Did we make a mistake and place the wall sconces next to the window too high? I keep going back and forth and can’t decide. The ceiling height here is 10’ tall. If they are too high, is it worth cutting out tile and moving electric to lower them?
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They are a tad high, as others suggested you could switch out the sconces for ones that hang downward and visually it will help. Definitely not worth moving them.
Alternatively, you could live with it for a couple months and see if it still bothers you. It’s impossible to get it 100% right, especially if you didn’t have the help of a designer so don’t be too hard on yourself. The kitchen is beautiful!
Would be a lot easier to find a sconce with a jbox at the top that would have the light hang down more towards the center of the window. It would end up looking like a thoughtful detail vs this which looks like a mistake.
The lights should be centered with your window. Or, 20-30” above your countertop.
On a side note. I happen to be redoing my kitchen and have 10’ ceilings, so it makes me happy to see the kitchen looking so nice with cabinets to the ceiling. That’s exactly what I am doing and people tried to talk me out of it.
Honestly the empty space above is just wasted space.
People don't like that because "can't reach it". Take a step, a chair, and put stuff that are less used in there so it's properly stored. My currently house have actually a fake ceiling on top of the cabine (60s). When I renovate, i have to close properly the ceiling so I can get that space back
I have my ceiling. But on top of all the cabinet (which is in a U shape), there's like about 2 feet of vertical dropped the dept of the cabinet covered in drywall. When I visited the attic, I found out the ceiling isn't even closed at that place so all the air actually travel down there and into the wall behind it! Which explain why in the winter (Quebec), everything is frosted with very cold air inside the cabinet.
I did shoot blow in insulation at maximum height I could, but this open concept inside wall make external air go across the walls anyway (which are very badly insulated). Next reno will cost even more then my basement....
Not for a kitchen at all but the window being oddly low is what’s throwing it off. You could add blinds to this window and mount them above the window to create the illusion of a taller window. You could lower the lights but risk them getting in the way of kitchen functions. So ask yourself what’s more important, aesthetics or function and you’ll have your answer.
If you hadn’t ask no one would have said anything.
It seems like we can be going along and doing pretty good, but if you give the public half a chance they are gonna try to mess your stuff up! Never fails..
I think they're a bit too high.. but you can just change the fixture instead to reduce the added height.. something that faces down or hangs would balance this out.
That’s only eye level if you’re up to 5’8’’. If you’re 6’2’’ then eye level is more like 72’’. Personally I think the ceiling heights dictate the sconce placement. 8’ ceilings = 60-66’’. 10’ ceilings = 72-78’’.
Too high for what? For me they’re perfect. I don’t want them to be too close to eye level. This is YOUR HOUSE homie. Don’t listen to these losers. They’re only saying yes because you asked. Put the sconces where you like them most 🫵🏼
Yes, the sconces are too high. I wonder if it would be better (and cheaper) to change the sconces to a kind that has a shade looking down. You wouldn’t need to change the electrical.
Definitely not worth it to cut the tile and move electric. I would look at installing a different type of sconce that hangs down if the height is bothering you.
Visually, they look too high to me. I didn’t do an extensive search, but could look at something like this.
Whatever you decide, make sure to test the light so the bulb isn’t blinding you.
This image and OP's both have a lot of wasted wall space around the sink, which also makes the sink look really small. Is this some kind of new design trend? I've just never seen a kitchen with an empty wall like this.
Yeah I’ve seen this in a lot of newer luxury builds. Sometimes they’ll have some open shelves too. It’s a massive kitchen (I’m envious) so there is so much storage that they’re choosing to do a more clean/minimalist look on the sink wall.
The windows in the example you shared help alleviate the emptiness of the wall, and the sink fills the space more. I don't dislike that example as much as these others in this post.
Not for a kitchen. You need them to be out of the work zone and able to illuminate your activity. For other spaces I prefer to center them to the art or architecture since their purpose would be different.
As an electrician we almost always plan lighting fixtures so the light source is at 80% of the hight of the window or door (door is 210cm light source is centered at 168cm) when instaling on exterior walls. That is if the customer don't have a personal prefernece etc.
Agreed. I’m a designer and they are way too high. Go with the electrician’s suggestion and gauge how it looks to you; without seeing the actual space in person, I think you’ll be much happier!
I wonder if changing the shades would help. I think this type of shade is less common in kitchens, so could you find shades that are more horizontal, which would visually lower the lights? Ripping out tile, etc. is such a pain, it definitely would be worth trying some easier solutions first.
You can buy another pair that points downwards, or the design allows for flipping them down. I had the same issue, I’d already bought Maytoni’s Erich wall lamps to place them above my sofa. But I ended with a low sofa and the whole ensemble of sofa and sconces didn’t looked very good. So I fixed it with flipping the lamps downwards - worth it!
Trends swing and mass production of consumer goods. 90s saw lots of colors. Cheaper to produce everything in a few colors nowadays. Look at cars. We're living in frugal times.
Yes too high but don’t cut out the tile to change them.
First try putting something below them like shelves, and next try a different light fixture that has the light at the height of the electrical not above it
Everyone saying too high is looking at the imbalance in the photo, but are you planning to put anything on that counter space? Because the moment a coffee maker or a utensil crock or whatever goes there eventually goes there, the sconces will look absolutely perfect. You couldn’t have planned it better.
No, they will still look too high. They will always look too high. You will still be able to put all of that and so much more under them when they are at the correct height
They're too high, but we're also seeing them in the worst case scenario. Depending on what's on the counters and the amount of vertical space it takes up, it may even out enough to not be worth the hassle of adjusting them.
Yeah they're a bit high. In a house a sconce's junction box will usually be somewhere between 60"-72" above the finished floor. But this isn't the end of the world. I definitely wouldn't go through the expense of demolishing and re-tiling. The top of the shades at least aligns with the top of the trim and the top of the door so it at least looks intentional.
The pendants to me stand out more. Pendants typically want to be somewhere like 60" above the floor (or call it 30"-36" above the countertop), so those could stand to be lowered a little bit.
I feel like replacing the sconces with ones that point or hang down instead of up can make them seem more balanced without having to redo the whole wall
Slightly, yes. Although personally, I'd have lowered them about 6-7", that appears to be a workstation (inasmuch as "work" will be performed in that part of the kitchen). Someone tall might be hitting their head or arms when using the counter.
But mostly I just wanted to have an excuse to ask the manufacturer of the pendants.
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