Ceiling light or pendant lamp: when to choose which?

With a new light point, this is the first question: does something hang from a pendant, or does something sit flush against the ceiling? The answer depends on three things: your ceiling height, what happens under the lamp, and how you want the room to feel.

Choose a pendant lamp if something stands underneath

Above a dining table, a kitchen island or a side table, a pendant lamp belongs. It marks the spot, brings the light closer to where you need it and makes a table the centre of the room.

The condition is that nobody walks underneath. In a walkway a pendant lamp is an obstacle, and a low pendant lamp in a passage will sooner or later get broken.

Choose a ceiling light for walkways or a low ceiling

In a hall, a corridor, a bedroom or a kitchen without an island, a ceiling light works better. It lights the whole room evenly and gets in nobody's way.

With a ceiling below 2.40 metres we would always go for a ceiling light, or at most a pendant lamp that comes down no more than twenty centimetres.

What the difference does to the room

A pendant lamp visually lowers the ceiling and makes a room more intimate. That is exactly what you want above a table, and exactly what you do not want in a small hall.

A ceiling light makes the room look higher, but gives flatter light. If you want atmosphere, add a floor lamp or wall lights. Why one light point is rarely enough, you can read in why one lamp in the living room is not enough.

And in a high room?

In a void or with a ceiling above three metres, a ceiling light looks lost: the light barely reaches the floor. There a pendant lamp with a long drop is the better choice. What is involved is in lighting in a void.

Unsure? In our showroom in Arnhem both types hang side by side, so you see the difference in effect instead of reading about it.

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