Pendant lights – how to find the right pendant light for your home
- The right size and height for every room
- Lighting mood: bulbs and light distribution
- Installation and mounting options
- Summary – what to consider when buying pendant lights
1. The right size and height for every room
Living room
In the living room, a pendant light's main job is to light the room well. In small living rooms, a single-bulb light is often enough, while for rooms of 20 m² or more, a multi-light pendant is recommended for extra brightness.
A large, artfully designed pendant light that hangs low looks particularly impressive in older buildings with high ceilings and can be used as a decorative feature in the room.
"Large rooms have large ceilings, and their emptiness often works against a homely feel. Generous pendant lights with large diameters pull the room together, make it cosier and create an eye-catching highlight." Viktoria, interior expert
It's important to hang the pendant light high enough that even tall people can walk underneath without bumping their heads. As a guide, allow a height of at least 2 m.
Pendant lights with a flat shade are an attractive alternative to classic ceiling lights in rooms with standard ceiling heights. They visually stretch the room upwards and bring a new level to otherwise unused space.
In living rooms with low ceilings, you can also use low-hanging pendant lights as spotlights. A low-hanging light is always the right choice if you want to illuminate and highlight individual design pieces.
Dining room
In the dining room, pendant lights are mainly hung above the dining table. Make sure the light creates a relaxed mood and isn't too bright. You can work out the height of the pendant light from the height of the table. So that the light doesn't block eye contact between people sitting opposite each other, we recommend a distance of 60–70 cm between the tabletop and the bottom edge of the pendant light.
Long tables also let you arrange several pendant lights above the dining table. You can hang them in clusters or at different heights.
When hung in a row, the number of pendant lights depends on the length of the dining table. Always take into account the size of the lights and the strength of the bulbs – the figures in the following graphic are only a rough guide.
Kitchen
In the kitchen, pendant lights can be hung in the classic way in the centre of the room, or directly above the worktop to provide light for cooking and baking. As a guide for the height, we recommend a distance of 70–80 cm between the worktop and the light, depending on the height of the people using the kitchen. That way, you don't look straight into the light and you avoid glare.
Bedroom
As an alternative to the classic position in the centre of the bedroom, pendant lights can also be hung next to the bed as a bedside light. Adjustable pendant lights with a rotating shade in particular, such as the Le Klint Carronade pendant spot, can create different lighting moods. The light can both brighten the room and provide light for reading. At the same time, the pendant light becomes a decorative element that adds cosiness and warmth.
2. Lighting mood: bulbs and light distribution
Light distribution
The type of shade, and therefore how the light is emitted, has a major influence on the mood of a room. Pendant lights with an opaque shade (1) and an opening at the bottom are perfect for lighting tables directly. Bright spotlights (2) create targeted accents and, combined with a filament bulb, add a retro feel.
A decorative light (3) made up of many small lamps creates a cosy atmosphere and becomes an integral part of the interior. Pendant lights with a frosted shade and diffuse light (4) are ideal for gently lighting living spaces without glare.
Light colour
When choosing a bulb, it's also worth paying attention to the light colour. Neutral white and warm white bulbs are well suited to living, dining and sleeping areas, or wherever you want to relax. Choose cool white light wherever you need to concentrate and want bright, daylight-like lighting. Cool white light also creates the ideal lighting in the bathroom.
LED bulbs
LED bulbs use very little energy and have an extremely long life of 15,000–50,000 hours, which corresponds to 14–45 years at around 3 hours of use a day. That makes them an environmentally friendly alternative to the outdated incandescent bulb and halogen lamp. Depending on the model, LED bulbs are dimmable – which means lower electricity consumption and lower CO2 emissions compared with incandescent bulbs. LED bulbs are now available for almost every fitting, so they are easy to swap.
In some lights, the LEDs are permanently integrated. You'll find more information on the relevant product page.
3. Installation and mounting options
Hanging a pendant light from the ceiling no longer necessarily requires a conventional installation. Today, many manufacturers offer easy mounting options. The Aim pendant light by Flos (1), for example, simply plugs into a socket. All you need is a hook in the ceiling to hang it from. The Muuto Ambit Rail pendant light (2) has three shades powered by the same cable, so only one installation is needed.
With the Flos String pendant light (3), you can get really creative with cables. Its extra-long cable can be stretched across the room and ends in a foot switch with a standard plug. The pendant for lampshades by Koziol (4) needs a conventional ceiling installation, but the lamp holder can be fitted with different shades to suit any taste, so it adapts perfectly to any interior style.
4. Summary – what to consider when buying pendant lights
- Choose the right size of pendant light for your room: large rooms with high ceilings can take voluminous pendant lights, while low rooms suit flatter models.
- The ideal hanging height: in the centre of the room, allow at least 200 cm; above the dining table, leave 60–70 cm between the tabletop and the light; above the worktop, a distance of 70–80 cm between worktop and light is ideal.
- Consider how the light is emitted and distributed: downward light creates cosiness, direct light creates accents, and diffuse light illuminates the room evenly.
- Neutral white and warm white bulbs (<3500–5500 K) create a pleasant, cosy mood, while cool white light (>5500 K) helps you concentrate.
- Thanks to alternative installation options, some pendant lights can simply be plugged into a socket.
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