I love the look of those too, and would never have them in my kitchen for the reason RL Reloc said: bare bulbs. Have you spent much time in any space with visible bulbs in the center of a kitchen? I'm 100% turned off (no pun intended) by that type of lighting in the center of a room because it's either so bright as to be blinding or so dim as to provide only mood lighting and no task lighting. For your island, I'd pick either down-lights (a solid shade that extends below the bulb and is open at the bottom) or opaque enclosed shades.

If you really have your heart set on them, maybe you could modify the height so that they're high enough to be above direction line-of-sight for anyone standing in the kitchen.

Sometimes I think people are so worried about being on-trend that they forget about their own style, and also that there are so many great pendants on the market.

In terms of your new wall color, be sure to check it against your tile floors and your trim/ceiling color. It appears that your windows and doors are a bright white, and the trim and ceiling is a warmer white. Try your wall sample color up against the trim to be sure it coordinates well. Looking at the samples on your current dark walls will skew the color.

https://www.build.com/product/summary/1626093?uid=3861978&jmtest=gg-gbav2_3861978&inv=1&&source=gg-gba-pla_3861978!c1710655145!a67979306878!dc!ng&gclid=Cj0KCQiAkuP9BRCkARIsAKGLE8WZTzvpubeLD0V-1_Oudg-hUfUjWmVvWW9gxP4v3y-LclZJvfGBb9IaAlRLEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Thank you @RL Relocation LLC! I hadn’t thought about how bright they could be (we see them everywhere!). The ones we bought go too low on the wall and therefore we will return those. I don’t necessarily want to be trendy, just to move away from traditional. I felt like opaque lighting was more traditional (or maybe I am tired of my own pendants and need something new!). They are currently above eye-level. @salex suggested a solid shade. I wasn’t looking at those as I thought they would stand out too much. Perhaps I am wrong! I think the bottom left pendants in the first picture you posted are the ones I like the most (I think).

We did paint, I will post a photo now.

Thank you @calidesign! We had to change the trim too; it was a very dark vanilla! So it was very difficult to see the colour... we picked the mushroom mousse and as you mentioned, the colour was skewed all along (it doesn’t really look the same colour and is much lighter and brighter than I thought!). Sigh... I love that it makes the space feel much larger though. I just don’t like that it looks almost blueish at some spots but we face south, west and north at the same time so every wall looks different, so frustrating.

Don’t mind the mess and the food! This is what it looks like, at night...

You might consider painting your doors a deep expresso brown, like the color of your mantle and your island. Keep the trim around them white. It seems that it is that white color around the doors throwing things off, and it would balance the room.

Thank you @calidesign! It’s true the white of the doors is a cold bluish white. The white appears to clash with the white of the trims (even though we went with a simple trim and door paint). Would painting the doors the same white as the trim also be an option You think?

You could paint the doors the same color as the trim, but I think the contrast would be nice as it expands the view into the outdoors. Either color would work.

Okay thanks @calidesign. I wonder how easy it is to paint given the current almost shiny finish of the doors.

Nothing a light sanding cant handle.

Be sure to make all the changes you plan on before picking the new lights, they should be the last thng picked.

Also what's up with the recessed lights it looks like all the bulbs are sticking out... is that true?

https://www.build.com/mitzi-h281701l/s1630976?uid=3870175