Need More Light in the Kitchen? Here’s a Stylish, Adjustable Fix

These functional fixtures and their counterweight mechanisms have been floating over tables for over half a century. Ms. Bird recalls how the industrial 1940s counterweight versions morphed into recoiling versions in the ’60s and ’70s, alternative designs that hid the working parts. This discreet concealing trick is still available on some models, but Los Angeles interior designer Martha Mulholland, for one, admires the visible, “industrial meets decorative” look of those with visible ballast. “It’s a design born out of a practical function,” said Ms. Mulholland. 

Twenty-five years ago, lighting manufacturer Original BTC, in Oxfordshire, England, drew inspiration from cobblers’ workshop lights for its first adjustable pendant, said Charlie Bowles, a director at the firm, where sales of raisable lights are up 50% year over year.  Its Christie Rise and Fall model, created in 2015, features a wavy-rimmed shade made of hand-cast bone china that elevates the look. For the fixture’s pulley housing, however, the designers stuck to a vintage factory shape. 

In a predominantly black, white and wood kitchen, Lynn Kloythanomsup strung a duo of matte black Arteriors’ Egg Drop Pendants over a walnut-topped center island. The fixtures’ details are finished in bronze and antique brass, which jibe with other old-timey touches such as a vintage porcelain range and an aged-brass bridge faucet. The founder of Landed Interiors & Homes, in New York City, notes that most of her projects feature these versatile lights, adding that some people struggle to find the right height for pendants. These fixtures’ adjustability relieves the pressure of “getting it right,” she said. 

Ms. Kloythanomsup, like London designer Susie Atkinson, appreciates how these fixtures add another visual layer to a kitchen’s design. Ms. Atkinson thrifted a ’60s-era, double adjustable pendant light whose ellipsoid counterweights and cords entwine to form an “M” shape. “I like having fewer spotlights and having more decorative lighting because it’s a bit more interesting,” said Ms. Atkinson. As complicated as the fixture’s apparatus is, its shallow brass shades hover unobtrusively in the painted-panel room, even when lowered. “When you’re standing, the eyeline of the pendant is actually quite slim from top to bottom, so it’s not distracting.” 

These accommodating lights can also serve rooms that have nothing to do with food. Ms. Mulholland swagged an R.W. Guild Nantucket counterweight pendant over a desk in a Los Angeles home office. The light elegantly adjusts for the 6-feet-4-inch client and his petite wife. Two details add warmth and a touch of tradition: a fabric drum shade–a possibility in a room that’s not afflicted by airborne kitchen grease–and a cylindrical counterweight that evokes the inner workings of a grandfather clock.

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