Start with the table
The table is the only surface that matters. Light it deliberately — a pendant, a cluster or narrow-beam accents directly above — and let everything else in the room fall away. A dining room lit evenly from a ceiling grid never feels like an occasion.
Pendant height
Roughly 750–850 mm above the table top for a pendant over a standard dining table. High enough to see across, low enough to contain the light. Over an island or bar, 700–750 mm works because people stand rather than sit.
Levels and dimming
Dining rarely needs more than 150 lux on the table, and evenings often want considerably less. Specify sources that dim to at least one per cent, and prefer warm dim — a table at 2200K is the difference between dinner and a meeting.
What to avoid
Downlights directly over the seats, which cast shadows straight down onto faces. Cool colour temperatures, which make food look grey. And a single central fitting attempting to light the whole room, which flattens everything it touches.
