When it comes to things like what height to hang dining room lighting, there's not exactly a strict right and wrong. There are standards, but aren't those made to be deviated from? Let's take a look.
The standard height for hanging a chandelier or pendant lamp over the dining table is 30 inches from the tabletop. But then again, rules are made to be broken. The fixture in my home, for example, is 36 inches above the tabletop. I like this height, as it puts the fixture at 5 feet, 6 inches above the floor — just high enough for me to walk under if the room is rearranged.
I've heard of others placing dining table lighting at 6-feet for that same reason, but I find that a little too high above the tabletop for my taste.
Do you know the height of your dining room lighting? Know the rhyme or reason for how it got there?
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As long as there's enough light to eat and live by, and it looks all right, what does height matter?
Our tiny little galley kitchen has a dining room with a ceiling fan, so it's pretty high above the table. Yeah, it doesn't exactly scream "shelter porn," but it's serviceable, and it lets us put the table wherever we want in the small space (currently against a wall) without worrying about light placement.
I think our pendant light is at six feet from the floor. Not sure how many inches above the table. 30 inches seems so low to me...would you be able to see around the light at the person across the table from you? Maybe I am not visualizing this correctly...my in-laws have a low light above their table and it drives me nuts not being able to see the person across from me.
My husband complains constantly about dining room lights being hung too low. He's 6'1" so maybe it looks different to him (I'm 5'4"). When we can agree on a light hopefully he'll also agree to a 70" from the floor drop. I'm not going any higher.
I've actually gone slightly lower, as I remember coming across a designer segment, and the consensus was 27-30", optimally 28".
Of course, it depends on your fixture... if it is a solid one, especially metal, or if it is particularly wide...
We were going to hang some pendant lights after moving a friend (with good design taste) said oh, too bad, these ceilings are two low for pedant lights. Any advice over how tall the ceiling needs to be? Normal sized lights.
I go with 72" to the bottom(or 6 feet). That way when standing your not looking around or under the fixture to see people across the room. I mount pendants the same height over sinks and at bars.
I currently have a ceiling fan without a light fixture in my dining room. I keep going back and forth on whether to install a light fixture or replace the fan with a hanging light. I'm leaning towards the first option as the fan provides air circulation during the hot days of summer and actually matches the decor fairly well.
+JENN_Y I think an idea would be to hang several pendants. One main one at 30" above the table, and then the others above that to lower the visual ceiling height (at 8' perhaps).
Ha. We removed the light fixture over our table shortly after we moved in. The people who designed the kitchen put a florescent light over the table. Grr. We're not fans of florescent. And then, to make matters worse, the previous light fixture wasn't in the middle of the dinning room, so they cut a hole in the cedar paneling of the ceiling (which is very pretty) and ran wires underneath it from the original box with all the wires. Their florescent light covered both holes nicely. :(
Currently, if we need light there, we have a table lamp set up on the antique file cabinet. It's not great, but it's better than what it was. And we keep thinking that the exposed holes will encourage us to put up a new light sooner than later, but it's been two years & we haven't found anything we like within our budget.