Like most things in my rental home, my kitchen table wasn't exactly styled. I'm in between house buys, and we unpacked in a hurry, thinking we'd only be here three months. Six months in, and the table I eat at, work at, and use to dump everything on has become the hardest working piece of furniture in the house – and one of the least inviting.
I wasn't really looking for tips on how to style a kitchen table when I was recently speaking with furniture designer Fred Rigby, I was looking for big, impactful changes and an insight into upcoming furniture trends. But he mentioned a very small and simple idea that would help elevate my table immediately. An affordable addition which, he told me, would change everything – adding a lamp.
Fred Rigby of Fred Rigby Studio designs beautiful tables and chairs, so I was naturally asking him about what makes the perfect kitchen table. After some chat about size, shape, and number of seats (six, since you ask, as long have you have room, of course), he started talking about finishing touches.
'You need a nice big lamp on your kitchen table,' Fred told me. 'Ideally, a portable lamp, so there are no wires trailing off. It needs to sit right in the center, and it needs to be dimmable. One that you can turn up to full brightness if you're reading and working, and down to a lower level for a dinner party mood. It will not only make the table more functional, but also make it a piece of furniture you're more drawn to, and that will look more curated. I'd also suggest adding a big, decorative fruit bowl.'
So I followed his kitchen lighting advice, and it worked. I got the Thebe portable lamp from Heathfield & Co., and its elegant frame and downward glow creates such a gentle pool that is so elegant to eat dinner by, and so functional for working.
I love the fact that it is wireless, so can be right in the middle of the table – or pushed to one end if we have guests, and its battery life is about 10 hours or so before it needs charging.
Best of all, it has made me treat the table with more reverence. I have stopped throwing whatever is in my hands on it, as the table now always looks like it's set for something, and not just a dumping ground. A total design win.
Portable lamps are a relatively new idea in design that has totally taken over. And they are huge in kitchen lighting trends due to the fact that you can add soft pools of light, anywhere you like, to this usually very practical space.
Advances in technology mean that battery life is longer, and they can often be used both indoors and out. Plus, they are great for rentals, or for anyone who has faced the struggle with not having a plug in the right spot for your lighting visions.
'Less is more when it comes to portable lamps,' says Pollyanna Wilkinson, the designer who collaborated with Heathfield & Co on the new range of portable lamps, which includes the one I own. 'There is a romance to just having one on the table, as less light is better for an evening mood – it's softer and prettier. Portable lights are very refined, and help you create an elegant space to live.'
These are some of my favorite picks that I came across while hunting for my own perfect kitchen table lamp.
Available in brass, black, and this bottle green hue, this dimmable, library-inspired lamp features a fluted dome shade and column base for a reading lamp that is both classic and cordless thanks to the battery life of up to 10 hours.
The Bobbin trend is here to stay, it's fun and friendly, and pretty. Just the right relaxed vibe you want for your kitchen table. And with the range of colors available you can go as bold or as subtle as you like.
Rounded forms always work well in a kitchen because they're so informal – this little lamp strikes just the right welcoming note.
So slim, so slender, so elegant, this skinny lamp would work well on a small kitchen table as it takes up barely any space.
At a very affordable price level, the ridges in this pretty little shade diffuse the light to create a super soft glow.
A surprisingly low price level for Anthropologie, this gold portable lamp ticks all the right style boxes: metallic gleam, slightly retro, romantic downwards glow.
This small tweak to my kitchen table really has made all the difference, and I am now dotting lamps all over the hardworking surfaces in my home. There's a tiny one on the coffee table, and I just added a portable lamp to my bathroom vanity that adds such a gorgeous glow in the evening.
