A dining table is the best place in the house for a Tiffany pendant. You sit underneath it for an hour at a time, the light falls onto faces and food, and in the evening the glass becomes the only thing in the room that glows. It is also the fitting people get wrong most often, usually by hanging it too high or choosing one too small for the table.
Match the pendant to the table
| Table | Seats | Recommended | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Round or square, up to 110 cm | 2–4 | One 25 cm pendant | Centred, it lights the whole surface without dominating a small room |
| Rectangular, 120–160 cm | 4–6 | One 40 cm pendant | A single centrepiece that reads clearly from the doorway |
| Rectangular, 160–200 cm | 6–8 | One 40 cm, or two 25 cm | Two smaller pendants spread the light along the table and avoid dark ends |
| Rectangular, over 200 cm | 8+ | Two 40 cm, or three 25 cm | Space them evenly over the seating rather than the table ends |
If you are hanging more than one, keep them the same design and size and space them so that each one sits over a pair of place settings. A gap of 70 to 90 cm between shade edges looks deliberate; anything closer starts to look crowded.
Hanging height
The bottom of the shade should be 70 to 80 cm above the table top. Lower than that and it blocks the view across the table; higher and the light spreads out, the glass loses intensity and you start to see the bulb. Most Tiffany pendants are supplied with a chain or rod that can be shortened, so measure from your ceiling to the table and compare it with the drop shown on the product's dimensions drawing before ordering.
A worked example: a 240 cm ceiling and a 75 cm table leaves 165 cm. Hanging the shade base at 75 cm above the table means the fitting needs a total drop of about 90 cm from the ceiling rose. Longer chains can be shortened by removing links; a rod cannot, so check the minimum as well as the maximum.
Position the ceiling rose over the table's centre, not the room's. If the existing rose is off-centre, an electrician can fit a hook and swag the chain across the ceiling; a cable pendant is easier to move than a rod.
Pattern and colour at the table
Warm glass flatters food and skin. Amber, cream and the honey tones of the amber designs give a candlelit quality that suits dinner. Blues and greens are cooler and more dramatic; the dragonfly designs throw a border of sapphire or teal onto the table top that is beautiful for a drinks table or a kitchen island, and slightly less flattering for a Sunday roast. If the pendant is your only light source over the table, lean warm. If you have other lighting and want the pendant as a feature, choose the colour you love.
SUNSET DRAGONFLY · WARM
SAPPHIRE DRAGONFLY · COOL
Bulbs and dimming
Each pendant takes one E27 bulb. A warm white LED filament bulb (2700 K) gives the glass its colour without the heat of a halogen. If you want to dim it for the evening, use a dimmable LED bulb with a trailing-edge LED dimmer switch, and read our bulb and dimming guide before buying the switch.
Pendant or ceiling light?
A ceiling light sits close to the ceiling and lights the room; a pendant hangs down and lights the table. If your dining area is part of an open-plan kitchen with a ceiling under 240 cm, a flush ceiling light in the same design keeps the glass without the head-height problem.
