Collections · Solar and Rechargeable

Rechargeable Table Lamps at KES

Cordless lamps that move from the dining table to the terrace and back.

Novena Capo Cordless Rechargeable Table Lamp, lit, in a styled room. Editorial image for the Rechargeable Table Lamps collection.

The lamp with no cable

Cordless table lamps have gone from novelty to a range of their own, because they solve the one problem a table lamp always had: the socket is never where the table is. Novena's Capo, Tocca and Punta are the indoor ones. Les Jardins' Halo, Tulip and Rop and Strip are solar and built for outside.

35 lamps, from £58.

What we'd tell you in the showroom

Indoors, a cordless lamp is for the place a cable would spoil: a dining table, a windowsill, the middle of a console. Charge it on the sideboard by day and carry it to the table at night.

Outdoors, buy solar rather than rechargeable alone, so it tops itself up. And check the lumens. 200 lumens is a candle on a table, which is what you want at supper, and not a reading light.

Anne McKenna, senior sales

Rechargeable Table Lamps Recommendations & Buying Advice

Yes, where you want a proper table lamp without a cable or a nearby socket. The Novena Asta is a good example: its listing describes it for dining tables, consoles and bedsides indoors and for a covered terrace, it dims from 5% to 100%, and it comes in six finishes including matt chrome and matt gold. The trade-off is charging, so we would use them where a cable cannot reach.

Of the lamps here, the Novena Tocca, Capo and Punta are the brightest, at up to 325 lumens, followed by the 300lm Les Jardins solar lamps such as the Teckalu and Verti. The others list between 126 and 244 lumens, apart from the compact Elstead Luna at 96. Lumens measure output, while the shade or diffuser shapes how the light spreads across the table.

Only those whose IP rating and stated use allow it, so check each listing. The Novena Tocca, Capo, Punta, Scintilla and Anello Glass are IP20 and belong indoors. IP54 lamps such as the Asta and Onice are described for indoor and covered or sheltered outdoor use. The Asta Pro and the Les Jardins Teckalu carry IP65 and IP66, but confirm the maker's stated use for your exact position. A few listings give no rating, so ask us first.

Not on the strength of its IP rating alone; the maker's instructions decide. The listing for the IP66 Les Jardins Rop and Strip describes it as sealed to live outdoors year-round, while the IP54 Novena Asta is described for indoor and covered outdoor use. An IP rating covers dust and water, not frost, condensation or corrosion, so check the instructions on winter care, storage and charging before you leave any lamp out.

For the listed charging time, which runs from 2 to 3 hours for the Novena Asta Mini to 6 to 7 hours for the larger Asta. Most Novena lamps here, such as the Lucina and Ramo, list 3 to 4 hours. The Les Jardins solar lamps charge from their panel in daylight or by USB-C, and their product pages give the detail. Follow the maker's instructions for charging and storage.

Choose by where the lamp spends its days. A Les Jardins solar lamp, such as the Halo with its granite base, charges from daylight on an outdoor table and can also charge by USB-C when the sun is short. Novena lamps charge by cable or charging base, with the time listed on each product page. An IP54 model such as the Asta can move to a covered terrace; IP20 models should stay indoors.

When the lamp never moves and a socket is close by, such as a reading lamp beside a bed or chair, because a plug-in lamp needs no charging routine. Cordless earns its place where a cable would trail, such as the middle of a dining table: the Novena Ramo, at 26cm tall, is designed to sit there without coming between the people facing each other. For fixed positions, browse our table lamps.