You can also have it wired for a chandelier and wait to install until you've chosen your dining room furniture. I would think scale would be as important (or more so) as the shape, so you might want to wait and see exactly what furniture you end up with, then chose your fixture. Just a thought, if you are feeling pressured to decide right now.

I agree....just wire now and worry about the chandy later. But keep in mind that if you want to have a buffet on one side, then you may not want the table centered in the room, but the chandy needs to be centered over the table, so you want to think about layout first so you put the wire in the right place....

olychick, i have to admit, i am definitely feeling the pressure! great idea on just wiring. i will ask our inspector to see if it is ok to just have it wired without having a chandelier installed.

annie, thanks for bringing up the buffet. i haven't decided if i should do one yet, as it would definitely eat up space and throw the room off.

i guess i will start looking around at prospective tables to get an idea on sizing now.

thank you for the advice!

When you prewire, make sure they don't cut through the ceiling. Instead have them just leave the wiring in the attic or ceiling space. Our *helpful* electricians put it through the ceiling in what was apparently a random location, and of course, it had to be moved. DD had hers prewired, and the wiring was left accessible, but they didn't cut the hole in the DR ceiling, so easily brought down in the correct location later and passed inspection that way. I guess I should have been more specific when telling the builder, but learned the hard way.

sujafr, that advice works unless you have spray foam above, like we do....the wires have to come down if you ever expect to see them again.
:)

Annie--oh, what a pity! so difficult to figure out ahead exactly where the light should go!

sujafr, great idea! annie, luckily we don't have foam so i think it is something i can do. thanks!