What bulb should I use in a blue glass pendant?

A neutral white bulb, around 4000K, keeps blue glass reading true. A warm 2700K bulb pulls it towards green and softens the edge. On the metal and wood designs the bulb changes only the light below, not the blue of the shade.

Is the blue in the glass or on the shade?

It depends on the design. On the bubble, gradient, opaline and rippled glass designs the blue is in the glass, so the light comes out tinted. On the metal and wood designs the blue is on the outside, and the light stays the colour of the bulb.

Do blue pendant lights work over a kitchen island?

Yes, especially in twos or threes with the rest of the scheme kept quiet. Over food, a metal or wood design is often the easier choice, because the light on the counter stays the colour of the bulb instead of taking on a cool cast.

Do these come in dark blue and light blue?

Both. The blues run from navy and deep night blue to sky, water and light blue, so open the colour selector to see which blue a design comes in.

Blue Pendant Lights

Blue pendant lights are hanging lights in navy, sky, light or deep blue, and every one of the 28 here lists blue among its colour options. Where the blue sits decides the light. In the glass designs it tints the light itself; on the metal and wood designs the blue stays on the outside and the light below is the colour of the bulb. A warm bulb pulls blue glass towards green, and a neutral one keeps it true.

Blue glass earns its keep over an island or a table: navy anchors the room and sky blue keeps it light. These pendants bring colour without paint — and they read even better in twos and threes. For a modern blue pendant light, seven of the 28 have Modern in the name, among them the Elaris Modern Gradient Glass Pendant Light. For a warm counterpoint, the Aurex Vintage Brass Globe Pendant Light comes in four ambers, from bright amber to caramel.

How the bulb changes blue glass

Blue is the colour most changed by the bulb behind it. A warm 2700K lamp pulls the deeper blues towards green and softens the edge of the glass; a neutral bulb keeps the blue reading true and a little cooler. Worth deciding before you buy, because the bulb is the cheapest part of a fixture to change your mind about — which colour temperature to run sets out the difference.

Bulb	Colour temperature	How blue glass reads
Warm white	2700K	Pulls towards green, with a softer edge
Soft white	3000K	A slighter pull towards green
Neutral white	4000K	True to the colour, a little cooler
Daylight	5000-6500K	The coldest, strongest blue

Blue pendant lighting over an island or table

Colour is easier to live with in small doses. One blue pendant over a side table or a hall console does more than a row of them; over an island, keep the rest of the scheme quiet and let the glass be the only loud thing. For heights and diameters, see how high to hang pendants over an island and the pendant size guide. If you want the shape without the colour, compare the wider glass pendant range — and green pendants are the nearest neighbour if blue is close but not quite it. For the warm end of the same idea, vintage amber pendant lights tint the light gold instead of blue.

Open the colour selector before you fall for a photograph. The blues cover a wide spread: navy and deep night blue at one end, sky, water and light blue at the other. Where the colour sits matters as much as the shade. On the bubble-glass, gradient-glass, opaline and rippled glass-ball designs the blue is in the glass itself, so the light comes out tinted and whatever sits underneath takes on a cool cast. On the metal and wood designs the blue is only on the outside: the fixture is the coloured object and the light below stays the colour of the bulb. For blue pendant lighting over a kitchen island or a dining table, that second group is often the easier choice, since tinted light over food is not to everyone's taste.

Blue chandeliers

After a blue chandelier rather than a pendant? A couple of the glass and acrylic chandeliers outside this grid come in blue, among them the Camisa glass chandelier, in a 50 or 60 cm diameter, and the Sienna acrylic bird chandelier, a round four- or five-head fixture. And if blue turns out too cool for the room, pink pendant lamps do the same job in a warmer key, and neutral pendants in sand tones drop the colour altogether.