A very popular choice for our tables are cobalt dishes. This deep rich blue has been gracing tables for over 100 years and continues to be a color that many women choice to liven up the meals they serve to family and guests.
Cobalt Dishes
by bev-owens
Showcasing antique, vintage, and contemporary cobalt dishes for your kitchen table.
Cobalt Blue Dinnerware For Today's Table
Woman have had a love affair with cobalt dishes for a very long time. Back in the 17th century when the lovely porcelain pieces with the deep blue designs from China began to make their way back to Europe, women wanted this lovely blue in their homes. It took the Europeans nearly a century to perfect the cobalt oxide used in the underglaze for china pieces. Once the process was understood cobalt dishes could be made in an affordable manner for even the middle classes of England. Antique collectors love to have a piece or two of some of the early cobalt dishes.
The image at the right is a photo of a vintage cup and saucer from my own collection. It is from the 1950s and has the Blue Willow pattern that was very popular during that era.
Both antique and vintage pieces still look lovely on any table that they are placed on. You are not restricted to these older pieces for your table, though. There are many designs and patterns offered today that have a cobalt blue as a part of their appeal.
Vintage Cobalt Dishes
 Blue Willow Cup and Saucer personal image |
Modern Version Of Cobalt Dishes In Blue Willow Pattern
 | Churchill China Blue Willow 20 Piece Dinner Set Originally hand engraved in the 19th century onto copper plates, great skill was used to achieve the utmost detail and clarity Blue Willow has since become a timeless classic, ... Only $179.99 |
Homer Laughlin's Fiestaware Came In Cobalt Blue
In 1936 a line of dishes was introduced by Homer Laughlin China Company called Fiestaware. The art deco design came in five colors to begin with and were meant to be mixed and matched creating a colorful table with the colors of ivory, green, red (which actually looks orange), and cobalt blue. Turquoise was introduced the following year bringing the colors choices to six.
People now collect these vintage dishes and the company is still making new colors today. Cobalt blue has been produced since the beginning. The new cobalt is much different than the original cobalt and easily recognized by any collector.
At one time I collected only the early green and early cobalt pieces and decorated my table with the mixture. It was really a festive and fun look and my guests always loved that they could eat off of the vintage dishes.
Modern Fiesta In Cobalt
 | Fiesta 16-Piece, Service for 4 Dinnerware Set, Cobalt Fiesta 16-piece Service for 4 Dinnerware Set. Homer Laughlin China Company is the world's largest American-made restaurant dinnerware manufacturer. All of our products are ... Only $179.99 |
A Contemporary Set Of Cobalt Dishes
 | Gibson Lacerta 16-Piece Reactive Glaze Stoneware Dinnerware Set, Cobalt This Gibson Everyday dinnerware set is sure to cause a reaction. Guests will love dining from these Lacerta two-tone dishes. Create a beautiful ambiance with this Gibson ... |
Cobalt Blue Enhances Most Color Schemes
One of the wonderful things about using cobalt dishes in your kitchen is that it can actually act almost as a neutral color. That may sound odd because it is such a deep rich color. This wonderful color of blue seems to go with just about any color you want to combine it with.
As I mentioned above, I combined it with the original green from Homer Laughlin which is a sort of medium sea green. It looked lovely. Actually cobalt will look nice with just about any shade of green from light to olive and all shades in between.
Cobalt blue is striking with shades of yellow. A yellow and white kitchen is brought to life with cobalt dishes as an accent color.
It also works well with red which is a popular color to be used in a kitchen.
One combination that I particularly like is using cobalt blue with orange. Orange has become a very popular color to use in the kitchen. Adding a few pieces of cobalt blue dishes really brings some liveliness to the decor.
Antique Cobalt Dishes At Auction
Use blue for your mixing bowls and baking pieces too
There are so many wonderful options of mixing bowls and baking dishes that also come in this deep rich blue for your kitchen. Whether your cobalt dishes for your table have a pattern or are plain, you can add to the decor of your kitchen by having a few pieces on your counters that compliment what is set on your table.
If you have dishes that have a floral pattern that includes cobalt with other colors, you can pick one of the other colors to accent your counters with. Obviously the colors mix well together because the designer of the dinnerware pattern included them together.
A few vintage option in cobalt dishes
How do you feel about cobalt dishes?
Updated: 01/30/2015, bev-owens
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Thank you for looking at my selections of cobalt dishes. Please do let me know you stopped in. Want to sit for a spell and share a cup of coffee? I have some cobalt cups to serve you in.
Blue is my favorite color, I love these blue cobalt dishes. I enjoyed learning what cobalt means
Your old china is called Flow Blue or Flo Blue and is one of the very popular antiques collected. It was one of the first attempts to have a blue transfer on the dishes and the process caused the blue to "flow" around the design.