Lighting over island

[UtilityLayout]

I need to decide in the next day or two what to do about lighting above an island that doesn’t exist yet. How do I decide?

The island is big (about 4 metres) and will house both hob and sink and will have a couple of stools at it.

There will be recessed lights in ceiling. Do I need pendants over the island too? Will they get in my way? Will they cause shadows? Will I regret not having them if I don’t?

I’d appreciate any wisdom!

I think islands look weird without pendants. Ours don't make shadows and they are high enough to not get in the way. I also like that they give the option to have not so bright lighting in the evening (open plan kitchen/living area). We use dimmable ikea bulbs in them that have a remote.

Weird, really?

I literally hadn’t thought of it til now. 😂

Best I hit up Pinterest. 😀

We don’t have pendants over ours but we do have other wall lights and under cabinet lights. We usually don’t have the ceiling lights on.

We love our pendants! We have dimmable recessed spotlights but needed the pendants over the breakfast bar. Never bothered by shadows, makes a welcoming glow!

It's almost compulsory to have three pendants over your island, as well as having dark blue cabinets. It's the kitchen rules.

We have a large kitchen diner and actually have a light switch with 6 switches on for the different lighting / zones electrician caught me on a bad day and saw me as an easy target but as @didireallysaythat says, we have the compulsory 3 pendants above our island and it is by far the lighting we use most (no dark blue island though, does charcoal count )

Yes, you will regret it if you don't have pendants.

Haha, charcoal island here too.

suzi I love those - where are they from?

With a bigger island do I need 4 or do I need the compulsory 3 spaced further apart?

@UtilityLayout

Haha, charcoal island here too.

suzi I love those - where are they from?

With a bigger island do I need 4 or do I need the compulsory 3 spaced further apart?

I’m eschewing pendants for this:

www.made.com/globe-pendant-chandelier-wide-brass-and-smoked-glass

We have copper ones and they are lovely, really finish the kitchen. These. They look much more expensive in real life and are really high quality. We use the large retro Edison bulbs in amber in them and it gives off a lovely light.

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B011KOXOE8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?psc=1&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&ie=UTF8

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01IIAF22O/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?psc=1&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&ie=UTF8

Oh that’s lovely.

I’ve been looking at some of their ilaria range for pendants, I just don’t know if I trust glass with my DC.

I like them too Bluntness.

I don’t need to choose actual lights before tomorrow, just placement.

Now I’m wondering about chandelier over table too.

Too many choices...

Ooh @Hadjab, that is lovely! Real competition for the 3 pendants .

OP, we also have a chandelier over the dining table (feels like this is kitchen diner bingo ) in the form of a large ball / sphere. My only point with that is that unlike a large island that is fixed, we do occasionally shift the dining table slightly (if we have a big family gathering / christmas tree etc) and the chandelier looks in the wrong place because its not directly over the table. In time, we will probably replace it with something slightly less uniform / wider etc (maybe like the one Hadjab posted) so that if we do move the table, its less obvious that the chandelier is not perfectly central above it.

@Africa2go

Ooh *@Hadjab*, that is lovely! Real competition for the 3 pendants .

OP, we also have a chandelier over the dining table (feels like this is kitchen diner bingo ) in the form of a large ball / sphere. My only point with that is that unlike a large island that is fixed, we do occasionally shift the dining table slightly (if we have a big family gathering / christmas tree etc) and the chandelier looks in the wrong place because its not directly over the table. In time, we will probably replace it with something slightly less uniform / wider etc (maybe like the one Hadjab posted) so that if we do move the table, its less obvious that the chandelier is not perfectly central above it.

That’s a very good point. It also seems a little ostentatious for eating your cornflakes under.

And I don’t want wall lights because I want wall art, so recessed lights plus standing lamp combo, I think for dining area.

Obligatory 3 lights over the island here too! However if I was you I would go for something longer like the one recommended above as your island is so long. No navy/blue island here though, everything cream!
Ignore the mess!

We have one pendant (quite a large one) at one end of the island. The hob is at the other end. So it lights the breakfast bar area.

I think pendant(s) help “zone” the room visually

@UtilityLayout

Haha, charcoal island here too.

suzi I love those - where are they from?

With a bigger island do I need 4 or do I need the compulsory 3 spaced further apart?

Wayfair! Although one was from eBay, although identical, and was cheaper, arrived more quickly and came with a black ceiling rose. Unlike the Wayfair one that took ages, had a black cable but white ceiling rose that needed replacing twice because they kept sending the wrong thing and was about £15 more expensive!

Well. I’m now in the lucky position of having very limited choices. Due to extractor, hob, ceiling height, steel, my choice is either unevenly spaced pendants, (hard no to that), one pendant or 0 pendants.

Atm, I’m swinging towards 0 but with cable in place so if it turns out I need the light I can add one later.

The ceiling is fairly low and DH and I are fairly tall, and most of the pendants I’m looking at need a much longer drop (even as their minimum) than we’re able to accommodate.