How about a nice linear chandelier? Best of both worlds.

Nothing hanging only ceiling spots over the island. This is my personal opinion since I hate things dangling over my head especially in a kitchen.

I DEFINITELY think you need pendants or a linear chandelier! Recessed lights will not be enough to light that island (70 inches is a big island - yay!) so I always recommend both. There are SO many options for small / glass pendants that will not seem bulky or in the way. I love island lighting...its the jewelry to the kitchen! I actually love the fact that the lighting will draw your eye...instead of looking at your fridge straight away.

Congrats on this fun project - good luck on the renovation. you HAVE to show us an after when its done!

I think you could go either way, depending on if you want your fixture to be the star or if you want to minimize it. One larger chandelier or two smaller pendants.

All of these are from West Elm. We had one similar to this first pic in our old kitchen above the island, and it looked very cool and kind of unexpected. Ours had clear globe bulbs, and I would advise not to do clear glass because kitchen grease + dust showed all the time.

I would do 2 simple pendants, not multiple, not chandelier, the ceilings are not that tall and too much of a good thing is just that. Under-cabinet and recessed are important for actual task lighting. Looks like the sink is in the island as well so be mindful of how low you hang them.

I don't think you necessarily have to have pendants or a chandelier in your kitchen. You're right, they will just interfere with the sightline. They work if your island is what separates the kitchen from the family room. If you look at pictures on Houzz you'll see what I mean. I don't have them over my island and I don't miss them. When it comes time to remodel I will not add them. My kitchen is roughly the same size as yours.

I have four can lights, one in each corner of the room. They are 2+ feet from the walls. You want to put them so they line up with the edge of your counters. If they're too close to the wall cabinets they create an uncomfortable glare and shadows on the cabinets. Also install under and over cabinet lighting. The under is good for lighting the counters and over is nice to leave on at night when you're just walking through the room or popping in and out for a drink or snack. Put all of your lights on dimmer switches.

Question for the designers who've weighed in: what about recessed cans placed in the same spots that OP would place pendants? Just evaluating adequate lighting, not design--would that give an acceptable amount and quality of light at the island?

@mcarroll16 cans would work fine in this scenario -the ceilings dont look to be too tall. I would just make them smaller ones (3-4 inches dia) and then put them on a separate switch from the other ones surrounding the island for more control.

Thanks! Asking for OP, but also because I'm struggling with the same decision for island lighting.

I think 2 simple low key pendants would look really nice - we always use our pendant lights to light our space and tend not to use our overhead cans that much unless we are actually cooking - I love the last fixture stiley posted and am always a fan Original BTC's ceramic pendants

When I remodeled my kitchen 10+ years ago, I put three pendants over my island. I loved the look at the time but as the years marched on, I liked them less and less. They were low voltage halogen GY6.35 bulbs and those bulbs burned out too often. They were a pain to change out. I could not find replacement LED bulbs that worked in the pendants. It was difficult to clean the glass on the inside of the globes because the opening was too small for my hand. And the inside did get dirty. I needed a step ladder to change the bulbs or clean the glass.

A few months ago one of the pendant lights burned out. It was decision time and I decided go with flush mount ultra thin down lights. They provide so much more light than my pendants. I actually will be getting a dimmer for them when I don’t want it so bright. Another thing that I like is the reduced visual clutter of the pendants.

Before:

After:

These are the light I used