Dining Room Lighting Guide

Chandeliers are the obvious choice when it comes to lighting your dining room, but there are several other options and considerations when selecting your dining room lighting.

At Lighting Direct, we want to make it easy for you to find the perfect dining room lighting your home. Browse through our Dining Room Lighting Guide and learn a little bit about sizes, styles and types of dining room lights to make your shopping experience easier.

If you have any questions during your shopping experience, our certified lighting experts are here and ready to help, so give us a call.

Chandeliers

Chandeliers

Placing a chandelier in your dining room is a no-brainer. However, there are some basic guidelines to follow to ensure you create the dramatic look that you are hoping to achieve.

What size dining room chandelier is appropriate?

  • Similar to a foyer chandelier, the dimensions of the room dictate the width or diameter of the chandelier.
  • The sum of the length and width of your room (in feet), should be approximately equal to the width of your chandelier (in inches).
  • For example: if your room is 15 feet x 12 feet (15 + 12 = 27), your chandelier width should be approximately 27 inches.
  • Another option is to size the chandelier to the table. The width of the chandelier should be roughly 1 foot narrower than the edges of the table.
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Ceiling Lights

Ceiling Lights

If you feel the need for additional lighting in your dining room, there are a few other dining room ceiling light options to consider.

Ceiling Lights: Flushmount ceiling lights and semi-flush ceiling lights are a great option for additional lighting in your dining room. Depending on the chandelier that you select, there is most likely a matching flushmount or semi-flush mount ceiling light.

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Recessed Lighting: Recessed lighting is another great option for additional lighting. Evenly spacing recessed lighting throughout your dining room will allow for ultimate control of your dining room lighting.

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Wall Sconces

Wall Sconces

Wall sconces are often forgotten, but they add ambient lighting as well as style.

  • Creating different layers of light elevates the design and feel of a room.
  • Adding wall sconces to your dining room creates another layer of light.
  • Many lighting companies offer matching wall sconces to their chandeliers, allowing for a consistent design across all of your dining room light fixtures.
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Accent Lights

Accent Lights

Are there certain features that you want to highlight in your dining room? It's common to have a china cabinet or wall art that is deserving of additional accent lighting.

Directional Ceiling Lights

  • Directional ceiling lights can be mounted on the ceiling and directed at wall art or furniture pieces.

Recessed Accent Lighting

  • Directional recessed lighting fixtures can be installed and directed towards the areas that you would like to accent.
  • Installing smaller recessed lighting is also a popular option to highlight a particular part of a a room, often 3" recessed lights or 4" recessed lights.

Dimmers

A dimmer switch is crucial to any dining room, especially if the room is used for more than just dining.

Adding a Dimmer to a Dining Room

  • Dimmer switches allow you to set an appropriate level of lighting for any situation. 
  • Whether it's an intimate dinner, a business meeting or a homework session; a dimmer switch gives you complete control.
  • Almost any light switch can be swapped out for a dimmer switch, just make sure that the light fixture and light bulbs are dimmable before adding a dimmer.