Table of Contents
1- Determine the kitchen island’s length
Determining the appropriate number and placement of your pendant lights over your kitchen island is essential to assure both functionality and aesthetics, and the length of your island plays an important role in this decision.
- For islands less than 4 feet, one oversized pendant works well.
- For islands up to 6 feet, two pendants work well.
- For islands longer than 7 feet, three pendants or two oversized pendants.
Depending on the look you’re trying to achieve and the number of junction boxes you have, if you want to create a bold look / statement, two oversized pendants work well.
If you have three junction boxes, and you want to create a balanced look, three smaller pendants will work well.
2- Determine the kitchen island’s width:
Determining the width will allow you to determine the maximum diameter you can go for, as a rule of thumb, take the width of your island in inches and subtract 12 inches (6 inches of clearance on each side), then choose a pendant no wider than that.
3- Determine the spacing between pendants:
- For islands less than 4 feet:
- For islands up to 6 feet:
- For islands longer than 7 feet:
12 to 18 inches from each edge of the island to the pendant.
12 to 18 inches from each edge of the island to the pendant. and ensure about 24 to 36 inches between them.
if you’re choosing two oversized pendants, 12 - 18 inch from edges to pendants and 36-48 between pendants.
12 - 18 inch from edges to pendants and 30-36 between pendants if you’re choosing three pendants.
4- Determine the hanging height:
Leave between 30”-36” from the shade of the pendant to the countertop. But if you have taller members hanging around the island, you’ll need to adjust it and make it higher.
5- Examples for reference:
Explore the table below to have an idea of how the full measurements look like:
