Long story short, the only way I could get a bigger kitchen is to expand into my existing breakfast room with a vaulted ceiling. That room is currently lit by the ugly fixture you see here with 6 120v 60w candelabra bulbs (3480 lumens total). The fixture emits light in all directions. The lighting is adequate.

Planned lighting for this same area includes:

1) uplighting over the cabinet (I think it is the same led lighting as our undercab lights so 375 lumens).

2) undercab lighting 375x2 = 750 lumens

3) sconce on wall just out of frame to the right in the photo. Most we are looking at use a 60w halogen for about 830 lumens.

4) 2 20w 12v halogens in range hood over cooktop (320 lumens each).

5) 3 pendants over peninsula. I really like some monorail pendants that use 12v 35w xelogen bulbs (525 lumens each).

My husband thinks we need to use a larger midi pendant that takes 100w incandescent bulbs to make sure we have enough light. Asthetically speaking, I don't like the fixtures we would have to use or the pendants nearly as much, but I don't want this part of the kitchen to be dark. During the day, we get some sunlight from western exposure bay window.

If I just add up the lumens, it seems to be ample light, but some of the light is shooting straight down to the black countertop. I am hoping the uplight and wall sconce will bounce some light off of that vaulted ceiling to help the overall space appear brighter.

What do you think?