Pendant Lights Not Centered over Island – Solutions and Tips to Follow

Pendant lights centered over a kitchen island act as a focal point and diffuse evenly spread light for both seating sides.

But what do you do when you find your electrician had put your pendant lighting circuit in the wrong place, which is off-centered above the island?

Or, what do you do if you have widened and lengthened your kitchen island but found the pendants were not symmetric from each table side.

Being a massive task, fixing them seems complicated. You have to rearrange the circuit, repair the drywall and repaint the ceiling. What is the most depressing thing is the task will leave patches!

We researched over hundreds of methods to tackle with the problem and gathered the most efficient ways in this post.

Here, we compiled questions and solutions about,

  • How to make your off-centered island pendant light look not odd?
  • How to ensure every diner to get uniform light?
  • What to do to make the pendants centered above the island when doing a renovation?

So, How to Make Pendant Lights Not Centered over Island Look Unobtrusive?

1. If your pendants lay in the midline of the countertop but near the front,

Add a fourth pendant

Adding a fourth pendant light is the easier way.

If you have a family of more than 6, you have to install the 4th pendant light to make a great light accent.

Except for the impeccable look, it assists in falling the light in the right place and offers shadow-free light for family members and friends sitting at the table’s end.

Add a focal point at the end of the island

If you have a small family or the light-focused area is enough for you, it is unnecessary to install extra pendant light.

Just spare the dim area, and leave this space for plants, fruit dishes or must-have necessities when you are having a meal.

When decorated with a plant, its height is a vital point to consider. The height of the plant should be around 3 feet or 36 inches tall (Considering to meet the asymmetric aesthetics).

off-cernter pendant light

2. If your pendants lay in the center of the island but near one of the seating side,

Expand your countertop

It is expanding your countertop that helps compensate the asymmetry of the pendant light in visual (referring to the situation you have left pendants close to one side).

Adding a console table or re-arranging your countertop width are wise decisions.

Both manners won’t damage your ceilings or break your interior design.

Before designing, you have to make sure there is ample space to pass through.

Add another array of pendants

If you install your pendants unduly off-centered, why not consider adding another array of pendants?

Installing a disparate pendant or irregular ones will show your personality and spruce up your interior design.

Remember when you choose the new pendants, it is assured to have them with the same materials and same color (similar color scheme or complementary color also works) lamp shade.

What If You Want a Bright Light for Every Diner?

Here are some ways to guarantee a bright light for every diner when your pendant lights not centered over island.

Replace your separate pendants with get-together ones

More light sources mean more brightness.

A get-together pendant, or what we say pendant chandelier, increases the light sources which direct to every diner.

The semi-flush mount method, on the other hand, allows the light centered above the island (targeted to treat with your pendants lay in the midline of the countertop but near the front) and hide the patches.

long pendant lights for island

Install track lights

Installing track lights, to some extent, is a way to increase a focal point.

They highlight the personality of your dining area and offer powerful light for every corner.

After fitting your dining room with enchanting track lights, the sights will be on the track lights when you and your visitors walk in, ignoring the asymmetry of your off-centered pendants.

Since it doesn’t take up any countertop space, it is also perfect for a small dining room with a small island.

track light solutions for pendant not centered over the island

Considering the great lighting environment and architecture, the pendants are always suggested to be centered above the island.

Move the pendant lighting to be centered if you have time and money to get it renovated and updated.

For a Makeover, How to Ensure Your Pendants Centered over the Island?

To ensure you have centered your pendant light above the island, you should:

  • Make sure the size of the island and where you intend to place it in advance.
  • Ensure your dimensions of the pendant lights and clearly mark their positions for electricians.
  • Most important: Negotiate your electricians, electrical drawer and whatever persons are in charge about the free repair if there is an error. (It is recommended to find and gather all these workers to talk about what you want and decide on a plan before the startup)

What else?

  • Correct your pendants spacing.

For a small kitchen with a small island, one pendant hanging on the island’s midline is ok.

For a large island, 3 to 4 pendants over the island are needed.

Generally, the distance between a pendant from another should be 30 to 34 inches apart. Make sure you should leave a minimum of 6 inches (6 inches is fit for most houses) between the side light and edge of the island table.

Tips:

Use some balloons to mimic the size and position to look at the real effect.

Or, you can sketch out the pendant dimensions and cut out the scale to get a feel for the position.

Bottom Line

Pendants centered above the island minimize the glare and shadow, offering great lighting for diners sitting on both sides.

Regarding the visual, dining mood and architectural design, it is suggested to update the pendant lights not centered over the island.

Worry about the patches after the repair?

For the impeccable look, you can install wallpaper to hide it. Or use plaster line to do a simple design to hide the margin of paint (The way is more recommended when you find the updated paint color is slightly different from the original one).

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Aine has been an interior designer for about 10 years, with a rich experience in decorating houses in various styles, and recognizing what is the best-quality and best-fit furniture and home improvement products ranging from cheap to high-end tags.