Follow the path of the sun over a day, & throughout the year. When the sun is to the E & the W it is low in the sky. This means eaves become less effective, & other shading techniques must also be used, such as vertical awnings, external shutters, low-e glazing or trees. Also the sunlight at this time is nearly perpendicular to the window area. This means the sunlight is more intense & also that more of it passes through the window, & less is reflected. You're right in saying that generally W glazing is the worst, & should be minimized or eliminated. This is because the sun strikes W windows in the afternoon, at the hottest time of the day. Making it difficult to cool a home in the evening. E windows face the exact same problems, with regards to the sun being low in the sky, & perpendicular to the window surface. But this occurs in the morning, when it is generally cooler, & still gives the occupants some time to try to cool the house by cross ventilation. However, it's obviously better to minimize this heat build up through E windows in the first place. Conversely, N glazing will be shaded by eaves in summer, when the sun is high in the sky, while admitting winter sunlight, when the sun is lower in the sky. Northern eave length can be adjusted to suit a particular climate. In Brisbane the eave length should be somewhat larger, so north windows are also shaded in the shoulder seasons of spring & autumn, admitting winter sunlight. Even without eaves, in summer N sunlight is from very high in the sky, striking windows far from perpendicular to the window surface. So much more of that sunlight is reflected off the window surface, with less being transmitted through the window into the home. Though of course, I wouldn't recommend having no eaves. But as you say, limiting E glazing may come at the expense of limiting cross ventilation. So it's a balancing act, with different glazing solutions for different climate zones, local conditions, individual homes. But generally, the highest proportion of glazing should face N, as it can warm the house in winter, but not in summer. E glazing (which warms the house in summer) & S glazing (which cools the house in winter) should be incorporated for cross ventilation & daylighting purposes, but at a lower proportion than N glazing. W glazing should be minimized or eliminated, as it is very detrimental in summer. These optimum glazing proportions will differ, depending on your local conditions, & the building design. Generally living areas should be positioned to the north. As this side of the house will be lighter (from northern sunlight) & warmer in winter. Yes, some E or even W aspect is OK. But you don't want to use E aspect for living areas if it pushes the bedrooms to the W, as this is the absolute worst location for bedrooms. You do have a northern frontage, but it's quite wide, & the block is quite large. So luckily you should be able to design a house where northern light isn't too influenced by the garage out front. With that block size, as OKLouise had suggested, you may be able to come up with an interesting design that incorporates courtyards or even pavilions, to help with cross ventilation. Getting northern light inside your home, while also maintaining privacy. Good luck with the design process, & the build.

Hi - love the space and palette! Looks fantastic. I'd be thinking 3 pendants. We've just had some pendant dilemmas, and this is what we chose (....but sadly couldn't use in the end....). It's a Nordlux 'Float' brand, with various sizes and copper or silver finish. I love modern scandi design and wooden pendants, so this was a combination of both. This is the one we chose: This 'Ambient Constructions' shoot (search it on Houzz, I couldn't link it for some reason) below shows you how the slightly larger size look: Good luck!!

I like option 1 too, if you are worried about them not being big enough, can you find something like that, but that is bigger than the 16cm? Also, you could go three, I'm posting our former kitchen reno for you, the bench length is 1600 and our pendants were probably around a similar diameter, possibly slighly bigger, and given how heavy ours were in comparison to what you have chosen I definitely think you could get away with three if you liked the look better.

Hi Dreamer, Lauren others " It’s not necessarily people trying to watch tv while working at the kitchen island, it is more about comfortably having a conversion with people on the other side of island, or doing prep work on the kitchen island without having to dodge the low pendants. " no dodging for prep work as its a wide island bench, tv not an issue but comfortably having a conversion with people on the other side is a point. ** If I keep to within 600mm, being 2400mm ceiling height minus 1800mm tall person leaving 600mm. I could have the Solis pendant at 375mm length and 225mm cord length being 375+225=600 so with the Solis Floor to bench 920mm from bench to bottom of pendant 880mm (height above bench) now at 1800mm from the floor then Pendant at 375mm Cord to ceiling at 225mm