Sunday, September 16, 2012

To Light or not to light?

We are thinking about adding pendant lights above the gourmet island.  Does anyone out there have pics of this option/upgrade?  We are adding the morning room and additional windows so I feel that there will be enough light in the kitchen with the recessed lights that are included but several people (my mother in law included!) feel that we should have the pendant lights even if just for decoration. Thoughts?

16 comments:

  1. We added two extra recessed lights above the island and requested that an existing one be moved so it's centered on the island. Everyone tells me they make pendant lights that screw into recessed light spots, so I figure that covers all my bases. Somewhere in the last 24 hours I've seen where someone hung pendant lights over an island, but I'll have to research it tomorrow because right now it's my bedtime. :)

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    1. I would not have thought to have them move the included recessed lights to have them in strategic places. I will DEFINITELY be doing this. Thanks!

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    2. One of them was already pretty close over the rounded end, it just needed to be moved a couple inches. I like to cook and having enough task lighting was important to me, plus I like the idea of pendant lights. Not sure I'll like them once I put them IN, but we'll see. They didn't charge us to move the one light since it was so close, but the rest of them are far enough away that you might not want to try moving them...you'll lose light on the sides of the kitchen. Here's a pic: http://www.flickr.com/photos/43244821@N04/7993200215/in/set-72157631104874298

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    3. Abby, when we discussed the recess lights, our SR was very particular about making sure we knew where we wanted the lights and she created a drawing with all our lights, outlets etc for the PM to follow and you will also get to discuss during the pre construction meeting.

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    4. Yes, any additions and non-standards should be detailed on a floorplan with you, then you sign off on that and it gets attached to the contract. Ours shows ceiling fan rough-ins, extra outlets, the recessed lights, the island oven, the mudroom closet, the laundry tub, the telephone line, floodlights...I think that's it.

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  2. Lowes sells kits to turn a recessed light into a pendant light. We thought about doing that in our Florence, but the location of the recessed lights won't work without moving some of them. The more we thought about it the more we thought the pendant lights might take away from the open feeling of the kitchen, so we'll probably skip the pendants.

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  3. My husband and I are getting a home built by NV homes right now (we are almost to the pre drywall walk thru), which is a parent company of Ryan homes. We have not had any problems so far. Our project manager told us those people who have gotten the pendant lights above the kitchen island have regretted the decision. The lights hang just at the right height where they hit my husband's head and it's right as his eye level, so that was really annoying for him.

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    1. Kelsey, are you blogging? How can we follow your journey?

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    2. BTW Kelsey, I can see this as a problem too. I believe they have adjustable rods which I intend to use.

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    3. I am not blogging. I honestly didn't think about it and I don't know if it's worth it to start now that we are almost halfway through the build. We've mostly been tracking our journey on facebook with pictures.

      I'm not sure if most people following this have the same model or are all from the same neighborhood in Chesterfield. We have neither, but I'm loving this whole home buying and home building process! This is a link to our neighborhood (there is only one floor plan, The Carnegie Place). http://www.nvhomes.com/community/stonegate-towns


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  4. Here are two blog posts with pictures of pendants over a Rome-type island. I found mention of more but these two were the only ones that said pendant in the same post as an actual picture of a pendant. :)

    http://ourryanhomesvenice.blogspot.com/2012/09/four-days-till-closing.html

    http://theresnoplacelikevictoriafalls.blogspot.com/2012/08/road-trip-and-lots-new-model-pics.html

    (pretty pretty please...turn off the word verification thingy on your site! I'm horrible at them. It's under settings, posts and comments, word verification. Thanks!)

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    1. LET THERE BE LIGHT AND LIGHT IT WAS!! Abby, I love lightening! So our choice was to get the pendant lightening over the gourmet island. We also have lightening over our wet bar counter top which comes with the package which I do not like. I intend to switch them out later. I will be posting a picture of them later today. I believe the pendant rods are adjustable. I would double check for this option should you decide to get the pendants. AND some PMs will install the pendants for you during your build too. Just ask because you never know. There are some very innovative, creative pendant lights on the market these days. Have fun selecting the style you desire. Check out some of these sites online: www.lampsplus.com, west elm, rejuvenation, etc etc etc

      If you have not done so, please join our blog site at ricknadase.blogspot.com and click the join this site button. Would love to continue following your journey and vice versa.

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  5. The recessed lights do a very good job of lighting up the whole kitchen. I like the idea of pendant lights, but in reality they are just another thing which shuts down the options in a kitchen. Plus, they collect oil and dust.

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    1. Thanks for mentioning Tammigirl! I will forever keep maid services and this will be on the list of things to clean. I hate cleaning! But I love interior design!!

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    2. That is a good point about the cleaning! I hate that as well, but can't deny that it is a good part of interior design. Decisions, Decisions!

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