Anyone? Babes in the woods - we really need some help from the smart folks here!

The first thing that I would do is ask your architect if he uses any particular lighting showroom when doing projects. Many showrooms do not charge for designing the lighting as long as you purchase it from them. Living in New York, you have the best of everything and should be able to find exactly what you want. Also, if you want some idea of what is out there today, visit some websites and look at what is being offered. If you want to do recessed lighting you can look at Nora, WAC Lighting, Lightolier and Juno. Nora and WAC are less expensive.

If you want to do track lighting along the sides of the beams you can look at the same sites. There is so much out there that it needs to be narrowed down as to exactly what you want. Hunting around may be the best bet you have at this point. The manufacturers above also do pendant lighting. I know that track lighting is distasteful to many people. However, it is also inexpensive to start with. What you would do is make certain that you have all the necessary track and track parts to start. Heads with track lighting can be added as you go along. They don't have to be purchased all at once. Many times we have done this for people who are on a tight budget.

The other point that I would like to make is that you look at your kitchen at night. Forget about the daytime. Most people tell those of us in lighting about all the sun the room gets. However, that only gets you light during the day.

Narrow down what you think you would like to do and take it from there.

Thanks, ilitem.
My architect is hard to get ahold of - unfortunately - but I'll ask him about which showrooms he prefers to work with.
What do you think would be a reasonable budget for fixtures for this kitchen - with recessed lighting and/or track lighting, plus some pendants for the island and some under cabinet lighting for 18" worth of cabinets?
Thanks!
Also - if anyone else has some concrete ideas for the space - we'd very much appreciate it.

My husband and I are renovating our early 1900s home. I agree wholeheartedly with ilitem about kitchen lighting after dark. We installed four pendants in the kitchen for two reasons: 1. downlighting on the work counters 2. ambience for those times after dark when we would turn off the massive overhead fluorescent fixture.

Is B302T the island? How much space do you have - length/width of the island? Have you considered low voltage monorail? It's flexible and allows you to create curves and spirals over a kitchen counter. Tech Lighting is the best for exacting standards, but also expensive. LBL Lighting is also good, less expensive.

We couldn't afford monorail, so we went with bronze Forecast Hollywood Hills pendants with fixed downrods.

ilitem mentioned WAC Lighting. You might want to look at the Art Bell mini pendant from WAC in purple. It's a true mini pendant - 5 inches high by 5 inches in diameter. A pendant with a smaller diffuser that offers a shot of color while providing excellent lighting is the G912. If you want visually larger mini pendants for the island, you could go with G618 or G712. All of them use halogen lighting, which is good for tasks.

These all come with the canopy, as well as a transformer to step down the line voltage to low voltage, so you can install them right into typical boxes.

Here is a link that might be useful: WAC Lighting options

Task lighting will depend on where your work surfaces are, and it's hard to tell, from that drawing, where your perimeter base cabinets begin and end, which openings are windows and which are doors.

OT, that little overhang with the two stools looks unworkably small to me. Your aisles are tight, and I fear you'll be tripping over those stools more than you'll be sitting on them.