Island Pendants

Hanging Island Pendants with Only One Junction Box?

Over the years I’ve often been asked what to do when considering replacing or adding lighting over a kitchen island or bar.

My answer: three to four individual mini-pendants. That’s great if you are willing to have an Electrician install the junction boxes or if you’re lucky you already have them in place.

But some applications with special ceilings have the home owners standing firm as cutting up their ceilings and installing more electrical boxes is not an option they are willing to explore.

My first question is: what is the kitchen island used for? I get a lot of different answers but most people are eating, reading or preparing food. Knowing this information helps with how many pendants and what type of light bulb, directional or non directional, is best suited for their use.

So getting back to the challenge of lighting a kitchen island with only one power source, here are my top 3 picks:

(A)Three low voltage pendants hung on a 12” decorative circular canopy.

(B) Three low voltage pendants hung on a 24” decorative rectangular bar canopy.

(C) A mono rail system with pendants and maybe a few directional heads for good measure. Low voltage systems offer more contemporary styles of glass pendants but 120 volt systems are the easiest and least expensive to install.