At the same time we pulled it away from the island to provide for seating on all four sides. I now keep four chairs on each side. I keep a bench on the end closest to the island. I have another bench that can be pulled up to the opposite end. So it seats 10 all the time and can seat 12 easily.
All this combined to put the ceiling fan with the light fixture at the very far end of the table. My youngest walked in the door at Thanksgiving and noticed the light issue immediately.
The opposite end was so dark that we had to plug in desk lamps on extension cords to do puzzles and play games over Christmas break.
So clearly we needed more lights on the ceiling. And I was eager to get rid of the tired/old ceiling fan (which is never used).
I found white pendants on cords so the height was totally flexible at Lowe’s. They are not an exact match to the lights over the sink, but they blend nicely. I bought extra globes just in case. I routinely do that for light fixtures. (At the old house I had to replace the whole kitchen light after a globe was broken and replacements were no longer available.)
In the process of looking for pendant light fixtures, which took a while, we debated light placement. We had to work around where the ceiling fan was located at the far end of the table. So the answer seemed to be one light at each (far) end and one in the middle.
The guideline seemed to be 36” up from the top of the table, but with lights at the very end of the table, that was a head banging risk. So we thought they needed to be higher, more like you would hang lights over an island. But it was hard to know how high.
My middle suggested balloons. We got white balloons, tied them with strings and taped them to the ceiling, hanging down like a pendant light. The balloons were the right color (white) and also the right size. So it was very very visual and we adjusted until we got the right placement.
Then we lived with those balloons for a couple weeks, and when I was sure, I called the electrician.
Since we were all confident I had correct placement, electricians wasted no time. They took down the old fan/light and measured to get precise placement, and started as soon as they walked in the door. We did not have to debate or figure anything. (If we had not used the balloons, I am guessing it might have taken an hour, with the meter running, to figure out where to put the lights).
Luckily the kitchen ceiling studs were running the right direction. And they were able to cut two new holes in the ceiling and run the wires from the old box from the ceiling fan and hook all three lights up to the same switch system as the old fan/light.
The old ceiling fan now has the blades removed and is with another old fan in the attic. We have had two young males break blades on upstairs ceiling fans. One guy was messing around, the other was helping move a king size mattress. With the first break, I had to buy a whole new fan. With the second break, I had spare parts saved in the attic and it was a free, five minute fix. I routinely save broken fixtures. I also use the same style fixtures over and over in the house for this reason.
The electrician bill was 3X the cost of the fixtures, so this was a pricey project, but it really needed done.
And I am very pleased.
