Dining Room Lighting

The dining room is the only room in a house designed around people looking at each other. Everything else is arranged around a screen, a counter or a bed. That makes the lighting decision unusually consequential — it's lighting faces, at close range, for an hour at a time.

One fixture, sized to the table

A dining room usually needs one main fixture and not much else. The numbers:

Width: half to two-thirds the width of the table.
Height: bottom of the fixture 30 to 34 inches above the tabletop on an 8-foot ceiling, plus about 3 inches per extra foot.
Clearance: 6 inches minimum from fixture edge to table edge on all sides.

Over a rectangular table, a linear fixture follows the shape and lights the ends. A round chandelier over a long table leaves the ends dim.

Centre it on the table, not the room

The most common problem in Canadian houses, especially anything renovated open-plan: the ceiling box sits where the old dining room was and the table now sits somewhere else.

You don't need an electrician. A swag kit or offset canopy — around $30 — moves the fixture over the table while the wiring stays where it is.

Dimming is the whole point

A dining room needs to be two rooms: bright when you're setting the table or the kids are doing homework on it, low when you're two hours into dinner.

Put the fixture on a dimmer. If you use LED bulbs, use a dimmer rated for LED loads — an LED on an old incandescent dimmer buzzes and won't go below about 40%.

2700K, no debate

Food looks appetising under warm light and unappetising under cool light. Skin does the same. 2700K in a dining room, always.

If the fixture has exposed bulbs, use clear filament bulbs — the filament is part of the look. If it's at eye level across a table, use frosted so nobody's looking into a bare bulb across dinner.

A second layer, if there's room

A pair of sconces on the wall or a lamp on a sideboard gives the room something at a lower level. It's what makes a dining room feel like a room rather than a table with a light above it.

From a Canadian company that eats most of its dinners after dark.

Frequently asked questions

What size fixture for a dining table?

Half to two-thirds the width of the table, with at least 6 inches of clearance to the table edge on every side.

How high should a dining room fixture hang?

30 to 34 inches above the tabletop on an 8-foot ceiling, adding roughly 3 inches per additional foot of ceiling height.

My ceiling box isn't over the table. What do I do?

Use a swag kit or offset canopy — around $30 — to move the fixture over the table without touching the wiring.

What colour temperature for a dining room?

2700K. Food and skin both look better under warm light, and cool light makes a meal feel like a cafeteria.

Do I need more than one light in a dining room?

One well-sized fixture over the table is enough to function. A pair of sconces or a sideboard lamp adds a lower layer that makes the room feel finished.