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Some questions that could be helpful in formulating a solution

1. How much better lighting is desired? Will the space be used for food prep, study or just for casual use? If it is the latter, less lighting would be necessary.
2. What's the budget?
3. Why pendants?
4. What style are you going for - modern/ contemporary vs art decor, etc?
5. What's preventing you from having 3 individual pendants in an arc?

There will be a multitude of opinions and in the end, both your wife and yourself will have to live with whatever solution you decide on.

Hi, David. Thanks for your response. Answers below:

1. This is our main work space where we write and read frequently, so I would prefer better direct lighting. The recessed lighting we installed is definitely a help, but I think we want more.

2. I'm guessing we will spend $100 or $200 putting these in. We can go higher if necessary, but I haven't really seen a reason to based on what styles we are looking at.

3. We personally just like the look, and we would like to modernize the space somewhat. We would like better direct lighting over this area as we eat, read, write, etc. in this exact spot all the time.

4. We are a little limited because of the wood trim and relative traditional style of the home, so we want to modernize without making styles clash. So far, we are leaning toward three mini-pendants with shades that are roughly 8" tall and 5" wide. We would like to bring some color into the space, so we are leaning toward red as this matches the red in the other parts of the kitchen which unfortunately isn't visible in my pictures.

5. Absolutely nothing. In fact, that is what we are currently leaning towards. We were always going to do individual mini-pendants, but we were struggling if we should have two over by the chairs and nothing by the section by the carpet since there isn't a chair there or if we should just do three mini-pendants and uniformly light the BB.

Honestly, I think my wife is simply uncomfortable with putting pendants in an arc since she always sees them in a line, but I think that's simply because 99% of the pendants that I see are over straights pieces like BBs and islands. Do you normally see pendants curved to follow the lit area? I would assume you would, but you are the expert, so I thought I would ask.

Individual pendants could cost $100 or more, depending on what you pick. It might be helpful to price out the entire system + installation costs first.

Lighting on a curve (whether it be recessed or pendants) is usually found in high end commercial settings. Some high end apartments do have miniature recessed lighting (2") in a curved architectural ceiling feature.

3 pendants will not make much of a curve though.

The main technical hurdles will be

1. Finding the appropriate mounting locations in the space above - no ceiling joists, plumbing, ... other obstructions that would prevent the installation of an electrical box.
2. Routing the necessary wiring.

Thanks, David. I'm fortunate enough that this is a floor where nothing is above it, so I have ample room to work above the ceiling. I feel I have a decent plan on how to wire it, I'm just stuck on what would look best from a design POV. If it were you and you were going to install mini-pendents over this area, would you install two over area where the chairs are, or would you also add a third over the other side of the BB? I guess that's my main question.

Thanks, David. Three boxes it is. Would you recommend just treating the entire BB as one section and lighting it with even spacing, or would it be better to "divide" the bar in two sections at the 45 degree break? Dividing would allow me to put the pendants directly over the chairs, but it would require that the end light on the "straight" side be significantly closer to the middle light (also on the straight side) than the light on the 45 degree side, so it likely wouldn't be even lighting. Thoughts?

Having the pendants over the counter space would be preferable to having them directly over the chairs as the former would avoid shadowing.

I would concentrate on lighting up the most used places over attempting to achieve the most even lighting possible.

Sorry, David. I wasn't being clear. When I said "over the chairs," I meant from left to right, not front to back. I'm attaching a couple sketches I've made and the options I think I have. It sounds like you are a proponent of the second option, and that's the way I'm leaning as well, but let me know if that isn't the case.

2nd option. Visual balance is more desirable and important.

Thanks, David!