Pendant Light Height Calculator: How High to Hang It

Enter your ceiling height, what the pendant hangs over and the size of the shade, and this calculator gives the height to hang it, the drop to order, and how many pendants fit over an island or table with the fixing point for each. Measure to the bottom of the shade, not the bulb or the ceiling rose: that is the edge people see past and walk under.

How the calculator works

Over an island or a dining table it aims for a gap of 75 to 90 cm between the surface and the bottom of the shade, which is the range most often recommended. It starts at 75 cm for a ceiling of 240 cm and moves the pendant up by 2.5 cm for every extra 10 cm of ceiling, stopping at 90 cm. A taller room looks better with the light sitting a little higher, and the higher it sits the less it blocks the view across the island.

Over open floor nobody should walk into it, so the bottom of the shade stays at least 210 cm above the floor, and the tool aims for 215 cm where the ceiling allows. If even that leaves no room for the shade plus about 5 cm for the ceiling rose and a short length of flex, it tells you to choose a flush or semi-flush fitting instead.

The drop it gives is the distance from the ceiling to the bottom of the shade, which is the figure to check against the maximum drop in a product listing. Take away the shade height and what is left is the space above the shade, which the ceiling rose and the cable or chain share between them. Ceiling roses differ in depth, so treat the cable figure as a guide and cut long rather than short.

For several pendants it divides the length into equal sections and hangs one in the middle of each, a common method because it gives even gaps between shades and half that gap at each end. A layout counts as comfortable when there are at least 40 cm, or three quarters of a shade width if that is more, between neighbouring shades and at least 15 cm from each outer shade to the end of the surface. These are working rules of thumb rather than regulations; trust a cardboard mock-up held in place if your eye disagrees.

Before you fix the ceiling points

• Get the wiring in first. Each pendant needs its own ceiling point, so plan the positions before the plasterboard goes up or the ceiling is skimmed. A new circuit is notifiable work under Part P of the Building Regulations, so use a registered electrician who can certify it.
• Check the weight. Heavy glass or metal shades may need a fixing into a joist or a noggin rather than a plasterboard fixing. The product listing should give the weight.
• Buy adjustable where you can. A pendant with spare flex or a chain lets you fine-tune the height once the island and stools are in.
• Work out the brightness separately. Pendants over an island are task lights. Our room lighting calculator gives the lumens a room needs, and our hallway lighting ideas cover what suits a narrow space.
• Still planning the island itself? The kitchen island size calculator sizes it from your floor space, and the dining table size calculator does the same for a table.