It is the question we are asked more than any other, and the one that decides whether a pendant light looks considered or simply wrong. Hang it too high and it floats, lost against the ceiling. Hang it too low and people duck.
There are settled numbers for this, used by electricians and interior designers alike. Here they are, room by room, in centimetres, along with the two measurements nobody tells you to check before ordering.
On this page
- Over a dining table
- Over a kitchen island
- In a hallway or entrance
- Beside a bed
- In a stairwell
- Adjusting for your ceiling height
- What diameter to choose
- What drop length to order
- The numbers, in short
- Common questions
Over a dining table
The bottom of the shade should sit 70 to 80cm above the table top. Not above the floor, above the table.
That height clears the eye line of everyone seated, so you can see the person opposite you, while keeping the light low enough to pool on the table rather than flood the room. If you eat by candlelight more often than not, take the lower end. If the table doubles as a desk, take the higher one.
Centre the pendant on the table, not on the room. Tables move; ceiling roses do not. Decide where the table will finally live before the electrician drills.
A wide, flat shade like the Butterfly Bamboo Pendant works well here: it spreads light across the table without blocking the view across it. How wide it should be, table size by table size, is set out in what size pendant light for a dining table.
Four we would hang over a dining table:
- Wabi-Sabi Pendant Light, for a quiet, textured finish.
- Wood Linear Pendant Light, when the table is long and rectangular.
- Rustic Pendant Light, a copper-rust dome that throws light straight down.
- Frosted 5-Glass Ball Chandelier, if you want the table to become the event.
Over a kitchen island
Here the reference point changes: measure from the worktop, and hang the bottom of the shade 75 to 90cm above it.
The extra height compared with a dining table is deliberate. You stand at an island rather than sit at it, and you need to see across the surface while chopping. Anything lower than 70cm will be in your eye line every time you look up.
For two or three separate pendants in a row:
- Allow 75cm between the centre of each pendant for medium shades.
- Keep at least 30cm between the end pendant and the edge of the island.
- Odd numbers look better than even ones. Three reads as a composition, two reads as a mistake.
How many the island takes, by its length, is in how many pendants over a kitchen island — and the rest of the room, from downlight spacing to under-cabinet light, is in how to light a kitchen. If the kitchen opens onto a living area, see open-plan lighting.
On an island longer than 240cm, three pendants will usually beat two. If the ceiling has downlights or a beam in the way, a single linear bar such as the Ribbed Glass 3-Light Linear Bar solves the spacing problem in one fitting, because the spacing is built in. The same idea, gathered rather than spread, is the 3-Light Round Cluster.
For a trio hung separately, the Industrial Glass Bell Shade and the Vintage Globe Shade are the two we reach for most. On a very large island, a 6-Light Wrought Iron Chandelier replaces the row entirely.
Browse the full kitchen lighting collection.
In a hallway or entrance
Clearance is what matters here. Leave at least 2.1 metres between the floor and the bottom of the shade.
A standard UK internal door is 1.98 metres tall, so 2.1 metres keeps the pendant comfortably above head height for almost everyone, including the friend who is taller than you and the delivery driver carrying a box.
If your hallway ceiling is low, a flush or semi-flush fitting will always beat a pendant hung too high — the difference between the three types, and the ceiling height each one needs, is in flush, semi-flush or pendant. Three that work in a corridor:
- Nordic Glass Ceiling Light, warm glass, flush to the ceiling.
- Travertine Stone Ceiling Light, semi-flush, for a softer, heavier look.
- Sputnik Chandelier, when the hallway needs a little geometry.
Spacing along a corridor, and what to do when the ceiling is under 2.3 metres, are in hallway lighting for low ceilings. See our hallway lighting and ceiling lights.
Beside a bed
Pendants hung either side of a bed replace bedside lamps and free the table entirely. Hang the bottom of the shade 50 to 60cm above the mattress, which usually lands around 110 to 120cm from the floor.
The test is simple: sitting up in bed with a book, the light should fall on the page without the bulb appearing in your eye line.
Position the pendant over the outer third of the bedside table rather than its centre, so the light reaches the book and not the wall. A small, solid shade suits this better than a wide one: the Travertine Stone Pendant and the Wabi-Sabi Pendant both do it well. If drilling either side of the bed is not an option, a rechargeable wall light needs no wiring at all — and if the room has no ceiling rose either, the whole scheme can be built from lamps: see how to light a room with no ceiling light.
The three bedside options compared, with the height for each, are in how to light a bedroom. Our bedroom lighting pieces are chosen with that reading position in mind.
In a stairwell or double-height space
This is where most people lose their nerve, and where a pendant earns its keep.
Safety comes first: we recommend keeping the bottom of the fitting at least 2.1 metres above the highest step it passes over, so nobody can reach it from the stairs. Beyond that, centre the piece in the stairwell window as seen from below, so it reads as a sculpture rather than an afterthought.
Long, sculptural pieces suit these spaces, and a chain suspension such as the Fabric Chandelier on iron chain can be shortened link by link on site. For a taller void, the 12-Light Two-Tier Wrought Iron Chandelier fills two storeys; for a narrower one, the Modern 8-Light Black Chandelier or the Nordic Hemp Chandelier keep the weight visual rather than physical.
Working out the drop, the diameter and how you will ever change the bulb is covered in stairwell lighting for high ceilings. See all our chandeliers.
Adjusting for your ceiling height
Every number above assumes a standard 2.4 metre ceiling, which is what most British homes built since the war have.
If yours is higher, and Victorian and Georgian rooms often are, add roughly 7.5cm of drop for every additional 30cm of ceiling height. A 3 metre ceiling therefore takes about 15cm more drop.
Below 2.4 metres, do not simply shorten the drop. Change the fitting. A flush mount such as the Glass LED Ceiling Light in a low room looks intentional; a pendant squeezed into 15cm of space looks like a compromise, because it is one.
Sloping and vaulted ceilings
On a sloping ceiling, measure the drop from the point where the fitting is fixed, not from the highest point of the room, and check that the shade hangs level. A pendant on a cord or a chain does this by itself; anything on a rigid stem needs a sloped-ceiling adapter, and without one the shade tilts and the effect is ruined. The full method, including what to do in a loft conversion, is in hanging a light on a sloped ceiling.
What diameter to choose
Height is only half the decision. A shade that is too small disappears; one that is too wide blocks the view.
- Over a dining table: about one third of the table width. On a 90cm wide table, a 30cm shade.
- Over an island: the total width of your pendants should sit between a third and a half of the island length.
- In a room, as a general guide: add the length and width of the room in metres, and read the result in centimetres. A 4m by 3m room suits a fitting of roughly 70cm.
For small spaces, a 30cm shade such as the Hemp Rope Pendant or the Minimalist Cylinder Pendant is usually the right answer. At the other end, the Woven Bamboo and Wood Chandelier reaches 55cm. Shade proportions on a lamp rather than a ceiling follow different rules: what size lampshade do I need.
What drop length to order
This is the measurement people forget until the box arrives.
Work out the drop you need before you order: take your ceiling height, subtract the height of the surface below, then subtract the hanging height from the table above. For a 2.4m ceiling over a 75cm dining table at 75cm of clearance, you need a total drop of about 90cm including the shade.
Every product page on this site lists the maximum drop and whether the cable or chain can be shortened. Most can, and shortening is a job for the electrician fitting it, not for you.
One last decision, once the height is settled: the bulb. For every room you relax in, that means 2700K — the reasoning, and the exceptions, are in choosing colour temperature.
The numbers, in short
- Dining table: 70 to 80cm above the table.
- Kitchen island: 75 to 90cm above the worktop.
- Between pendants: 75cm centre to centre, 30cm from the island edge.
- Hallway: 2.1m minimum from the floor.
- Beside a bed: 50 to 60cm above the mattress.
- Stairwell: 2.1m above the highest step.
- High ceilings: add 7.5cm per 30cm above 2.4m.
- Diameter over a table: about one third of the table width.
Common questions
How high should a pendant light hang above a dining table ?
Between 70 and 80cm from the table top to the bottom of the shade. Measure from the table, not from the floor, and centre the pendant on the table rather than on the room.
How far apart should pendants be over a kitchen island ?
Around 75cm between the centre of each pendant, with at least 30cm between the end pendant and the edge of the island. On islands longer than 240cm, three pendants usually look better than two.
How high should a pendant hang in a hallway ?
At least 2.1 metres from the floor to the bottom of the shade. A standard UK internal door is 1.98 metres, so 2.1 metres clears almost everyone. Below a 2.3 metre ceiling, choose a flush fitting instead.
How high should a pendant hang beside a bed ?
With the bottom of the shade 50 to 60cm above the mattress, usually 110 to 120cm from the floor. Sitting up with a book, the light should reach the page without the bulb entering your eye line.
Can you hang a pendant on a sloping ceiling ?
Yes. A pendant on a cord or chain hangs vertically whatever the pitch. A rigid-stem fitting needs a sloped-ceiling adapter, without which the shade sits at an angle.
What size pendant light do I need ?
About one third of the table width over a dining table. For a room in general, add its length and width in metres and read the answer in centimetres: a 4m by 3m room suits roughly 70cm.
Can I shorten the cable on a pendant light ?
On most pendants, yes. The cable or chain is cut or shortened during installation by the electrician fitting it. Each product page states the maximum drop and whether it can be adjusted.
Still unsure ?
Write to us at contact@thelightheritage.com with your ceiling height and the size of the room, and we will tell you what we would hang there. We answer every message ourselves.
Browse the full pendant lights collection, or start from the room: kitchen, bedroom, living room, hallway.
