Are you planning on performing surgery on that island? I would ask why you think you need that much light. In general, no, I wouldn't put recess lights right next to hanging pendant lights over an island.

No surgery ;-) just hoping for a solution that will allow me to hang clear glass pendants with Edison bulbs and still be able to see well.

Good to hear :) Well, just so you know ... the Edison light bulb trend is on it's way out, so maybe rethink the pendant lights and pick something substantial enough that by hanging three of them gives you plenty of light in that area of the kitchen.

Use LED "edison bulbs" that provide nice light. Incandescent edison bulbs have horrible light quality. I have used edison iike bulbs from Asoko and Hyperikon in a 1920s house. Also, while not "edison" the philips G25 warm glow looks good as an exposed bulb. Lots of good choices now if you are willing to do some shopping and testing.

The Hyperikon PAR type bulbs are my favorite inexpensive LEDs for recessed cans. Soraa is my favorite high end brand for cans and art lighting. I would still plan to add cans at the counter edge of the wall cabinets. Also, you want to be able to dim the pendants separately from the cans.

The perimeter cans 4 feet away aren't going to light your island so it makes sense to me to put cans above the island too. We have both cans and pendants. (Our pendants are glass but not clear glass.) We use them sometimes independently since the pendants give the counter a nice glow in the evening, when you don't want the can lights on. Sometimes we do have them on at the same time because we like it bright, especially in winter when it's bleak and snowy and we're having guests; since the rest of the house is more is in reds and golds with no overhead lighting, when people come through the door into the bright kitchen it feels like heaven :-) We also like the pendants because our can lights are a bit too blue/white for us, and turning on the pendants gives just enough yellow to the light to take the edge off.

Post a floor plan to get the best advice for the lighting layout. Depending on the size and style of the pendants you may want to rely on them mostly for ornamental lighting.

Cpaul1, yeah, they may be on the way out, but I love the glass pendants. I don't necessarily need to use Edison bulbs, I just worry about the glare from brighter bulbs. I have a couple of alternatives in mind, but I'm not crazy about them. Honestly, I think I might prefer cans. I will probably just give the glass pendants a try.

Gill, sounds like your can and pendant lighting work well together. Do you think the ceiling looks busy over your island? That's my concern with adding the cans there. Thanks for sharing your experience!

Maybe? When I look directly at the ceiling we do have lots of lights. But normally I am not looking straight up, I am looking outward, and having lots of light looks really nice, and having lighting options for different times of day is really nice (we have the cans on one dimmer, the pendants on another, and the small chandelier over the kitchen table on another). For me, the lighting in the kitchen affects the vibe more than the appearance of the ceiling, so I am not sure I would try to have a more sparsely lighted ceiling for the look of it. However, I am in a 1920 house with no overhead lights elsewhere on the main floor, so it is possible I am compensating!

Palimpsest, here it is. I posted once before and got some great advice regarding can placement. Cpartist gave me the idea for a can above the sink in that post. I anticipate using the island for prep work, so that is why I am considering adding 2 cans, one on each side of the sink...maybe between the pendants but 6-12" in from the sink counter edge. I'm concerned that the ceiling will look too busy. Ceilings are 9 '. Also, not that it matters much, but we will not have a center light in the family room, and I may skip it in the dining area, too. The blue dots are outlets.

Caroline our kitchen is similar in size to yours (12' x 20' with walls, not open concept). We have 12 cans, 2 pendants and one small chandelier. Two of the cans and the two pendants are over the island. The pendants are aligned over the counter where people sit, the cans are over the prep part on the side where the sink is. Our ceiling is also 9'.

I think it matters if you are a person who likes it bright. We have our 12 cans on two different dimmer switches (one for the working side of the kitchen, the other for the lounging side). My husband, who likes things duller (doesn't turn on any lights in the morning, just uses window light, while I do turn lights on) often turns off the cans on one side of the kitchen because he likes it dimmer. You probably know if you're a more light or less light person. If you like more light, I'd add the cans; if you're a less light person, maybe just do pendants.

Gill, we just sold an older home with very little overhead lighting, so maybe I am making up for that :-) my husband reminds me that we will have more light than we had, no matter what we do.

Yes, cpartist said she shifted the pendants toward the other side of her island, too. Thanks for the description of your kitchen, Gill.

cpaul1 - my friend (a vet) and I did use her kitchen island to stitch up my cat and splint his leg, lol. We definitely could have used more light! you never know what your island might be used for!!

I just checked the counter lighting with just the pendant lights and I don't think they are bright enough on their own for actual tasks. They cast a nice glow when you're sitting around but don't make the counter bright. I think there's a possibility you'll be unhappy with pendant-only lighting over the island and the cans over by your other cabinets.

Thanks, Gill. I think I'm going to move the two cans that are on the other side of the island and put them on either side of the sink. Appreciate your help!

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