will be shipped in mid april which is now not so far away. As for the height, they will be over the island only, and I plan to hang them on the high side.(if I remember correctly, they should typically be between 30-40" from the countertop. mine will be that but towards the higher spectrum)

Checked out Hubbardton Forge, nice stuff, not exactly the right sizes or colors. But a very nice line. While at Lamps Plus I did see the Kichler Montara Collection 24 1/2" Wide Pendant light with umber glass. It's a bit old world and might have to be shortened but the price was certainly right! I've also seen ONLINE this porcelain fixture, but I hate to buy something like this sight unseen! I have about 114" from the beam to the floor and a pendant will spread the light better as well as look better mounted on the beam. That leaves about 7 ft from the floor and this will/should sit over the large square glass/wood coffee table. Here is a link that might be useful: Fixture choice

It's 25 percent of the view lost, and a head banger. I detest pendants in front of a sink window unless no other method, and a flush mount or recessed situation is better, almost always. You lean over a sink all the time........the reason no cabinets are place above : ) You would have to hang that so high, the "pendant" effect would be lost. Look for something you can love in a FLUSH mount.,,,,,,don't block the view.Or add recessed, and save the dangles for island or table in the kitchen.