Pendant Guidance Needed

17 years ago

We're finishing up the planning stage of a major kitchen renovation and are finding it very difficult to navigate all of the lighting choices.

In addition to recessed lights around the perimeter, we were thinking of 2 mini-pendants over our island, which will be 51" long x 34" wide. We are also planning on a matching mini-pendant for over the sink. Today, someone advised us to do 3 mini-pendants over the island, which sounds like it would be too crowded. But on the other hand, if we only get 2, we don't want them to look lonely.

We're also struggling with the material for the pendants. We thought we would be getting glass, but we've seen some nice onyx options. What do you folks think about onyx? Does it give off enough light (35W Halogen)? Will this look be dated soon?

Any words of wisdom from the experts out there? Thanks!

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Comments (4)

socalusa
17 years ago
Well, I'm definitely not an expert, but we're at the point where we're choosing pendants for our island that is 39 x 70 and we have wiring for 2 pendants. We also had planned on possibly getting 4 - 2 for the island, 1 for the sink and 1 for the other window workspace. I'm not a big fan of even numbers, so that may be changed to 2 on the island and one over the sink and then something closer to the ceiling for the 2nd window.

We also have recessed lights and undercabinet lighting under all of the cabinets, so we have plenty of light available and they're all dimmable. Not sure about the onyx, but it sounds beautiful. Do you have pictures?
momandallie
Original Author
17 years ago
It's all so complicated, isn't it :)

Here's a picture of the onyx mini-pendant we are considering. It's hard to tell scale on this picture, so note that it is 4" wide and 6" across.

{{!gwi}}

The rest of the kitchen will have a warm (but hopefully not too dark) tone to it: cherry cabinets with a chestnut stain, oak floors, giallo supreme granite and a jerusalem gold limestone backsplash with a glass tile accent line.
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bmorepanic
17 years ago
To figure out pendant spacing take the island length and divide by the number of pendants plus one (51"/4) and you get about 12 3/4". So your pendants would be 12 3/4" center to center and the center of the first one is half the distance of the center to center (6 3/8") in from the counter edge.

If you have 4" wide pendants, you'll have a bit more than 8" between them. The particular pendant you've chosen isn't going to spread a lot of light - the shade is pretty dense and cones inward.

People here suggest taping up balloons the approximate size of your pendants or cutting out pretendants from paper plates and taping them up using blue tape using this spacing and see how you like it.
momandallie
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks bmorepanic for the spacing tips. I'm so confused about the onyx fixtures. I love the look, but am not sure of the amount of light they will give off.

The kitchen is pretty bright - we have a skylight and there will be 5 high-hats around two walls. I'm thinking about putting in a few more high-hats along a third wall to give more light near the island. Am I going into light overload? Please share your thoughts before the electrician starts his work.