At what height should you hang a pendant light? Table, island, hallway
65-80 cm above the table, 2.10 m in walkways: the pendant heights that light a room without dazzling it, space by space.
2 MIN · 5 OBJECTS IDENTIFIEDHung too high, a pendant lights the ceiling; too low, it dazzles your guests and cuts off their faces. The right height is not a matter of taste but of geometry — here it is, case by case.
Above the dining table: 65-80 cm
Between the tabletop and the bottom of the fitting, 65 to 80 cm: low enough to create the island of light, high enough to see one another from end to end. This is the height for which the PH5 by Poul Henningsen was calculated — its shades hide the bulb from every angle around the table.
The right diameter
The pendant should measure the width of the table minus 30 cm — a table 90 wide calls for a Ø 60 at most. In multiples, three small pendants spaced 60-75 cm apart beat one large one: the light spreads out and the rhythm dresses the length.
In walkways: 2.10 m
Anywhere you walk beneath it — hallway, corridor, sitting room with no table — the bottom of the fitting sits at least 2.10 m from the floor. This is where large, airy pendants excel: a Vertigo or a rattan pendant fills the space without closing it in, and forgives middling ceilings.
Above the kitchen island
75-90 cm above the worktop: you work standing here, so the light should fall onto your hands without landing in your eyes. One pendant for every 60-70 cm of island length.
The mistakes that dazzle
The bare bulb visible below the shade above a table — this is precisely the problem the PH5 has solved since 1958: at table height, the eye should see light, never the source. Centring the pendant on the room rather than on the table (if the table stands against a wall, the pendant follows it). The fixed cable that is too short, condemning you to glare. And cold light: above 3000 K, dinner looks like a waiting room.
The Beyit tip
A dimmer is the best decorating buy under £30: the same pendant carries you from dinner to evening homework. Choose 2700 K throughout the living spaces, standard E27 bulbs (re-lampable for life), and if your table extends for guests, the rise-and-fall system of old bistros is back with every maker — the height follows the use.
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