we are in a galley that is 7 1/2' x 21' and we're using 3 light fixtures on the ceiling as well as task lighting. We have plaster ceilings still and it wasn't difficult for our Dremel Trio to make the holes for our new light fixtures.

In your kitchen, I think it would look great with those types of lights. Also try to see if you can use task lighting under the cabinets (LED, halogen, etc) they really make a difference - especially if you go with just 1 or 2 lights. I found a kitchen that looks smaller (it's so hard finding kitchens without islands!)

Here is a link that might be useful:

Note that incandescent bulbs 100w and larger are going off the market in a couple years, so your 300w bulb will have to be CFL.

I would worry more about a single huge fixture dominating the space, rather than two smaller fixtures looking "busy"

I have a bigger kitchen, and replaced a large florescent center fixture with two schoolhouse-type semi-flush lights. It looks much better.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}

Our kitchen was 11 x 13 w/ 9' ceilings and had a single fluorescent fixture with an 18" shade before we took down a wall---it lit the old space quite nicely. No clue what the wattage was, though (taking it down soon so can find out then!)

There is also the option of ordering your fixture from Rejuvenation in Portland, where you can get a schoolhouse fixture with extra sockets added---it needs a 16" shade in that case, I think. Schoolhouse Electric and other custom lighting places may offer this option too.

FWIW, we're doing 3 150W (CFL equivalent) schoolhouse fixtures for the new space, which is 13' x 18' now. No clue if this will be enough lighting, though, as they aren't in yet.

Lumen is the unit to measure light output.

Use lumen or lux (light per area) and include all the 21st century options in the comparison.

Expensive bulbs producing a lot of lumen per Watt last longer, require less power (less money to operate), and produce far far less waste heat (also saving you money since you don't have as many Watts of heat to cool down with your air conditioning).

The type (colour) of light these bulbs produce depends on another unit you can learn to use too. There are many high quality bulbs producing beautiful light.

lblue, 20th century incandescent bulbs will date you. People can feel the heat. Did you know that incandescent bulbs' light yellows as the bulb ages? And not all at the same rate. So, one of your bulbs will be yellowish and the one next to it will be a different shade. Very unstable. Also, the light they produce when new will look bad, once people get used to another standard. Get with the times. Get ahead of the process.

hth

Janet_425 I am wondering what your school fixtures take as far as bulbs if not 100 watt. The rejuvenation school house fixtures I saw all take 100 watt or more. I was wondering if there is a rule of thumb guide for spacing of fixtures. I have not seen any small kitchens on gardenweb with a single light fixture in center. Most have pendants over islands and/or recessed lighting as well & we have no space for an island. The single pendant would be hung high & the 14 inch shade is not large for the space. We have 10 foot ceilings so a flush mount seems kind of high up there.

They can take 100W bulbs, but only have 75w bulbs in them at present. No complaints about light level, but my kitchen also has perimeter cans (with CFLs).

Here is a link that might be useful: my lights

Thanks you Janet, very pretty fixtures & they look great in your kitchen. If my kitchen was as big as yours there would be no question. Igarvin thank you for sending the picture, I did not see the link previously. I think that kitchen is bigger than mine! Thanks also to everyone who responded & about the info about the CFL lights versus incandescent. Also, if anyone knows of any rule of thumb guide for # of fixtures & spacing...

I haven't been able to find anything on spacing so we are simply centering ours in the room (think foci of an oval). We contemplated zig-zagging them but decided it would look silly. But the "general lighting" rule of thumb I heard from the lighting places we talked to was roughly 2 watts of light per square foot. (davidro is right that lumens are really the best way to calculate, but this will give you a rough sense as far as how many fixtures/sockets.) In your space, I would either do one central fixture with two 150W sockets or two 150W fixtures centered, depending on where you have task lighting and where you need to cast light.

Artemis78-- Thank you for the advice. Due to our lathe & plaster ceilings & low budget, I am now thinking it might be best to stick with the one central fixture with either a 14 or 12 inch schoolhouse shade. This way we can just swap out the fixture with no additional cost of adding/wiring another fixtures or making more holes in ceiling etc.

I also wanted to pass on some info from the rejuvenation Seattle store. They told me that it was the more common 65 watt lightbulb & shape that will be going away in two years. So majority of what is found at your big box stores etc. They told me light bulbs with more than 100 watts & also those in more unusual shapes (round, oblong etc.) will be still around in incandescent.

If you are using the single, central light for general lighting that is ok, but without task lighting, you are going to create glare and have a shadow on your work surface with a single fixture. If you are concerned about budget and being able to work off a single junction box I would consider a track fixture that would create more than one point of light in the kitchen.