A "general rule" is 30"-36" above the counter surface plus an additional 3 inches per foot of ceiling height over 8 feet. The target is again "generally" 72" off the floor. What lights are you ordering?

I am facing the same dilemma with island lighting as I'm interested in a fixture that is arm mounted. The arm size can be custom ordered, but it cannot be field adjusted. I have 10' ceilings and a 6'9" x 42" island. The fixture I'm looking at is Visual Comfort's Flemish Linear Pendant. But Visual Comfort makes several that have that fixed arm, non field adjustable feature. They are also making some for Restoration Hardware where the arm is not field adjustable. (And in that case it also is not customizeable for height so you get what you get.) I have a view of nature preserve space out my dining room windows across from this island on one side. On the other side of the island I have a piece of art mounted on a back wall over a cabinet. The art is roughly42W x 36". I'm thinking the abilty to adjust the height of island light up and down to get it "just right" at installation will be important given all this. Should I back away from any option that isn't either chain hung or at very least allows some arm adjustment in the field?

Thanks, Whispar! I did change my mind about the lighting over the island because of the uncertainty of a fixed arm custom height at order that cannot be adjusted in the field. So I abanonded the Visual Comfort Flemish linear light for that reason. I'm now going to use two of the Visual Comfort E.F. Chapman Darlana lantern lights over the island. They are chain hung. I'll 'sleep better at night' knowing they can be adjusted in the field when we hang them. Do you have advice to offer on the size for these lanterns? The finished size of the island will be 80"L x 44" W. The ceilings are 10' high. We'd like to hang these lanterns on the high end of what would be acceptable over that island. The size options are 12"W x 18"H or 17"W x 24"H. I'm leaning to the larger size but for the fact that 24" seems so DARNED tall. Also I cannot tell from the photos of the light if the shoulder is the widest part, that is does the bottom taper in a bit, or if the light is square for shape, that is if bottom and shoulder are the same width. And as is typical of Visual Comfort in my experience, they make nice fixtures but it seems darned impossible for anyone to get a line drawing for specific dimension.

Hi jjhampton! I didn't end up with the Darlena after all. I kept dragging my feet on ordering them since I was seeing them so many places and thought I'd do something different rather than be the same as several other homes I'd seen. I ended up with two lanterns from another manufacturer, the same iron finish but a little different styling. The size options were roughly the same as the Darlena, that is they came in two sizes as well. I went with the smaller of the two sizes. I don't have them installed yet. Finish lighting should be in about 3 weeks. I'm eager to see how they look up! I used the Visual Comfort E. F. Chapman Flemish Round Chandelier in Aged Iron in the dining space which is visible from the kitchen and the lanterns I selected seemed to go better with that than the Darlena ones did as well. Thanks for asking. Good luck with your project!