One question we seem to get again and again is in regards to lighting over kitchen islands. How many pendants. What style works best. How big should they be. Every space is so different it is hard to respond to everything with one blanket answer.
But there are a few guidelines we like to follow when designing a kitchen with an island. When it comes to style and size of the actual light, keep in mind the size and style of your kitchen. The larger the kitchen and larger the island, the more freedom you have. If it is more of a confined space, you may be limited to pendants that don’t block sight lines or feel heavy.
In the Riverside kitchen below, we chose to go with two large statement pendants. We had freedom to do so because the scale of these pendants in in line with the scale of the room.
The Hartford kitchen wasn’t as large but we were able to get away with two larger (for the space) lights because they are simple and don’t hang down too long. The simple glass and coloring doesn’t interfere or separate the space.
We chose to go with three small clear lights over the island in the Morgan Residence. We didn’t want the lighting to overwhelm the space or feel too heavy. The clear glass maintains an airy feel while anchoring and drawing subtle attention to the island.
A lot of confusion can also come with where and how high the lights should be hung over the island. We use a simple formula when centering and hanging these lights.
These are pretty universal rules of thumb among designers.
And what would all this information be without some good options?!
Here are a few pendants that would make great options for your island.
1 / 2 / 3 – 30 inch & 16 inch / 4 / 5 / 6
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Hello! Thanks for the great, informative post. I could not get the first 3 links to work and I love those pendants, would you mind letting me know where I can find them? Thanks!
Sorry about that! They are fixed now. They’re from Rejuvenation.
Thanks so much!!
Love these!! I was wondering if you can mix finishes? We have bronze hardware in our kitchen for now. We’ll probably do a kitchen Reno in 10 years but should all lighting be bronze too? What about door knobs? Can we mix in silver?
Absolutely you can mix and match metals. It is actually a big trend right now.
My island is 12′ x 5′ (12″ overhang for bar seating) and have 3 pendants (similar to your #5 above) and am having a hard time deciding on placement length wise. I see your example above for the 3 pendants but wonder since my island is so long that that is would give too much space between the lights being the size that they are. We see 2 options. 1) 3′ at each end and then 3′ in between each pendant OR 2) 2′ on each end and 4′ in between each pendant. I need to tell the electrician today and not sure you can answer that quickly – hope so:)
Sorry we are just getting back to you. We would go with the 3 at 3′ option 🙂
Do pendants need to be centered over an island both length and width?
Yes pendant lights should be centered over the island both length and width 🙂
What program do you use for your drawings? Needing to do similar things for my clients.
Thank you!
Kelly
We use AutoCAD and Photoshop 🙂
Thanks for doing this post! At what point on the pendant should they be the specified width apart? My builder did 3 pendant fixtures over my island at 28″ apart at the fixture- so does that mean I should stick with super narrow pendants? I’m really loving the cone shaped style right now and I’m not sure I can do the mini guys.
So sorry for our late response back. Without knowing the exact measurements of your island it is hard to tell you which pendants look best, we are sorry :/
I have an island 36″ x 10′. The island counter is all one length in white pearl quartzite. 1/2 of the island has cabinetry under counter and the other 1/2 is table where two people sit on one side and two people sit across on the other side. The cabinets are white shaker. With 8′ ceilings, what style, shape and size do you suggest I go with for island lighting? Been struggling and frustrated to make a decision – no hardware has been selected, but appliances, sink and faucet are stainless.