Pick a pendant you love and then we’ll see how many ... if say probably two slightly larger rather than three slightly smaller

I would not do pendants with an 8' ceiling, they will divide your space and make it smaller.

I was leaning more of a semi-flush light. They won’t/can’t hang too low of course. I considered only cans, but my husband has his heart set on some type of light fixture over the island.

It already looks like an airport runway that doubles as a naval blockade. A bunch of lights will only emphasize that. Cut that down into an actual comfortable table in the breakfast area, and a work island. Then youll have some proportionality, and can do some mini pendants over the island and 1 larger fixture over the table in the breakfast area. Theres a whole lot of other changes that need to happen with this beyond lighting and separating cojoined twins.

Hi, you can consider one canopy with glass pendant lights designed for your space. Below a few reference images.

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