My kitchen has a big (4'x4' or so) square panel of flourescent lights that I'd like to replace, with either track lights or a hanging fixture.
The trick is that my ceiling is "textured" with a heavy knockdown, similar to the walls. From previous experience, I know I'm just not very good at matching that texture (on walls, never mind a ceiling!). So drywalling the hole doesn't seem like a very attractive option, given the labor and likely result.
I've been thinking that some kind of decorative panel, with a hole in the middle for the electrical box, might work.
I'm just a bit stuck on ideas past that - metal (some kind of reflective?)? wood? plastic? how to hang it?
i think you're probably wise to go for contrast rather than blending in.
a stainless steel panel might look nice, if you like the restaurant kitchen look, and would also reflect light back down. make it a bit oversized, with screw holes pre-drilled to hit the nearest adjacent ceiling joists and screw it directly to the studs. Pick your fastners carefully and make them part of the "look" instead of trying to hide them.
if you want the deluxe version, you could have it made for you with built-in pot racks or something, like those high end range hoods. if you're near the coast, a metal shop serving the maritime industry can be a good source of relatively inexpensive custom stainless steel fabrication, again if you like the more "industrial" look. i recently had a boat shop make up a s.s. ship's ladder for my sister's cabin for roughly 25% of what the architectural metal shop wanted...
if you want a more "traditional" look, i would suggest building up a ceiling cove of some sort, with the lighting fixture centered. this could take advantage of the hole where the fluorescent fixture was and be partially recessed into the ceiling so that it doesn't look "tacked on." find a book about plaster ceilings, and then replicate in wood. you could do this all "on the ground" and then mount the whole thing as a single panel, again by oversizing the "flange" portion that overlaps the existing ceiling and allows you to screw the edges directly to the adjacent joists.
Julie - I did not patch the hole but left it recessed and put in cans. My neighbor patched and put in cans and we both agree that mine it WAY cooler. The trick to doing the knock down is using the spray texturing, not trying to mud match!
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