I would do can lights (or whatever they're called now) no pendants

What is the entire plan for the lighting?

You light the island and do cans elsewhere. Two cans OVER the island and no one will realize the island is off center. Off center from what? Almost no island is centered.

Go with the lanterns you want,

they'll hang high enough to not interfer with head room, and beautiful enough to be the center of attention. 'CAN' lights should be outlawed! Congratulations on doing it yourself, something to be proud of, for sure!!!

Mine is similarly non-centered. I hung 2 large pendants that are centered to the island, nothing else. In real life, one rarely stares at their kitchen from 1 place :)

I have 2 large pendants over my non-centered island, the rest of the kitchen lights are cans.

We have three large pendants centered over the island and cans around the rest of the room. I was a bit hung up over them not be centered because of a window… worried for nothing. It looks great and no one would think twice. Your pictures confused me a bit. Can they not be centered over the island or is it you just worrying about them centering in the whole room?

I would suggest the library swing arm sconces over the counter by the window and downlights over the island.

'CAN' lights should be outlawed!

As an old house lover, I'm no fan either except that in a kitchen you need as much light as you can get. The new "cans" are much less obtrusive than the older ones .

My fear is that it would make the island look even more uncentered? Or should I not even worry about it at this point? Actually yours are very similar to the ones I’ve been dreaming of! Thank you so much for taking time to help me!

Islands are not often centered on anything in the room. I would not worry about that. Hang the lights over the island. You may not like recessed lights, but it does give you great lighting for a kitchen. Your other option, since you have high ceilings , is to find some nice flush/semi flush fixtures.

Good luck!

I don’t think it’ll make it look more off center. We rarely stand at the same angle looking at a kitchen and analyze that. I was worried as well with ours but it’s not noticeable. I think the process of building a kitchen makes us over think and stress out.

In this kitchen, I think your island is going to end up being used as work surface quite a bit. The problem with lanterns is they kind of light the room over lighting the surface.

I can see why you want them, if you go with those choose one with a closed top to help push the light down. I would also put a can light between them. As to the off center part of things in this space, it would be hard to stand dead center and be able to look at the pendants at the same time. fear not.

If it was my house I would hang pendants here, but I might go with something a little less general room light and a little more focused. ALSO, be sure they are on their own switch, and a dimmer so you can avoid being over lit when you just want some mood light.

I would tend to go more semi flush if you will, possibly globe or acorn shape.

Off-center? That's in another zip code. I'd use cans for the necessary task lighting for all work zones. If you'd like pendants, you can try using them over the space including the island. Create symmetry with the space, not the island.

@dan1888, LOL I like your thought processes about another zip code! Symmetry with the space is also a destination I have slowly arrived at! 😉. It’s taken this old girl a while, but little by little the ideas are coming together! Thank you for your input!

@RL Relocation, Thank you so much for your very insightful advice, oh how I wish you lived in the Atlanta area! You are correct about the island being our workhorse! I hadn’t thought about the “closed top” style of pendant being more conducive to that. Once again, the DIY-er comes into play. Countertops just got installed yesterday! So hopefully the end is getting nearer!

@BeverlyFLADeziner, love those library swing arm sconces! Do you think it would be too much to have those as well as a couple of pendants over the island? My heart really wants the pendants over island, but more than that I want the overall design to be pleasant! Not much room between island and sink so I don’t want to overpower the room. Countertops just installed, this pic shows the space between the two. Thank you for taking time to think about my dilemma!

@ShadyWillowFarm, we had planned for “wafer style can lights” around the perimeter of kitchen and two pendants of some type over the island. Of course this is all very fluid, as my mind contradicts itself so much these days! LOL! Afraid of making the wrong decision and getting tired of having to make more decisions!

@Lyn Nielsen. Thank you for your vote of confidence. We are so very excited to finally see “the light” at the end of the tunnel! We do have some very thin can lights for the perimeter, i know, but hopefully they won’t be too ugly!

My fireplace lines up with my hood - this photo was taken when I was standing on that line. I didn't even center my sink in the island.

Took a step to the left!

The thin potlights really don't catch my eye - and they are necessary. Undercabinet lighting is also very important!

That picture above shows what I mean about how little light gets down to the surface, NOT being rude, its a lovely kitchen, but those lights light the ceiling as much as the surface, and out, to the counter. Now I imagine with the recessed lights on, there is ample light in the room, this is why lighting plans are important.

@Robin Bowen this is why we need a lighting plan, I see you have a tongue and groove ceiling, so I am wondering, what the lighting plan is?

https://www.thegritandpolish.com/blog/farmhouse-kitchen-the-lighting-plan

@RL Relocation, my thoughts were can lights around the perimeter and then two lantern style lights over the island. I’m really rethinking the type of lights after your examples. I love the vintage looking pendant in your example on left with the greenish island, I’m assuming from your lesson that it would really help with light on the island and not throw so much up? We kept the light fixture that was in the laundry room and it reminds me of that.

@RL Relocation, love those lights over the sink area as well. Do you think my kitchen could handle both?

@jkm6712, I see what you mean about your sink and also taking a step and now all is more lined up. Makes me feel some better that all does not have to be perfect and can still be lovely! I really don’t have but two upper cabinets, but I do agree about cabinet under lighting!

@Chris, how right you are! I have thought, re-thought, worried & fretted over this kitchen! Will be glad to have it finished and then maybe I can think of something else! 😆. Glad to hear that others have survived this journey! Thanks for your kind words!

As someone mentioned do the two pendants you love but between them put a can light on the same switch.

@cpartist that’s a great idea and one I will adopt! Thank you!