thanks so much. I want to draw the attention to the champagne candy pendants and to be the feature behind the dull brown overheads. I'm thinking it's ok to mix metals. I forgot to add the canopy rangehood which will be installed behind the pendants. I hope it won't clash! My stainless steel kitchen appliances are yet to be installed.

I would highly recommend redesigning the ceiling fixtures, rather than working around what's already there. It's cluttered and lopsided; and you will probably regret it, or spend much more $ fixing it afterwards. I'm 1/2 way through my kitchen project with a large island hub. To make space for the pendants, I removed two round fluoro's, moved an A/C outlet (and another in the adjacent room with a sky-light), then patched and painted. It's all simple stuff, you just have to design around the ceiling joists, and usually the previous cut-outs are left in the roof (makes it easy to patch). I also installed an electronic sky-light from Bunnings for the in-laws, which is perfect for small roof-space issues. A very small PV panel goes on the north-side of the roof, a slim LED panel goes in the kitchen ceiling, and a long power cable links the two.

Hi Damian... is this question for an existing home or a new build? Are you able to show a picture of the space you are talking about or draw up a rough plan? Would be interesting to get a better idea of the area you are talking about so we can offer more accurate suggestions for you :)

brushed nickel sounds good to me