Designing Kitchens and Bathrooms - Position of Hanging Pendant over Kitchen Sink

Hello,

Could someone please advise me where a pendant light should be hung for a kitchen sink? I was under the impression the light should be hung directly over the center of the sink, however my contractor says the pendant light should be hung at the edge of the sink. I think this will look odd because the light will be sticking out further from both sides of the upper cabinets.

The main problem with the position of the light fixture is the shadow it will cast when you perform different tasks / locations, including the sink
So, you must check the elevation, position, the light angle, type of light, etc
I'd suggest that you try to reproduce the situation as accurate as possible using a portable light and see the results / shadows

I have pendants centered directly over a cooktop without shadow problems. You would really have to lean in over the cooktop to get in the light.

I opted for recessed lighting over the sink. Same concept though. I have two cans with 50W flood bulbs centered over a 2 basin sink. No shadows there either.

If the lights are properly positioned you won't have any issues. I adjusted the height of the pendants (spots) by installing them temporarily and moving them around to get the coverage I wanted. I did the same for the cans over the sink. The sweet spot happened to be centered Front to back).

With pendants you can also change the light footprint by adjusting the height.

i had a can over the sink. looking for some "detail" in the kitchen. i added a 3 pendant fixture, using a can adaptor. looks good and works fine.