You have gone from recessed to pendant lighting over the island resulting in a focused pendant as opposed to the defused light provided by the cans. Are the pendants on a seperate circuit so they can be dimmed by seperately?

Do you live in an area that might have a Lamps Plus store or some other professional lighting store. Perhaps your answer might be found there if one exists that would solve your problem.

Did you try an LED or a flourescent in the light? I was surprised at how I liked the flourescent color better in my pendant than the incandescent. Now I just need to go buy a dimmable one.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Texasredhead: with non-flood lights in the pendants, it seems the light from the pendants is more diffused than that from the cans. I can get the same color on the island counter by putting PAR 20 halogen floods in the pendants, but then I've really got a "spot" of bight light on the counter instead of the overall light I want. This is happening because the pendants are so much closer to the counter than are the cans. I've talked to a couple of light bulb companies today and they don't really have a solution for me.

Marcydc: I have not tried LED or flourescent lights in the pendants, but maybe I should. I've tried just about everything else!

Satco makes a lamp called a 50Par20 "soft par" .
Thay have sand blasted the lens of the lamp, so you'll still get the same colour output from the lamp , but no "hot spot" on your floor or counter.
These soft pars are the only lamps I use for general or ambient light.

Normclc, I like the sound of that light. I'll look for it. Thanks!

Please tell me what color paint you used w blue Sahara. I'm wanting a warm soft color toward yellow but know tan beige looks better. Any advice?

Re: paint, I had a great yellow-beige called Plantation Beige. It goes well with a lot of colors and is very versatile.

karkitkat:

I painted my kitchen walls blue, perhaps Sporty Blue by Sherwin Williams. It is a strong color, but it brings in the colors in our pool area right outside the kitchen French doors and I like that.

The overall colors you see in Sahara depend on your lighting, as I realized when looking for the right bulbs for my new pendant lights. When light is shining directly on Sahara, you see all the warmer neutrals running through it. When the lights are off, or if there are areas not as well-lit, it goes very cool in tone, kind of gray-blue. I used honed limestone for my backsplash, which I would say is in the warm tones, and I'm very happy with it.

Good luck with your project!