How high to hang a chandelier over a dining table: height, diameter, lumens
The most common mistake in lighting a dining room isn't choosing the wrong model. It's the height. A beautiful fitting hung badly ruins the whole room — either it cuts across the sightline over the table, or it floats somewhere near the ceiling and lights nothing.
Three measurements decide everything. Let's take them in turn.
1. Height: 75–90 cm (30–36 in) above the tabletop
The rule that works in almost every home: the bottom edge of the shade sits 75–90 cm above the tabletop — measured from the table, not from the floor.
Below 75 cm it starts to intrude — people sitting opposite each other can no longer see one another. Above 90 cm the light spreads too widely and the table loses the warm cone that separates it from the rest of the room.
Those figures assume a standard ceiling. For anything higher, add roughly 7 cm (3 in) for every extra 30 cm (1 ft) of ceiling height:
| Ceiling height | Hang the shade this far above the table |
|---|---|
| 2.4 m · 8 ft | 76–86 cm · 30–34 in |
| 2.7 m · 9 ft | 84–94 cm · 33–37 in |
| 3.0 m · 10 ft | 91–102 cm · 36–40 in |
| 3.7 m · 12 ft | 107–117 cm · 42–46 in |
2. Diameter: about half the width of the table
For a single fitting over a rectangular table, the diameter of the shade should be around half the width of the table — the width, not the length.
On a table 90 cm wide, a shade of 40–50 cm looks balanced. One of 25 cm looks lost; one of 70 cm becomes oppressive.
On long tables, over 180 cm, a single fitting rarely works. You have two options: two or three identical pendants, evenly spaced, or a linear fitting that follows the axis of the table. Spacing between pendants: 60–75 cm centre to centre.
3. Light: 300–500 lumens per square metre of tabletop
This is where people go wrong in both directions. The table needs more light than the rest of the room, but not kitchen light.
A practical benchmark: 300–500 lumens for every square metre of tabletop. A table of 90×180 cm is 1.6 m², so somewhere around 500–800 lumens in total. An 8–10 W LED covers that.
Colour temperature matters just as much: 2700–3000 K, meaning warm white. Above 4000 K the food looks grey and the room turns into an office.
And one detail everyone discovers too late: fit a dimmer. The same table needs different light at breakfast and at a dinner with guests.
What a textured shade adds
An opaque shade sends light straight down. An open structure — perforated, ridged, layered — lets light pass through it and draws a pattern on the ceiling and the walls.
The difference shows in the evening, when the fitting is the only source in the room. Instead of a single pool of light on the table, you get a pattern spreading across surfaces.
That's the idea behind the Andromeda collection — chandeliers with 3D-printed shades, from a single pendant up to 24, with a brass canopy and cones. For an ordinary table seating four to six, Andromeda 5 covers the width well. For long tables and kitchen islands there are the linear versions, Andromeda 8 Rect and Andromeda 14 Rect, mounted on a straight canopy.
In short
- Bottom edge of the shade: 75–90 cm (30–36 in) above the tabletop, plus 7 cm per extra 30 cm of ceiling
- Diameter: ≈ half the width of the table
- Tables over 180 cm: 2–3 pendants at 60–75 cm spacing, or a linear fitting
- Light: 300–500 lm per m² of tabletop, at 2700–3000 K
- A dimmer, always
Measure before you order. Five minutes with a tape measure saves you a returned light fitting.
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