The cocooning effect is still going strong. People are continuing to entertain more in the comfort of their homes instead of going out to restaurants with friends. In the 1990s, people were using the kitchen island as the space for casual entertaining and serving food; today, the dining room is enjoying a renaissance.

When most of us were growing up, the dining room table was always too big for anything other than a meal for eight or ten people. Now we are seeing tables that are designed to be more flexible in size, folding down to allow for intimate seating for four or even dividing and separating to make a pair of game tables. Even homeowners who have kept their large tables sometimes choose to push them against a wall for occasional buffet dining. These changes have set up the need for a more flexible approach to lighting in the dining room, requiring homeowners and designers to rethink the use of the chandelier.

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