16 Best Dining Room Lighting Ideas for Chandeliers, Pendants, and Layered Light

There’s a big difference between your friends saying, “hey, that new light looks good” and “WOW! That’s a gorgeous light!” Statement lighting pieces are crafted to be uniquely artistic, with unconventional looks that are truly extraordinary. Top of our list of modern over dining table lighting ideas is this gem – take a close-up look at the hand blown glass with white molten glass cane on the AFX Spun 3-light linear pendant (available in clear, steel blue and smoke glass) and you’ll find an artfully wound ribbon that is absolutely going to command attention in your dining room. Each light can be hung by up to 9’ of cord, allowing you to evenly distribute them (as in this image) or to cluster them at various heights in the center of your table.

If your table is longer than it is wide (rectangular or oval comes to mind), add this to your over dining table lighting ideas list. Linear Suspension lights echo the dimensions of your table, illuminating along its length and providing even coverage along the way. The cascading waterfall glass of the Maxim Lighting Victoria linear chandelier perfectly complements the sophisticated Golden Silver finish.

Adding a set of gorgeous wall sconces that compliment your chandelier creates more layered lighting for your dining room, which is always a good thing. Consider adding a pair on either side of a large architectural window (as in this image), or perhaps flanking a hand-painted portrait of your family’s matriarch over the buffet hutch. You know she’s always watching. Here, the Visual Comfort Joan swing-arm wall sconce uses sweeping curves and a sophisticated two-tone finish to perfectly compliment the chandelier above the table.

If your choice for dining room light ideas leans toward the clandestine side, recessed lighting is for you! The “guts” of the lighting system are all hidden in the ceiling, leaving nothing but a clean baffle surrounding gorgeous LED light. Using a top-quality recessed system. Flexibility in installation is key here, and the <a href="/lighting/18-4556-11252-0-1268405/Sea-Gull-Lighting_Sea-Gull-Lighting-Traverse-Lyte-6-Recessed-Downlight-120-V-LED-Light-14550S-15.htm">Generation Lighting recessed downlight</a> works with all junction boxes and retrofits into existing 5-inch and 6-inch recessed housing with an adapter for ultimate installation flexibility.

All the original chandeliers, dating back to as early as the Medieval Ages, were outfitted with candles and special wax drip pans (known as bobéches). Ever since that whole electricity thing took hold, candles have been supplanted by electrical light coming out of glass globes. Today’s candle shapes make the list of chandelier dining room ideas because they remind us of those waxy days gone by. The Quorum Lighting Salento chandelier combines old-world mastery of curved metal and detailed accents available in a modern fixture.

When asked about our favorite dining room table lighting ideas, we must preface almost everyone with this gem … No matter which dining room table light(s) you prefer, make sure that you have them on a dimmer switch. Yes, even the rustic Vaxcel Breckenridge chandelier is best used on a dimming system. Remember that when adding a dimmer switch to your light that it must be compatible with the lamps/bulbs. Some LED lighting require a special ELV dimmer switch, so make sure you pair your bulbs to your dimmer.

Smart homes are all the rage, and for many smart lights are the first thing they put in their home. You’ve got two choices: Use smart bulbs or use a smart switch or controller to fulfill your dining table lighting ideas. Buying individual smart bulbs is expensive, whereas you only need one smart switch or controller to handle the whole fixture. Having the ability to use your cell phone, or voice-activated assistants like Alexa, Google Home and Siri makes it super simple to turn your lights on or off, or to dim them to a specific percentage to set the mood just right. The most cutting edge smart lighting (like the Crystorama Lighting Brielle Capiz shell chandelier can be purchased including the revolutionary SkyX system that allows you to hang a chandelier (or even change it out for different occasions) in just a few seconds and even control it with your voice or smartphone app!

When people are told to close their eyes and imagine a chandelier over a dining room table, the classic crystal chandelier is at the top of their hanging dining room lighting ideas. High quality crystal doesn’t just capture sunlight, it energizes it to become the spectral pattern that only nature can create. Just because crystals are at the top of your list, that doesn’t mean an old traditional curve-armed chandelier is your only choice – amazing new, modern crystal chandeliers like the Quoizel Lighting Twinkle crystal chandelier have a literal new twist on using crystals as the focal point of your dining space.

Small dining room lighting ideas doesn’t mean you’re stuck with a small lighting fixture. A compact fixture that includes all the pizazz of larger chandeliers is available to you if you just think … round. A pioneer of the globe-shaped dining fixture, Crystorama Lighting has the perfect answer for your globe dining room lighting fixtures ideas – The Crystorama Lighting Broche globe chandelier wraps a 4-light chandelier with wrought iron leaves in either a White or gorgeous two-toned English Bronze and Antique Gold finishes.

We’ve polled interior designers recently and found that the trend of adding industrial lighting continues to be one of the more trending dining table lighting ideas of today. Whether your home leans toward the rustic, or you’re just going for that urban-chic vibe, an industrial light should be a firm entry on your dining lighting ideas list. The one in the image is special – it pulls double duty. A combination of a gorgeous chandelier and fully functioning ceiling fan, the Savoy House fandelier wraps a ceiling fan in a stunning Silver Patina finished chandelier, giving you the best of both worlds.

When Thomas Edison improved the light bulb design to make it sustainable over time, we doubt he considered that over a century later we’d key in on his original designs as part of our dining room lighting fixtures ideas. The conical shape and antique (amber) glass create a feeling of nostalgia (maybe why one of their alternate names is a “nostalgia” bulb, eh?) – but whatever you call them, they’ll certainly add a cool vibe to your dining room lights ideas. Look how gorgeous they look in the Progress Lighting Briarwood linear pendant, fitting in perfectly with the classic pattern commonly found on barn or farmhouse doors.

Here’s something that’s probably not already on your dining room ceiling lights ideas list … wall washers. Ceiling lights (ceiling can lights or modern LED equivalents) placed close to the wall. Add your lighting about 18-24” from the wall if you have a textured surface (like exposed brick or stone) for an incredibly dramatic result, or 36” from the wall to have a more diffused result. For a more flexible solution, consider using track lighting as your wall wash luminaire to give you the ultimate in flexibility.

Frequently we leave out artwork from our dining room light fixture ideas, but we shouldn’t. Adding an elegant picture light, like the House of Troy Ultra Slim-line picture light not only highlights your good taste, it adds additional layered illumination to your dining room. At 28” wide, the ultra slim line provides the perfect color of light (2700K) to bring out the brilliance of your artwork without the harsh glare.

You wouldn’t have guessed it when you were in the 10th grade, but geometry really can be pretty. Just about any geometric shape (hexagonal, cubed or diamond-shaped) can look amazing if you craft them just right. Take the gorgeous quadrilaterals that are kite shaped of the AFX Gianna pendant lights. By adding a cluster of three lights as they have here, the one-of-a-kind design of wrap-around LED lighting with Black/Gold/Satin Nickel sides draws the eye immediately when you enter the room.

There’s more than one way to elevate the experience of your guests in your dining room – years of culinary school couldn’t hurt, but short of that a simple change to your dining room lighting can captivate your guests from the moment they set foot in the room. Our experts have done their part to provide you with sixteen amazing dining room lighting ideas … now it’s your turn. Think of the two or three of these ideas that would work best for your dining room and allow your friends at 1StopLighting to give you all the options you need to fulfill your dining room dreams.