Five pendants...advice please...

16 years ago

Our kitchen is going to be a working kitchen with a formal dining room behind it. Its peninsula is on a walkpath/hall leading to the dining room. The kitchen will be viewable from the dining table through a windowed pocket door and from one end of our new front lobby. I have 3 windows facing the street, the center window positioned over a double sink; this wall is parallel to peninsula with 6.5 feet between them. There are a pair of matching ceiling-hugging general purpose ceiling lights over the middle of the kitchen. Looking at the photo cited below will help you understand. Click adjacent photos for other views.

(Plan is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/37047502@N04/4644579827/ if that is helpful.)

We wired the future pendants on three different switches so that they're switched as 1) main sink light (should be at least 60 watt), 2) the two lights either side of it (left one is for baking area and has an undercab fluorescent to its left and right one is for general area near microwave and has undercab fluorescent to its right), and 3) the two over peninsula are on a dimmer switch and will serve the whole chopping station, prep sink, and peninsula sitters or buffet line. I hope the pendants in the windows will serve as a feature seen from the street in winter to welcome guests.

A lighting expert has told me that I can do 5 matching, OR 4 + 1 OR 3 + 2 OR 2 + 2 + 1, the latter probably being more variation than I could tolerate. The 4 + 1 configuration is very intriguing to me--I could put a larger fixture over the sink. But I'm finding that I will probably want more than 60 + 60 watts of incandescent on the peninsula also. That makes me consider a 3 + 2 pattern with the biggies over the window sink and the peninsula.

The ceiling fixtures are Besa ones that screw on and off for easy bulb changes. They match five others in the adjacent hall areas. Globe is Besa's mottled "carrera" glass, which is also available in rather plain, geometrically curved and "coolie hat" pendants also.

Decor is a mix of rather spare midcentury Scandinavian mod mixed with Federal era antiques. Windows will have summer-weight linen white window covering plus winter-weight Marimekko white printed fabric roman shades for insulation and morale. There's an eating nook on the walkpath with an antique-look light. The adjacent spaces will have shelves of books and a lot of wall-hung art pieces and I hope to display antique items, some of which are ironically ornate silver. I'm also dithering as to whether I should just put in minimal C-shaped pulls and handles or show my other personna and put in some ironically ornate ones.

==> Opinions about the pendants please. Conspicuous or inconspicuous? Matching or nonmatching as a set? Continue the white theme or break away? Match the ceiling fixtures or avoid matching? All minipendants or some bigger ones?

Here is a link that might be useful: Wired for 5 pendants

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Comments (4)

patty_cakes
16 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
I've always considered pendant lights to be decorative lights/task lighting than main lighting in a working kitchen. Why not use pendants in the areas you really want viewed from the front(over windows),and recessed lighting in the main center of the room? IMO, too many pendants, no matter how simplistic, is too many in an average size kitchen or any other room. Just my 2 cents. ;o)
sochi
16 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
I tend to agree with patty cakes - five pendants sounds like a lot, perhaps better to use just two or three accents and flush or recessed elsewhere? I wouldn't do five of one style at any rate - perhaps two or three large more dramatic (maybe red?) pendants where they make the biggest statement, the others could be smaller, practical white pendants. Two or three conspicuous, others less so.

I also vote for ironically ornate pulls and handles - sounds interesting and fun!
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formerlyflorantha
Original Author
16 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
I have about ten styles of pendants I'm looking at very seriously. Have decided to increase the amount I'm spending, which has increased the field.

This one is on demonstration ceiling at a local store. It's very intriguing, but it's 40 watt hallogen, which I'm not sure will be sufficient. Alpha "Blizzard"/"Fargo". DH and I admire it every time we visit the shop. Am considering 4 + 1 with these being the 4.

If I had it to do over again, I'd wire the peninsula for a single multi-light "billiard table" fixture, but DH would be furious if we changed now. We did the "hang the balloon" gig back when the wiring was going in to see what 5 felt like and we didn't feel bothered, but there was also a wall still standing between old and new kitchen at that time, so we couldn't view it very well from the corridor part of the room beyond the peninsula.

Here is a link that might be useful: Alpha lighting
formerlyflorantha
Original Author
16 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
I'm done. Amen! Went to lighting store to kick the wheels on the Alpha pendant mentioned in previous posting and found that a different item we've been considering was on the ultimate markdown sale--under $70 including state tax! They had six in stock so I bought five and I can't return them. Problem solved! Decision made!

Clerk's comment, after following me around the shop looking at fixture after fixture and then looking up the inventory numbers on the clearance one: "Wow! Do you realize what a deal this is? You would pay a Menard's price for an upscale fixture!"

The glass is attractive--"Hershey's kiss" shaped globes with slight seedy clear glass flecks in the matte white glass that show up when the light is on. A little bigger than some of the pendants I've considered so it takes 100 watts if necessary and can accommodate the round bulbs that are easy to look at! And the finish is shiny silver in appearance, which will guide me in choosing other shiny silvery hardware for cupboards, all to go with my silver antiques. This light will increase the formality of the kitchen--a nod to the GW formal kitchen photos I've seen here.

By the way, this piece has companion pieces including modest chandeliers. Very attractive for a somewhat-mod kitchen or dining room or front hall. Might be on sale too?

Here is a link that might be useful: Quoizel Denmark pendant is on sale.