Would this be the only light over your sink? Got a picture. I’m not seeing that vanity light working out well for you. jmho

I'm sorry, I don't remember your kitchen sink area...can you post a pic?

Yes, it will be the only one right over the sink but there will be at least 4 pot lights or recessed lights around the whole kitchen and over the island. The kitchen is very small and has a lot of light that comes into it from the window and glass French doors. I'm just wondering if a vanity light will look odd here.

Should I do something like this instead? Orren Ellis 1 - Light LED | Wayfair

Is that the wiring for it to the right? If so, could you run trim higher above the window, hide the wires behind it, and mound a single light centered on the wall?

Five hundred dollars is a lot of money but if you have it I would go ahead and put up a light. To me it would be worth it.

I'd prefer a hanging fixture to a recessed light. You want light at the sink -- not on the top of your head. Also, that nice window isn't going to help you after dark.

I can't see why running a wire to the ceiling would cost so much more than up the wall. However, if it does, it does. This is something you'll be cursing every night after dinner if you don't have good light there.

I'd prefer a fixture with less clear glass; too hard to keep looking nice.

Bpath, yes, that's the wiring. The wire isn't long enough to put a single light up. It would have to be completely removed and redone.

It costs so much because they'd have to remove the too short wire and rewire it through the ceiling to do the pot lighting.

Could you put a piece of trim or something like a cornice board that spans from one cabinet to the other over the sink to hide a light fixture?

That's what was there before. Seems to be old fashioned though. lol.

So do you need the backplate of the light to cover where the wiring is located?

Definitely no to the Orin Ellis light

Will you have undercabinet lighting?

I'd pay the money to have it done right, but if it's out of your reach, I'd rather have a pendant off a hook in the ceiling so it hangs in the right spot and swagged over to the box...especially if he could move the box near the cabinet and somehow disguise it as much as possible. Maybe with a simple brushed metal canopy to blend with the cabinets...or something almost flush to the wall that could be painted out to match.

But a bath fixture is going to look like a bath fixture. And your beautiful new kitchen deserves better.

You could put a long canopy along the wall and just use the center hole for the light and swag it, but this canopy alone costs almost $200, so you're almost halfway to the cost of having him install it above. https://www.thelightingshop.com/lighting/18-2046-11247-0-925918/Quorum_Accessory---36-Inch-3-Light-Pendant-Canopy-7-3-86.htm?source=rr

Those bath lights are not going to give you the light that you would get with the ceiling light. I just changed out some bath lighting & I used the first fixture that you posted & I am still unhappy with the amount of light that it gives. You need a ceiling light that shines directly down on the sink, not the back of your head.

Blfenton, yes.

MayMay99, possibly later. I was looking at them at Lowes the other day.

Annie, I do have the money but I don't want to spend that much for one light. The contractor who is doing the flooring was supposed to give me an estimate for the lighting but hasn't yet. He is the one that suggested the in-the-ceiling recessed pot light. I like the look of them better than the pendant lights that hang down.

Apparently, the electrician who was here today said there was no problem putting in multiple pot lights in the area around the island because the current fixture has a box, where they can splice all the other lights to. I don't know if the contractor was planning to splice one from that light all the way to sink area or what? Then it wouldn't be connected to the light switch by the sink. It would come on when the overhead lights would come on. So, not sure, if that was the case, why he put a new light switch and cover there if he was planning to not use it. I'm going to have to talk to him. I'm not an electrician and clueless.

I have a pendant over my sink, and I would not want anything else:

It goes with the lighting above the kitchen table:

As you can see, I also have recessed lighting in the ceiling, and usually that is all I need, even though there are only four.

The swing arm could be a great solution

It costs so much because they'd have to remove the too short wire and rewire it through the ceiling to do the pot lighting.

Alternative would be to use the existing box for a junction box and run a wire up through the wall plate and over to a box centered on the ceiling. The existing box on the wall then has to be covered with a solid plate (wiring must be accessible). You can paint the cover plate to match the wall color and leave as is. Not ideal but not horrible, horrible either. Or hang something decorative in that space that is long enough to hide the junction box. Should be quite a lot less expensive than $500. I would get a quote for comparison.

The industry is going NUTS over these single lights....yes...I installed 2 at my house...in a bedroom....highend catalogues are even selling them....Link (I paid $15 each for these, an open box on Ebay). Link

Edit: These are the EXACT ones I purchased....they have more...Link LNC is a good brand.

It doesn't look like this fixture would fit in the intended spot - the mounting hole isn't that far below the ceiling.

kathsgrdn, I think many bad decisions are made in kitchens by choices emphasizing appearance and putting function in a secondary position. Work areas need bright lighting - dimmers work well to tone them down when work isn't being done. Find fixtures that will provide enough light and then choose an acceptable design from among them. Not the other way around.

I don't think there is enough room for that LNC fixture, either. It is cool looking but I would not put it above a sink even if there was enough room. Reason being: It will need to be cleaned/ dusted often & will require a ladder to get to it.

I don't like pendants hanging over a window...just don't like the look. Would much rather have a ceiling mounted recessed or flush/ semi flush light.

Ci_lantro, that's the reason I was okay with the recessed lighting. Right now there is track lighting over the island and I hate getting up there and trying to clean it. It has so many nooks and crannies that it's hard to do. The whole reason I wanted cabinets up to the ceiling, no climbing and cleaning above them needed. I doubt I'll even be using the top two shelves in any of the cabinets. My little step stool isn't tall enough for me to get up there and I don't have enough stuff to put in there anyway. Trying to make things easier on myself as I age.

You want light at the sink -- not on the top of your head.

A properly positioned recessed light is not over the top of your head. Mine is over the faucet.

I doubt I'll even be using the top two shelves in any of the cabinets.

They're a great place to store stuff you rarely use.

Judi, there's just so many drawers now that I don't think I'll need those shelves. I'm trying to figure out what to put in the massive cabinet over the fridge. It's big enough to hide a body in. lol. Not even sure I'll use the little upper cabinets on either side of the stove. There are drawers on the lower cabinets there that I could put all my spices that were once stuffed into the one little upper cabinet next to the stove. Then there's the massive lazy susan in the corner cabinet. No idea what I'm going to put in there either. I see very bare counters because I'll be able to put everything away now, except the microwave/convection oven combo thing my son gave me.

Katsgrdn, I store Holiday decor, candles etc on my top shelves of my upper cabinets & the big one over my fridg & ovens.

Kathsgrdn, doesn't have to be kitchen stuff you store in that extra space.

In my old kitchen I had practically everything on the counters. My pantry was so small and I had limited cabinet space. I absolutely loved being able to put things out of sight in the new kitchen.

Oh, and btw, I had a scalloped wooden valance over my sink that hid a hideous fluorescent light. I will say, in 25 years that bulb only had to be replaced once. Still, I was glad to see it go!

Ellen Kennon, of canned paint fame, has swing arm lights at her kitchen sink. I really think that might be your best bet.

Well, I do have two empty bedrooms with closets, a shrunk and three hall closets. Trying to downsize my stuff. I've already given away a bunch of stuff to my daughter. I'm going to go through all the junk that was in my shrunk and cabinets before putting them back. Good time to clear more stuff out.

Judi, I had one of those valances and fluorescent lights too. I don't remember ever changing it. I've been in this house around 18 or 19 years. I can't even remember when I bought it. That's not good.

Well, according to Zillow, I've only been here 18.

I’ll keep an open mind about the swing arm lights over the sink (the second in the last set of pictures looks like a rain showerhead to me!) but I don’t see it working in the limited space between Kath’s window and the 8’ ceiling. I hate the option in the OP, it would look like a misplaced bathroom light. $500 is a lot of money for one light, but task lighting is so important in the kitchen. I agree with Elmer, function first then work out the form. I’d be open to either a pendant or recessed. And yes, either way it would have to be set back to clear heads, both physically and shadow-wise.

It would drive me crazy if there wasn’t some sort of symmetry and I would personally prefer a hanging pendant, such as what Lars posted. It would he 100% worth it to have the wiring reworked properly to make it work. As much as pot lights are nice in the overall room, I would not want one over the sink/in front of the window.

And i would not add a cornice over that beautiful window.

I have a pendant light over my sink and honestly never use it. I love ny under cabinet lights, and use them the most, and when cooking use an overhead light as well. I’m not a fan of potlights and don’t have them. I also would not to a cornice ober the window.

With the distance you have from sink to ceiling, a hanging pendant would give you the best task lighting. We use ours a lot--especially in the winter when the window is a dark hole sucking out light at dish washing time.

As much as pot lights are nice in the overall room, I would not want one over the sink/in front of the window.

I much prefer a recessed light over the sink. Nothing to block the window view or need to clean.

We buit the house we're living in as a second home about 33 years ago. We've since expanded it to live comforably here fulltime, I can honestly say our only, and constant, regret was skimping on kitchen lights. We still have the original hanging light fixture over the sink, which is a probably out-of-style stained glass shade with a large globe bulb but we both still love it. We only put 3 cans in the ceiling over the counters (it's a u-shape galley kitchen) because we wanted to save money. We later installed a large close-to-the -ceiling potrack where several other cans should have gone. The potrack is very functional, but we curse the darkness and have had to use a tall buffet-style lamp on the counter so we can see what we're prepping.

So with that hindsight and the number of years of regret, I hope you can find a fixture that will function well for you and make you happy.

Edited to add: If you use $500, over the course of the first year, that will be roughly $1.37/day...over 2 years it would be 68¢ per day. Wish we had figured that out when we nickled and dimed our kitchen lighting...

Cover plate for junction box.

Take the power from the junction box to the ceiling and use a cover plate. Paint it same as wall.

This is what I did on the ceiling in the basement instead of having to tear out a bunch of the drywall ceiling. (Picture is not my install.) You very quickly learn to 'unsee' it. Not sure that anyone else would even notice anyway.

Install a $10 recessed disk LED in the ceiling. May be least expensive solution, depending on how spendy a purposed decorative light fixture gets and how much Sparky wants to charge. Should be lots less than the $500 quote because much less hassle to run a short wire from JBox to ceiling vs pulling long wire runs.

So, @Kathsgrdn, about that light fixture............... What did you end up doing? Curious minds want to know.

jrb451, nothing yet. The contractor who may do the work is coming over Tuesday to start the flooring and will give me an estimate and we are going to talk about the lighting. After looking at a bunch of pendant lights I'm leaning towards the recessed light over the sink.

I Paid my contractor $500 to install a new led pot light in my newly remodeled bathroom to have more light near the shower. I am very happy with it which helps lessen the pain of the cost.

I had a similar situation in my old house and I just put up two lights instead, since I didn't want to mess with redoing the wiring, etc., to have one centered. However, good swing arms lights are probably going to be over $500 by the time you get two of them and do the install....

I talked to the contractor and decided to go with the pot light over the sink. He is going to do what Cil antro suggested. That is, if his quote to do all the remaining things isn't too much. He hasn't given me the total yet.

Just this past month I paid an electrician to install 7 new boxes, for the use of disc LEDs, in the basement ceiling - he ran new romex wiring to them instead of using the very old wiring. That price included running wire up to the basement light switch at the top of the basement stairs, and installing a timer switch (because I have been forgetting to turn off the lights.) He also checked the 4 outlets for function and removed wiring that was not connected anywhere and nonfunctional. Lastly, he replaced a breaker because it was too corroded. All that came to $750 for about 6 hours of work - more than estimated because he ran into some issues with the apparent DIY job done decades ago, and the corrosion in the breaker box.

So I would be surprised if fishing a wire a short distance to the ceiling location, and installing a 4" j-box for a disc LED (if that is what you are using and I would highly recommend) costs anywhere near $500. But, I think that you are in a smaller town probably with less competition for electricians.

Please let us know how it turns out!

I suggest you take the price it would cost to run the complete line, subtract the price it would cost to run the coupled line, and divide by a realistic estimation of how many days you expect to live in that house. Then decide if it’s worth a few pennies a day to not look at the junction box cover in such a prominent spot of your brand new kitchen.