Tilley...the cabinets are BM White Dove. The island is a very dark stained cherry. My whole house is painted one color SW Accessible Beige. Decision made the night before painters started via suggestions from home decorating forum. Smart folks over there.

debbie...can’t change the height . Ordered them at 48”. Should have ordered them a few inches shorter. Darn.

To me the problem is they are too white and the first thing your eye goes to.

Found these in the basement at the house. I’m going to assume these are the bulbs used in all of the fixtures. The recessed lights do not have bulbs. They just last indefinitely. I hope I’m not stating this incorrectly. I didnt find any other bulbs so I’m pretty sure this is all my electrician is using. So, what do you think of these bulbs?

Ci-lantro....yes, I totally appreciate your honestly and i agree with you.

Those bulbs are not dimmable. And I don’t know what color temp they are specifically, but according to the box they are on the cool side...so not what you would want to use to warm up your lighting.

Sprtphntic...love HF...beautiful lights. I had not looked at their mini pendants. Lots of beauties. I definitely felt that my pendants would be used for task lighting when I decided which pendants I wanted. i also have plenty of recessed. But, these pendants provide an incredible amount of light. I hate to give this up but the trade off is not worth it.

thanks for the link!

Just realized this box of bulbs says “non-dimmable” on it. Wth? We have dimmers everywhere.

I think lucky blue eye is onto something. Rejuvenation is a lighting specialist. Send them the pics and ask for help, They can weigh in on the scale of the globes and may offer to exchange for 12 or 14 inch diameter that would feel less overpowering. I agree with many others who have suggested swapping out the bulbs. LEDs are nice because they last a long time, but getting ones that are warmer and not so bright would help. If you still dislike the lights after these steps, you can always swap them out for something else later. Cans? Blechhh.

The older I get, the more I like task lighting over an island!

I say go with a smaller light with a glass ball around it.

Did you see the rest of the writing on the box?

Crisp

Refreshing

Energetic

Maybe I would want those bulbs in a home gym? lol

Piggy-backing on what others have said above... I'd love to know what bulbs Rejuvenation would recommend to you. If you haven't found it already, here's the form to request a free consult... https://www.rejuvenation.com/about-us/design-services/

I find a bare bulb in a smooth glass fixture, to be just tooo much glare. It's one thing for it to be on the ceiling mount, but floating in the space where sitting down in an adjoining area, I think it could be almost painful. I would have to ask the cook to PLEASE turn off the light asap the task is done.. At least your fixtures give a glow, white to an area that is the fixture. If you go with a clear glass or no glass, just wire pendant, get one that uses the flame shape bulb at most, for the round LED or Incandescent, bulb, with the glowing filament is just pretty harsh. If you can find a fixture with textured clear glass, that helps, a little bit..https://www.lampsplus.com/products/possini-euro-tatum-13-and-one-quarter-inch-wide-chrome-pendant-light__39h55.html or other styles https://www.lampsplus.com/products/browning-25-and-one-half-inch-wide-bronze-4-light-chandelier__39k08.html ... not that these compare to what you have, but there are alot of ways to diffuse the light of a task use pendant and make it easier to live with if you find you must change out those that you have..

Chess, I just wanted to offer what had been helpful to me. I recently reevaluated a lot of our lighting, and info on wattage/lumens was helpful when going from halogen bulbs to LEDs in our bathroom, for example. I wanted to have all the info in front of me - output, temp, and CRI - as I made decisions. It was too much to keep in my brain.

i agree with redsilver, and i meant to put in my post about the clear glass and bulb being very jarring/glaring. its very hard on your eyes. at least with white or frosted glass it softens the light.

just something else to think about.

A little off topic... but what paint color did you use in your kitchen/eating area? I love it!

J - she wrote above "My whole house is painted one color SW Accessible Beige"

Thank you!

Bkeithaz, if you had to prioritize temp and CRI, which would you put first? I just checked lightingdirect and don't see LED bulbs that have the temp I'm looking for (currently 3500) *and* a high CRI. I have some 3500K bulbs coming from Amazon tomorrow, and the CRI is listed as 80+. I definitely have an opinion on warmth (I will go with 3200 or 3500) but I haven't played around with different CRIs. Maybe what I don't know won't hurt me? :)

I have a lake view, too. I didn’t want anything to interfere with the view so opted not to have pendant lighting. I also wonder if it won’t be dated in the future since pendant lights are so prominent now.

ILoveRed, you just need to turn off a circuit, use a screwdriver, and untwist a couple wires to remove a pendant. I would hop on a ladder and take down all 3 pendants--and then just see what you think. Do you breathe a sigh of relief? Do you feel free :) I think the title of your thread could be "Freudian", revealing your true gut response to the pendants being there. They are beautiful pendants--but they don't make you happy. Bulbs and color temp can't change that. My opinion (which is only that) is that you need to either do away with the pendants entirely (easy to quickly try and visualize) or choose pendants with a lot loss visual "weight".

Pics 2/3 did not display . Basing this just on pic #1. Maybe something in clear glass that will almost “disappear”. No distraction. Use one or two of those gorgeous pendants over the dining table.

Beautiful kitchen! I love the lights too. Would you like them better / would they feel less obtrusive if they were raised a bit? Maybe almost like a semi-flush mount?

the lights are perfect. you need functional lighting in a kitchen. get light bulbs from Costco: Feit 100 Watt equivalent, 3000 Kelvin, CRI+90 and dimmable. i have these throughout my house with lots of Rejuvenation light fixtures. they are bright, but warm. these are really well priced. you need to put these lights on a dimmer!!! pretty much EVERY light should be on a dimmer! so many people make the mistake of going too small with light fixtures and clear glass is a NO NO! remember that it is really difficult to photograph lights when they are on.

How disappointing... With the title of the thread I was expecting some really ugly monster pendants, the ones in the pictures along with the kitchen are really nice..........

Red, I am so sorry we, the collective hive mind of GW, are not being helpful. I have a feeling if I were to tabulate the results, we would be split 50-50 over whether or not the pendants were gorgeous or superfluous.

No matter which decision you make, it will turn out beautifully. If I were you, I would start planning my first dinner party and put this decision to the back of my mind for a few more days and then revisit it.

PS MtnRdRedux once shared a great technique for making a decision- flip a coin and gage your reaction to the outcome.

have you mentioned the brand these fixtures are? for all the various factors you are dealing with.....I would look if the globe can be interchanged with a smaller size piece. a lot of times the rim where the globe rests is a standard diameter ...they just rest on a lip with a couple screws tightened. I am getting used to the three, starting to like the metal hanging assembly, the more I look at it. If the globe itself can be downsized, different shape okay too.....to reduce the mass …..I think I'd be pretty happy with it. Go to a lighting store where you sourced these and see what is interchangeable. If not possible, reduce the illumination at least somewhat. If it were me, and there seems to be no solution AND they continued to irritate me[which may not really be the case-usually people adjust], I think I would significantly reduce the bulb intensity.....live with it for a year and re-evaluate for making a total change at that time. They are classy, but you are in the space.

To Benjesbride and stillpitpat:

My experience with lighting was a couple of years ago when I was renovating a house with saltillo-look (terracotta-y) porcelain floor tiles. White cabinets made the floors look dingy so I ended up with creamy cabinets and BM Navajo White walls. The 300K, 80 CRI can lights my electrician used made the floor tiles look harsh and brownish and washed out the creamy cabs and walls. It was in figuring out the watts to lumens conversion that I came across information on CRI and that seemed to make a big difference in my case. I had decided on the warmer 2700 bulbs and then added in the CRI of 90+ because lighting experts said to(!). My contractor thought I was crazy. I had one of those portable metal shop lights with a 2700, 90+ bulb in it and took it with me and used it to guage the color of everything -- countertop, backsplash, fabrics, carpets (because many stores just have nasty lighting).

So, to answer stillpitpat's question, I think temperature is important to highlight the environment (in my case I wanted a warmer look overall, but in some more modern environments, you would want a more daylight, higher temperature bulb), and then make sure the color rendering index is high to get true colors.

Benje, I don't remember what bulbs I ended up with, other than berkleylovesgrey is correct that Costco has Feit bulbs that have a high CRI. I do remember getting the can light replacements at Costco on sale for a ridiculously low price.

The other issue I had was I wanted every light in the house to look the same. It bothers me when one bulb is more yellow and another is more bluish or whitish. So I had to switch out some bulbs in fixtures I had purchased that came with bulbs.

I just saw that about Costco! I am going ASAP!!!!!

I didn't read all the responses but I think the downrods are the problem as well. The proportions of the fixture in general seems to be spot on, but I think a fixture with a singular downrod would definitely "declutter" the space. I also like the idea of the clear globes versus the ones you have but you have to consider your dust tolerance ;)

I didn't read all the responses but I think the downrods are the problem as well. The proportions of the fixture in general seems to be spot on, but I think a fixture with a singular downrod would definitely "declutter" the space. I also like the idea of the clear globes versus the ones you have but you have to consider your dust tolerance ;)

I finally show your message. The seeded clear one is best.

One more thought on bulbs. I am a big fan of the halogen Reveal bulbs. The light is just the right temperature for my taste...Not too yellow, not too harsh, makes colors “read” accurately, easy to read by.

I noticed in Lowe’s tonight that they are getting more expensive as the cost of LEDs is coming down. They also get hotter to the touch than LEDs. They last longer than incandescent bulbs, but not as long as LEDs. But they are still my go-to favorites. The LED version of the Reveal bulb is just not as nice, the light is a little too harsh.

Good luck on your lighting project, no matter what you decide. You’ve had many suggestions, but only you can decide what works for your aesthetic sensibilities.

From a creative standpoint, we artists sometimes find the solution after we WALK AWAY from the problem for a while... Take a walk or a swim or a shower. Think consciously about anything BUT your lighting. And the solution that’s right for you will come to you!

Those bulbs heat hotter. But love LED reveal & Lowes LED's may still be on sale.

I have been away from here for a day or so...but I came back and read carefully and thoughtfully all of your well thought out responses to my lighting dilemma which of course I know I am very lucky to even have. Upthread someone mentioned that it’s about 50-50 as far as the solutions proposed, lol. What I do know is that there are plenty of solutions offered and they are all excellent.

I think that what I need to do is back off as many of you have suggested and give it time. Live with what I have here which of course is not so bad and make a decision later. I need to focus on other things and get this house done...First world problems but my oldest dd hasn’t come home for the holidays with her family for two years because I have had nowhere to put them. My over 6 ft tall twin sons are sleeping in twin beds that they outgrew 2 yrs ago. This new house should have been done months and months ago and if we are not in by Thanksgiving heads are going to roll. No lol. So that will be my focus now. Wish me luck, grrrr.

my dh did tell me that he purchased the non dimmable bulbs and absolutely reassured me that my electrician had not used them anywhere. i was relieved about that.

talking to electrician today about “warming up“ the light not only in my kitchen but in several other fixtures.

When I posted this lighting dilemma I did not anticipate that there would be so many intelligent, knowledgeable, solutions proposed. many (most!) that I had not even thought of...lots of education on lighting which I have to admit I still don’t quite grasp. But, at least the info is here and I can come back, re-read and keep trying to learn.

Thank you all of you GW’s.

Can totally relate....Our builder told us it would take one year, but it actually took two years from the time we broke ground to “completion” (still there are odds and ends to finish up but we’re in finally....moved in a few weeks ago). It actually took three years total if you count from when we purchased our land and the design stage with the architect.

There are so many small things that can be dealt with after you move in. I agree....just get in your house and fine tune later. Too much mental energy depleted otherwise.

Try dimmer bulbs.. You have done a great job! What countertop do you have? I love love that!❤️

Barbara Mackey she posted the counter info upthread. Here's the label she posted:

Very nice kitchen, our kitchen will be very very similar, color pallete, stacked wall cabinets with glass, inset, shaker, etc. What about a jug lantern like this. I like them a lot and maybe will use in mine.

https://www.shadesoflight.com/products/glass-jug-pendant-light?sku=PE13022+++CL&mrkgcl=970&mrkgadid=3269278067&product_id=PE13022CL&adpos=1o4&creative=246121613662&device=c&matchtype=&network=g&gclid=CjwKCAjwu5veBRBBEiwAFTqDwX_9hjmAVKpdasb3b3HB8KWs67oDzHZQfcGA_L6s7Qrd7jH9rQ8GIhoCrdYQAvD_BwE

Other options for us are a few from restoration Hardware, they always have good stuff.

take them to someone that can make them shorter, then they will just fine.

I love the subject of this thread. I LOL every time I read it.

I looked up the reviews for the Feit bulbs at Costco. You might want to pass. :(

https://www.costco.com/Feit-Electric-60W-Replacement-Soft-White-12-pack.product.100406425.html

One problem with LED lights that is coming out is that the warmer tones are produced with lots of yellow and maybe orange but no red light. Red light on the visible spectrum has a healing effect on our eyes, while blue light is damaging and leads to cataracts and macular degeneration.

Sometimes, like with the quality of appliances, something less energy efficient is abandoned without fully understanding the impact. I suspect we will hear more about this in the coming years.

Halogen lights' heat is tricky for can lights because superheating the swiss cheese holes in our ceilings (I have them too and love their seamless appearance) increases air leakage into our attics, potentially mixing warm and cool air masses and causing condensation and sometimes even biogrowth (mold/mildew).

So there isn't an easy answer what to do with specific bulbs, but the higher CRI are supposed to have more of a red spectrum so they are the current best choice.

Benjesbride
Thank you so much! :)

benjesbride Thank you.. How do you tag you in comment? I don’t know how..

@I love red. I love the light fixtures. I would suggest using the kichler light bulbs from lowes or just plain incandescent bulbs in a lower wattage. I really hate LED lights. The clear globes are nice but they show every speck of dust. I have clear glass globes in the kitchen and I broke one because they are such a pain to clean.

I am extremely late to the party and have not read through the comments so I'm certain what I think has already been stated. I think the shape of those fixtures is perfect and I've seen them before in clear glass. I think the issue isnt them but the white glass. It just stands out too much. Fights with the cabinets. Fights with the openness of the space etc. I would think about exchanging the white opaque class shades for the clear glass. I think it will be a win for you!

U could also do a mental basket pendent. See through.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the pendants. They are absolutely stunning. The problem is they do make a statement, (a good statement) and you're not used to that.

I absolutely would not use a clear globe. Do you really want to look at a bare bulb? And the dirt that will coat a clear globe? It's fine as is. Better than fine. It works.

Use a 2700k bulb for a warmer light.

I feel like 2 would work? Can you talk him into it?

following

Red you are not alone in your home building angst for sure. We were 7 months late on our home with what turned out to be the most horrific builder. My youngest daughter couldn’t come home from College over summer because we had nowhere to put her in the temporary apt we rented after our beautiful former home sold. My two sons 6’5” and 6’ 2” we’re crammed into tiny spaces too. We had to reschedule a major trip 3 X due to the builders scheduling issues and delays. Overall it sucked! LOL! No better word to describe it! You are not alone! so much can be done after you move in! Trust me it’s so much better being in an incomplete home than being in a temporary one. Move in! I’ve had an entire entrance and office built while living here and it was less painslees than all the time spent . We’ve been in our home two months! Congrats on yours!