Kitchen lighting and shelving.

Now that the kitchen tiling is about 85% done (I can’t finish until the radiators are disconnected in the spring), I’ve started making final decisions about the lighting and shelving that we’ll be putting up. As fun as it is to have all of our food sitting on the dining room floor, I’d really like to be able to organize my dishes and current pantry contents onto shelves, and get the food into the pantry.

There’s only a single ceiling box in our kitchen right now, and that’s how it’s going to stay for the foreseeable future. For the past 7 years we’ve had an older version of this fixture from IKEA, and…it’s just ugly. I never thought it looked nice, but it was a way to quickly and inexpensively get multiple overhead light sources going, and it was a vast improvement over the rusted-out ’80s contractor special that was there when we bought the house. It’s time to move on, though!

I first fell in love with Schoolhouse Electric’s Satellite 6 pendant when I saw it in Victoria’s dining nook (scroll down!). Six lightbulbs is a lot of lightbulbs, especially when each socket is rated for up to 100 watts. Since the bulbs are exposed on top, I’ll also benefit from the lights reflecting off of the ceiling, something my friend Martha was smart enough to suggest I look for in a fixture. Victoria also suggested putting the light on a dimmer switch, which I think is a great idea.

I’m not sure whether I’m going to go with the natural brass or antique black finish, though. I think either would look at home.

Since we’ve done away with the upper cabinets and I don’t want to have lighting mounted under our new shelves, I thought putting an adjustable wall arm sconce on the wall to the left of the stove would be a smart move. I can swing it toward the stove or the countertop depending on where I need some direct light. I’m really into the Otis lamp from onefortythree.

And finally, the SHELVES. Last week I finally placed a custom order with Blake Avenue for two sets of their Shenandoah wall shelves. They’ll be made to perfectly fit in the space above the sink and across the entire wall above the unit on the left wall. Aren’t the brackets beautiful?! I didn’t want to have to leave space above the tile for a standard bracket, so I’ve been looking for something like this for ages. I can’t wait to see them.

Next up on my kitchen checklist are paint and wallpaper!!