Farmhouse island lighting is always interesting thing to the individuals. Every homeowner has the freedom to design their kitchen island as they like. Kitchen decoration goes beyond choosing the best countertop, wall paint, ceiling type, flooring material, and cabinets.
Individuals are tend to focus less on kitchen lighting, yet it has the potential to augment their islands. A kitchen island offers convenience, productivity, and aesthetics.
When choosing the best farmhouse lights for your island, consider how you use the island, other users, and how large it is.
Farmhouse island lighting is vintage and stylish. Besides being rustic and elegant, farmhouse Island lights come in a wide range of sizes and styles. When choosing the best for your kitchen island, consider its type, ceiling height, and installation ease and cost.
Here is a detailed guide to help you make the right purchase decision.
What is Farmhouse-Style Lighting?
Farmhouse light fixtures are antique accessories that hang from a chain. Even if they have a straightforward design, these vintage lights can improve the appearance of any modern home.
Most of them have a black or bronze color and will match any kitchen with bright walls and an island.
From seeded glass to distressed wood to galvanized steel, farmhouse lighting fixtures easily blend with existing room designs.
Farmhouse Island Light Fixtures
Why should you buy farmhouse island light fixtures? People mostly buy them to enhance the appearance of their kitchen islands.
Like chandeliers, farmhouse island lights produce light. At the same time, they are ideal for creating rustic or cottage-like home decorations.
Most homeowners select island farmhouse-style lights because they consist of durable woods and metals. Farmhouse-style lights appear in beautiful shapes and always hang from a rod, chain, or cord.
They can revamp even the dullest kitchen. If you love leading a country lifestyle but live in an urban place, you can choose farmhouse island lighting fixtures as accessories for interior home decoration.
Using these rustic lighting devices depends on your tastes and preferences. For instance, you can choose one piece for your dining area and hang it about 32 inches above the table.
You can also raise or lower it based on your ceiling height and the length of the lamp.
If you have an island, that is the most suitable place to add these lights. And you can hang them in a row if your space has a rectangular shape.
If you want a bright light and beauty, clustered lights are great. When it comes to themes, there are several styles to consider.
However, rustic island lights, distressed wood, and industrial are the most popular themes. To choose wisely, pay attention to the appearance of your kitchen and dining area.
Then, select farmhouse island lights that match your existing interior decor.
Farmhouse Pendant Lighting for Kitchen Island
Farmhouse pendant light fixtures are appropriate for the kitchen area. As they dangle from a height, these are also known as suspended or drop lights. A pendant light will usually be a single fixture hanging from the ceiling. A typical pendant island light is:
- Suspended– A metal rod, chain, or cord suspends or drops the fixture from the ceiling.
- Clustered– Pendant fixtures appear in clusters of two or three. Choose a three-cluster pendant for a larger kitchen island and a two-cluster pendant light for a smaller kitchen island.
- Focused – A pendant light appears narrow and long. Unlike chandeliers that disperse the light over a wider area, pendant fixtures focus it in one place. Pendant lights tend to be the best choice for a focused and bright light above your kitchen sink, island, or dining area.
- Wired – A pendant light circuitry includes the grounding wire (copper), white wire (neutral), black wire (hot), junction box, and mounting bracket.
Available pendant light styles are:
- Domed pendant lights– These will remind you of the mid-century lights. Hence, they are unique, stylish, and perfect for your modern kitchen island.
- Edison pendant fixtures – These styles of pendant lights are not so perfect for your kitchen space. While they can reduce eye strain with their lower-lumens light, they do not fit the countertop area of your island. Instead, choose these vintage lights for your home office.
- Wicker and rattan pendants– These will suit about any room in your house. If you have a country kitchen design, rattan pendant lights can complement it.
- Single and double pendant lights –Single pendant lights are the easiest to find. If you hang these in a small room, they will highlight small decor items like a painting, wall mirror, wall clock, etc. Posh double pendant lighting fixtures also exist, and they are the best for softening bright kitchen background colors.
What Kind of Lighting Goes Over an Island?
An island is a design feature you can find in most contemporary homes. Kitchen islands encourage productivity and socialization. Besides preparing food over the island, you can also serve it there.
If your family members want to hang around the kitchen, they can chill in the island area. As an island is convenient, it deserves the best light source.
An ingenious lighting design can transform your island in seconds.
Also, it can help you single out the island area and make it the center of attraction. As you choose the best island light fixtures, consider that the space has many uses.
In most cases, the most suitable types of lights for kitchen islands include the following:
01. Chandeliers
Do you want to make your entire kitchen more elegant and cleaner? Nothing beats chandelier lighting fixtures in that. Chandeliers diffuse the light over a wider area than any other light.
Chandeliers consist of crystals or glass, dangle like pendant lights, but work like a floodlight rather than a spotlight.
When hanging chandeliers, one must consider their ceiling height. If your kitchen island is large and you have a higher ceiling, large-sized chandeliers are perfect.
Naturally, these are gorgeous lights when you have a spacious kitchen.
02. Pendant lights
To enhance your kitchen island, select a few high-quality pendant lights. These will hang right above your head to provide a focused light beam.
As they are bright and focused, pendant light fixtures will support food preparation and other tasks you do on the island.
Pendant fixtures have a unique vintage design that can enhance any existing kitchen design. When hanging your pendant lights, focus on spacing and length from the ceiling.
If you have an eight-foot ceiling, you should mount your pendant fixtures about twelve to twenty inches beneath it.
Add three inches per ceiling foot. For example, hang your pendants eighteen to twenty-six inches under a ten-foot ceiling.
Low ceilings may seem like the wrong choice for pendant fixtures. Nonetheless, you can install a single pendant light in a small kitchen with a low ceiling.
Concerning spacing, dangle your lights two feet apart. If you want to leave a three-foot space between fixtures, ensure you understand how that affects your overall kitchen design.
Key things to focus on are the size of your kitchen island and the ceiling height. If you have a high ceiling and large island, oversized pendant lights are okay.
03. Clear Glass pendant lights
These are a form of pendant lights ideal for kitchen island decor. A clear glass pendant light can entail the vintage Edison bulb or globe design.
Instead of using frosted glass pendant light, one can use clear glass pendants to make their island appear more open and spacious.
As clear glass bulbs are at eye level, they can cause eye fatigue due to brightness. If you do not like bright light, choose Edison bulbs with a low lumen output.
Edison bulbs will protect your vision but are not the best to use above where you do food preparation.
In all, we would suggest clear glass pendants when you need decorative fixtures in your island area.
04. Flush-mount lights
Flush-mount fixtures drop slightly from the ceiling. They do not dangle like pendant lights or chandeliers as they have no cords.
Flush-mount lights scatter their light beam widely and require a shade or globe. Besides being easy to install and providing adequate light, these fixtures resist dust.
05. Recessed lighting fixtures
If you want classy lights that sit on your ceiling, recessed fixtures are an option. Pendant lights might not amplify your island area better than recessed lights when the ceiling height is small.
Recessed lights can create an illusion of spaciousness when a kitchen with an attached island is small.
Another reason choosing recessed lights is vital is because they contain high-quality LED bulbs. Besides providing adequate light, LED bulbs can save energy and have a long life.
Install focused recessed lights above your island’s task area to avoid accidents or eye strain.
There is a floodlight recessed light model that diffuses the light over the entire island. One does not have to install them directly above their island area.
How do you install Farmhouse Lights?
After selecting your farmhouse-style lights, the next step is to mount them. Depending on the type of fixture you choose, the installation technique will be unique.
If we assume you have bought pendant lights, here is how to install them:
- Step 1: Open your delivery box and remove the fixture and installation hardware
- Step 2: Open the main electricity switch box and push the OFF button.
- Step 3: With your voltage tester, check if there is an electric current flowing into the old light fixture. If there is none, remove the old lights one by one. Make sure you understand electrical wiring to avoid errors. Here you must disconnect the wires and remove the base and trim parts.
- Step 4: A pendant lighting fixture has two versions of wires hanging out of the junction box. Hence, the correct wire connection will entail attaching white (neutral) to white and black (hot) to black. Like other electrical projects, you must remove insulation to expose wire ends. Once you connect the wires, wrap a tape around each connection to avoid short-circuiting if they touch.
- Step 5: Screw and tighten the wire nuts
- Step 6: Attach the copper ground wire. Simply wrap it around the ground screw within the junction box.
- Step 7: Push the cables into the junction box, fix the mounting bracket and screws, and attach the light fixture to the bracket.
- Step 8: Install the remaining parts: glass shade or globe, trim cover, and light bulb.
- Step 9: Turn on your pendant light.
[More FAQs] Of Farmhouse Island Lighting Ideas
How many pendant lights can I install on my small kitchen island?
Is your kitchen island six to seven inches wide? If so, that is a short island, and two pendant lights are ideal for it. If your island is larger than this, your best choice is three pendants.
Let the width or the diameter of the fixture help you determine the correct space to leave between the lights.
What cost will I incur when installing farmhouse island lights?
One way to estimate the cost is to find out the price of the farmhouse-style lights you prefer.
Then, consider if you will do the installation task or will hire a professional. If you buy and install the lights, you will not pay any service fees.
If you consider that the hourly rate for a contractor is sixty-five to eighty-five dollars, the overall cost can be high.
Are pendant farmhouse lights ideal for a small island?
If your kitchen island is small, you can still use pendant lights, but they will not look very pretty.
Recessed lights can be the best alternatives as they do not hang from the ceiling. You attach them to the ceiling.
Final Thoughts
Farmhouse island lighting can suit most modern kitchens. As the architectural design and other decoration elements of your house are modern, a simple farmhouse light fixture can tone down the style.
Farmhouse lights make an excellent choice when you have an attached kitchen island.
You can select these lights based on the size and purpose of the island, wall and ceiling colors and overall kitchen design.