If you can add extra lighting without cutting a hole in your roof, I would recommend that instead. There are so many options for lighting; Recessed cans, pendants over the peninsula, a separate sink light and under cabinet lighting.

Can you make the kitchen window any lower and wider in stead?

if you or someone in your family who spends time in the kitchen is home all day, and you are home a lot during the day on weekends, its something to explore. otherwise its a night time black rectangle in your kitchen ceiling instead of a smooth white surface that you can do other things with, like placing lights.

consider what direction the sun will shine in, in any case. no sense in putting in a skylight to discover then you need to cover it up.

At night, the skylight sucks the light out of the kitchen. If you are standing beneath a skylight during a summer day it can be noticeably warmer. During cloudy days you may still need your lights (depending on the size of your skylight). I should have taken mine out when we renovated, but I didn't think of it in time.

When I bought my house it had solar tubes in it already. There are 2 in the kitchen, which is in the center of the house so no windows. There is so much light that comes thru. I love them and it's pretty cool to see when there's lightening.

We had a kitchen with very limited natural lighting - and are not putting in any kind of skylight with the remodel. Relying instead on can lights (which worked well before) again, and pendants, but also under cabinet lights.

I know many who've had skylights and never an issue, and many who've had nothing but trouble regarding leaks. I'd not cut a hole in my ceiling for one. Our next door neighbor had solar tubes installed after living in another home with them for 8 years - no issues at all. She is now having serious leaks in the latest install (same company, same brand). I loved the soft light they provide on sunny days (baths, halls, kitchen), but I wouldn't want the headache. On the other side of us our neighbor also had a skylight (side of the house) and after 10 years it began to leak, resulting in ceiling/drywall repair, repaint, roof repair. He removed it entirely 2 years ago when he had the roof re-shingled.

Is that the front of your home? Do you want the interruption in your roof line? Not saying anything negative about that, just food for thought. Personally, I'm not fond of the look. Some people don't mind.

RE: can lights, pendants placement, you might wish to start a new thread for that.

I would always vote for more natural light, if at all possible.

Our kitchen is not in the middle of the house, but for all intents and purposes it might as well be. When we bought it in 1980 (new, but we didn't build it) the kitchen had a sliding glass door adjacent to the deck, which went to a covered walkway to both the garage and the driveway. The light from there was blocked by a peninsula with cabinets above. The only window in the kitchen was a garden window. The kitchen itself had a large florescent window in the ceiling. I had to have the lights on all the time, day or night.

I put in a skylight 6 years later. For fully the first 6 months (at least) I always thought I had left the light on in there. I love it. And I honestly never thought it was a big black hole at night until reading this thread. But mine looks very similar to the one posted upthread by jck910.

Other issues raised above are valid. Leaks can develop. You can't really see ours as you approach as we are on a slope and it's not really visible unless you're up in the woods, so that was not something I needed to worry about. Making the current window you have larger is an excellent idea also.

I wouldn’t. We had one n at times the direction of the sun would shine down n could be quite annoying.

In this house we have the ceiling can lights around n also a table hanging lamp. It’s fine.

We added ours about 25 years ago ( to a bedroom). We love them. They make an incredible difference! Here is what you see,

we love all the natural light we can get. we put 3 in living room and 1 in kitchen. makes a world of difference and we use less electric b/c of them. (don't need to put lights on as early).

we love seeing the moon & stars through them at night. watching the snow fall and just have more light!!

it never crossed my mind about having a black hole in ceiling!!??

We have four skylights in our house and one in the garage. As far as a skylight sucking the light out at night, that’s ridiculous. My skylights provide ambient light even in the middle of the night, especially with a moon out. I never have to turn on the bathroom light if I have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.. I love them.

I had one in my previous kitchen for more than 15 years and I loved it. My house was a ranch like yours and the skylight was visible as yours will be. It was not unsightly. Even though my house had a west exposure, the kitchen was always dark because there was a covered porch which blocked the light from the only window in the kitchen. We didn't notice any difference in the heat or coldness of the room because of the skylight.

My current house has 2 skylights in the great room (on the front elevation) and one in the master bath (on back elevation). I wish I had one in my current kitchen too. We replaced our roof 3 years ago and put in new skylights as part of the process. The previous ones were 27 years old and never leaked but we decided to do everything new at one time.

We have had a solar tube in a windowless bathroom and it was great. My daughter has 2 solar tubes in her home. No leaks with any of them. Solar tubes are a good, less expensive alternative to skylights.

Another vote for a solar tube. We have one in our windowless bathroom and it is amazing the light that we are able to get from it. You can have the roof portion be on the back of the house with the tube coming through your attic so that it is not a visual issue from the street and still have all of the benefits of the natural light. If you choose you can also get a cover that appears to be a flush mount light fixture for in the kitchen.

I've had skylights in several homes and love them. As with all things, the installation is critical to ensure no leaks. If your climate has long periods of mild weather you may want to consider remotely operable skylights to allow for natural venting of warm air.

The disadvantages of skylights noted above - such as nighttime black hole - do not apply to Solatubes. They are unobtrusive at night, very easy to install between existing joists with minimal fuss, and provide amazing, blessed beautiful daylight. I can't say enough good things about them. No heat gain - no power usage.