Linear lights for rectangular tables

Almost all kitchen tables, and most dining tables, are rectangular. There are two standard ways to light them:

A. a row of pendants, typically three, usually hanging from a single ceiling plate (making installation simpler)

B. a single rectangular pendant.

This post looks at the latter.

To make the options easier to understand and remember, I've grouped them into types. I've then provided a selection of the best examples for your digital library. Which means the post looks long, but it isn't! It's almost all pictures. What text there is explains issues of which you need to be aware.

The options are:

1. profile in metal

2. marble, glass, gold leaf, leather, wood....

3. minimal

4. sculptural

5. not just a downlight

6. adjustable

7. more decorative

8. cool, playful

9. oval.

Metal Profile, usually a box section

This is the most typical form linear pendants take. Lots of people make them. They can look similar superficially, but there can be big variations in quality and performance over time. As you know, one of our aims is to stop things going wrong for you, so we only recommend reliable brands. In the case of linear lights, the specialists are the German family company that trades as Casablanca and Millelumen. So their lights appear frequently in this selection. They are also who we turn to when we need custom linear lights (e.g. one 4m long!). They have their own factory, so they can control quality. Here's one of their box profile linear lights, in the most typical finish—brushed aluminium:

Casablanca Follox 1

Other metals can be used. We particularly like this, in brushed brass:

Luceplan Compendium

If you want something longer, you can hang two (or more) pendants end-to-end, as shown in this image of Panzeri's Brooklyn Line:

However, Compendium is one of a small group for which the maker sells a component that attaches two together:

Marble, glass, gold leaf, leather, wood...

Another linear light specialist is GIO. They are best known for their linear pendants made from a single piece of marble/quartz . The shape is very simple, the excitement being provided by the characteristics of the stone used. (Each piece is unique so we send you pictures of what is in stock.)

GIO Luzon

Another GIO collection is in glass. The light source is within the thickness of the glass, creating very minimal, clean forms, in various shapes and sizes.

GIO Titanic

Millelumen add glass to the sides of their Individual series:

Millelumen Indvidual black glass

Millelumen Individual white glass

They also offer gold leaf (why not?):

and leather:

For wood options, we obviously turn to LZF, because of their translucent veneers:

LZF i-line

We are thrilled by their new introductions that encase the wood in glass (with the practical advantage that they are very easy to clean if used in a kitchen). This is Dune:

Minimal

But maybe you'd like a linear light that is so slim that it is hardly there at all.

Millelumen Surfin'

Davide Groppi Shanghai

Sculptural

The most sculptural—and the most elegant of all linear lights—is Sculpture from Millelumen:

A Ferrari-red one:

Most of the standard finishes are less colourful. (Black, white, silver, carbon fibre.)

They are impeccably detailed and made, with the deep polished finish of a luxury car. Really special—excitingly so.

Other sculptural linear pendants include Nemo's In the Wind:

Tobias Grau's Move Along (wherein the overall curvy shape reflects a row of round downward-facing light sources, rather than a LED strip):

and the wonderfully dramatic Javelot from Luceplan:

Not just a downlight

Almost all these luminaires shine light downwards only. Millelumen's Architecture collection also shines light upwards (you have a choice: just up; just down; or both):

Martinelli Luce's Calabrone can be rotated to shine light in any direction:

The late Ingo Maurer's Brick comes in sections, each one of which can be rotated separately. Here is a three section one:

A few linear pendants let a useful amount of light out of the side as well. They tend to be deeper (and more decorative — see section 7 below). This is Lepanto from Vistosi:

Adjustable

A kitchen table is used for many different functions, from a formal dinner, to cleaning a motorbike engine, to homework. So some degree of adjustability is quite a good idea—at least, in theory. In practice, it does not matter so much.

The traditional way of adjusting is to have a rise'n'fall. These are less common now, so here's a tip: if you want a rise'n'fall, look at German brands first. Yet again, Millelumen/Casablanca come to our aid! Most of their linear pendants are available with a rise-n-fall module incorporated into the suspension wires. They are elegant, unobtrusive, and match the luminaire:

But nowadays, with the advent of LEDs, people want more control. Millelumen linear pendants come in two forms: BASIC WHITE by which the lumen output can be adjusted, and COMFORT WHITE, by which the colour temperature can also be adjusted. That's more than most lights—linear or otherwise—can do! But what is best is that the people sitting at the table can make the adjustments to exactly the setting they want, at that moment, just by waving their hand underneath the luminaire!!!

NB Those diagrams illustrate clearly an important point: that there is (almost) always a separate power cable which, unlike the load-bearing wires, is not under tension, so it is never straight. This worries people in UK, to the extent thatr it can be a deal-breaker. People from other countries can't see what the problem is.

More decorative

There are more decorative options! Here is a linear Stilio from Licht Im Raum:

Thanks to Windfall's Scarlett collection, your linear light can have the beauty and elegance—the luxury—of organza and crystal. (This is another linear light that is deep enough to emit light through its sides, as well as down.)

The magical Universe series from Quasar can be had in several linear forms. This is a Universe Square with Drops 3m long (and 40cm wide):

And finally...Oval

This section is partly a word of caution. Oval pendants/chandeliers can look great seen exactly side or end on. But from other angles, they look distorted:

Also, they can be too wide for the table at their widest point, and/or too narrow at the ends to provide adequate light over the table's extremities. But don't necessarily rule them out. Here's a minimal one from Nemo, Eclisse, that comes in various sizes:

and a gorgeous oval version of Willowlamp's Faraway Tree:

See—this, my last post of the year, did look long, but you whizzed through it because it's mostly pictures! It condenses down a large field and, I hope, has both informed and inspired you. If you are interested in any of these lights—or the many good ones I could not include—as usual, do get in touch.

I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!