An Introduction to Pool Table Lights
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There are thousands of pool table lights on the market, so it can be a bit overwhelming when you are looking for a new light for your pool table. If you've searched for pool table lights, you know that there are many, many options: stained glass, tiffany style, modern, team logo, wood frame, and even custom pool table lights.
This page aims to help you with some basics about pool table lights, covering the different styles, sizes and hanging height recommendations. If you're having trouble choosing a light, this page is a great place to start, with an overview of many topics to consider when purchasing billiard lighting. Within this page, you will find links to pages with more in-depth information, like the How High Should I Hang My Pool Table Light article - coming soon.
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Types of Pool Table Lights
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Let's start with the basic construction of pool table lights. With a few exceptions, most billiard lamps fall into these two categories: bar & shade style and frame style.
Bar & shade style lights have a long bar, usually made of metal, that hangs from one or more chains. These chains are attached to a canopy (a plate attached to the ceiling), which holds the light up. The shades are attached to the bottom of the bar, each surrounding a light fixture that typically houses a single light bulb. Bar & shade pool table lights frequently have three shades, but two-shade and four-shade light fixtures are also common.
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Frame or box style pool table lights are a bit different. These lights are either one continuous panel for the entire shape of the light, or several panels in a frame of wood or metal. Large stained glass lights are typically made from a continuous panel style. These lights also usually have two or more chains that hang from a ceiling canopy.
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As mentioned above, there are some notable exceptions, that don't fit within either of these two categories. Some fixtures have individual light fixtures that each hang independently, either from a bar, or directly from the mount on the ceiling. These are called Pendant Pool Table Lights, and you can see an example of one below. There are also Rod Mounted Pool Table Lights, which don't use any chains. They are instead mounted to the ceiling canopy using rods that can be adjusted height-wise in various ways.
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Pool Table Lights - Types of Shades
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The three most popular types of pool table light shades are glass, synthetic and metal. Lights with glass shades include clear glass, stained glass and special types of glass, like halophane glass. Metal shades create a clean look for pool table lighting, and are typically priced lower than glass shades. The lowest-priced lights typically have plastic or acrylic shades. There are also lights with wood shades, leather shades, and shades using other less common materials - even cyrstal!
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How long should my pool table light be?
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Here's the short answer to this popular question about pool table light length, for each pool table size:
- 7' pool table - up to 44 inches long
- 8' pool table - 40 - 60 inches long
- 9' pool table - 50+ inches long
There is a lot more information on this subject, so be sure to read the article on this page: What Size Pool Table Light Do I Need - coming soon.
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How high should I hang my pool table light light?
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Here's the quick answer: the bottom of the pool table light should be 33" - 36" above the playing surface of the pool table. If you'd like a more in-depth explanation, please see this article: How High Should I Hang My Pool Table Light - coming soon.
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Other Uses & Sources of Pool Table Lights
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If you are looking through pool table lights and not finding anything that meets your needs, you might also search for kitchen island lights. Pool table lights and kitchen island lights are essentially the same type of fixtures, and are more or less interchangeable. Pool table lights are also frequently used as the light fixture above a bar counter, sometimes utilizing multiple pool table lights over longer bars.
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