A chandelier that is too small looks like an afterthought. One that is too large dominates the room and gets in the way of conversation. Getting the size right is mostly arithmetic, and it takes about two minutes.
Sizing to the room
The oldest rule still works. Measure the length and width of your room in metres, add them together, and the total in centimetres is roughly the diameter your chandelier should be.
A room of 4 by 5 metres gives you 9, so a fitting of around 90 cm across. A smaller room of 3 by 3.5 metres gives 6.5, so around 65 cm.
Use this when the chandelier is lighting the room as a whole, in a hallway or a living room rather than over a specific piece of furniture.
Sizing to a dining table
Over a table, the table matters more than the room. The fitting should be roughly half to two-thirds the width of the table, and never wider than the table itself.
On a table 90 cm wide, that means somewhere between 45 and 60 cm. On a long table of 200 cm or more, consider two smaller fittings rather than one enormous one, or a linear fitting that follows the length of the table.
Leave at least 15 cm clear on each side. Anything closer and people will knock it reaching across.
Hanging height
Over a dining table, the bottom of the fitting should sit 75 to 90 cm above the tabletop. That is low enough to light the food and hold the room together, and high enough to see the person opposite you.
In a hallway or over open floor, leave at least 210 cm of clearance beneath the fitting so nobody walks into it. In a stairwell, measure from the highest step the fitting hangs over, not from the floor below.
For ceilings above the standard 240 cm, add roughly 7 cm of drop for every additional 30 cm of ceiling height.
Weight and fixing
This is where people come unstuck. A crystal chandelier can weigh 15 kg or more, and a standard ceiling rose is not designed to carry that.
Check the weight on the product page before you buy, and check what is above your ceiling. A fitting over about 5 kg needs to be mounted to a joist or to a brace fitted between joists. If you are not certain what is up there, that is a question for an electrician rather than a Saturday afternoon.
In the UK, work on fixed wiring in certain rooms is notifiable under Part P of the Building Regulations. Replacing a light fitting on an existing circuit usually is not, but a new circuit is. If in doubt, use a registered electrician.
Light itself
A chandelier with a dozen bulbs is not automatically a bright room. What matters is the total output in lumens and the colour temperature.
For a dining room, warm light between 2400K and 2700K flatters both food and faces. Above 3000K the room starts to feel clinical. Crystal and clear glass throw light around and read brighter than the bulb count suggests; opal and frosted glass diffuse it and read softer.
Put it on a dimmer if you can. A fitting that works at full brightness for dinner with friends is usually too much for a quiet evening, and a dimmer costs less than replacing the fitting.
A quick checklist
- Room length plus width in metres, as centimetres, for general lighting.
- Half to two-thirds of the table width, over a table.
- 75 to 90 cm above a tabletop, 210 cm above a floor.
- Check the weight, and check what the ceiling can carry.
- Warm light, and a dimmer if the circuit allows it.
Measure before you order. A chandelier is not a piece you want to send back.