Fire Table Media Comparison: Lava Pebbles Vs Fire Glass

Which fire table media should you choose for your propane fire table? I’m reviewing two modern looking options: black reflective fire glass and larger grey lava pebbles.

I’ve been talking about wanting a fire table for our outdoor space for quite some time. Being in BC, we often have fire bans on so a wood burning fire pit might be beautiful, we wouldn’t be able to enjoy that beautiful fire pit for most of the summer. We have been using a portable propane fire pit that we purchased for camping in our backyard when we have gatherings in the cooler seasons, but I had my heart set on a beautiful rectangular fire table for this particular outdoor space.

Recently, we had friends visiting from out of town and they surprised me with a fire table they’d had in storage. I’m SO excited to have a propane fire table for our patio space. It’s modern, black metal and the perfect size for our brick patio with a sectional. It even came with a propane tank cover to hide the fuel source.

Now that we have a fire table, we needed to choose fire pit rocks. If you’re new to Lemon Thistle, I’m a home decor and DIY blogger. The way the fire pit rocks look is important to me. I want them to look modern but also allow for a beautiful fire.

I searched online for ‘fire rocks’ hoping to find something beautiful and modern that could withstand the high temperatures of a gas fire pit table. Turns out, it’s called ‘fire media’ and there are SO many options. From fire pit rocks to decorative fire glass and decorative gas logs, the options are truly endless. Changing up the fire table media is a great way to get a custom fire pit look at an affordable price point.

I wasn’t interested in traditional lava rock (these have the distinctive look of redish, rugged rocks that you would find in a camping propane fire pit or the traditional fire pit media). I also wasn’t interested in anything colorful like blue fire glass nor did I love more decorative elements like the gas logs (ceramic log set) for this linear fire table.

Not only is there such a variety in how the fire media looks aesthetically, but there’s a variety of sizes for each firepit media. The prices vary pretty greatly too. I was looking for an affordable option with a modern appearance and after some additional research into fire medias… I was a wee bit overwhelmed.

But I did find two options I really liked the look of. I quickly narrowed it down to reflective black fire glass and lava pebbles in a grey. I really liked both options and tried to find videos of them in use to compare and struck out.

So I did what anyone with an Amazon prime account and a glass of wine in hand would… and ordered both to compare them. Since there is such a variety of options, you could walk in to your local Home Depot and have various options to choose from. I went the laziest and hit up online shopping… gotta love free standard shipping!

In this blog post I’m going to share our experience with both types of fire media for this propane fire table as well as what we ultimately decided to order more of to fill out the fire table gas burner area. In the video, you’ll hear the opinions of my friends and family members as well.

We set the fire table up with both of the fire media options so we could experience them at the same time. This was easy to do with the rectangular fire table burner area being a long and narrow channel. Reminder- this fire table uses propane as a fuel source. Any fire table, fire bowl, or fire pit needs a fire media option that can withstand intense heat. Let’s take closer look at the ones we chose to test out!

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Lava Pebbles Fire Media Review

The first one I was drawn to is these grey lava pebbles. Lava rocks are the same as igneous rocks when it comes to fire rocks. They have a natural look but the ‘pebbles’ have a more elevated, modern look than the traditional lava rocks that have sharp edges. Since they are an organic material, there’s not as big of a variety of colors of lava stones for fire pits as there are for fire glass.

These river rock looking lava pebbles are from Amazon.

I really love the lava pebbles for the natural look and the larger size. While they do have a variety of sizes, I chose to order the 2-3″ size for our gas fire pit table comparison and they have a unique look similar to river rocks. River rocks would have been a beautiful look for an outdoor fire table, but they’re not safe to use in hot fires. If that’s a contemporary design you like- then these large size lava pebbles are a great option for you.

I do like that you need less of the pebbles to fill the available space with the larger size. I think it looks cleaner and more modern. If you had a smaller fire table, I’d select a smaller option from the various sizes. Ease of use with these larger lava pebbles is pretty great.

One thing to keep in mind with lava rocks or lava pebbles is they do over time leave some dust particles in your burn area since they are an organic media, but that is covered by rocks anyways. You can see in my video that I clean out the old fire pit media dust particles before adding the new ones. I’d guess that the previous owners used the traditional red lava rocks for this.

The thing I love the most about these lava pebbles is that they look great in the daytime. The fire doesn’t need to be on to be a great feature in our outdoor living space.

The only downside to these ones is that they don’t reflect the light so the flame doesn’t look *quite* as magical as when it dances on the fire glass. But honestly… a flame is mesmerizing regardless, we totally love the modern appearance these lava pebbles.

Reflective black fire glass review

The second type of fire media that we ordered to try out in our gas fire pit table is this reflective black fire glass. Fire glass is available in various colors, we chose black for a more modern look. The highlight of the particular fire glass we ordered is that it has a reflective surface. That means that when the fire is burning, it appears to dance across the top of the fire glass. You can order regular fire glass that does not have the reflective surface.

This reflective black fire glass is from Amazon.

When I ordered both, my concern was that the fire glass, although magical, would look cheesy during the day in our outdoor area. I definitely prefer the look of the lava pebbles over the fire glass in the daytime.

When it’s dark and the fire table is lit though? The fire glass is very pretty. If you only use your outdoor area in the evenings, this might be something to consider. We use our outdoor space almost daily in the summer- and it stays daylight in the summertime quite late so we want to enjoy the modern look even in daylight.

The biggest downside to fire glass for us is that the pieces are smaller and easier to knock out of the propane fire table. In the daytime, we use this fire table as a coffee table and our kids use this outdoor space as much (if not more) as we do.

Our kids play soccer and drag towels from the swimming pool to the sectional in our outdoor space during the day and we found pieces of the fire glass would end up on the brick patio which was worrisome with the sharp edges of the reflective fire glass… you know, bare feet with little kids and dogs running around.

There is a variety of sizes of fire glass although they are considerably smaller than the lava rock. While we didn’t choose a small size for fire glass, it was still much smaller than the pebbles.

We chose the 1/2″ reflective fire glass for our rectangle fire table and while I do love the look of it at night, it’s more suited for contemporary design than the modern look we were aiming for. I also found that it was a bit more finicky to arrange the fire glass where it wouldn’t completely cover the holes on the burner to allow for adequate airflow. The larger lava pebbles were much easier to rearrange for that and wouldn’t shift as much when the table is bumped.

The best modern look fire table media

Ultimately, we chose to order more of the lava pebbles for our rectangular fire table. We really love the way these have a great look in the daytime and are easy to arrange around the holes of the gas burner to allow the fire to burn well. The sharp edges on the fire glass also influenced our decision- if you have *active* kids and a fire table, this might be a consideration for you as well.

Beyond using the lava pebbles as a base layer, we are sprinkling some of the reflective fire glass that we have from this comparison in between the lava pebbles to give a little extra sparkle when the fire is lit at night time, but if reflective is what you’re looking for, I’d go for the fire glass.

Once you’ve decided which type of fire table media is a good option for your family, you’ll need to determine how much you’ll need. This fire glass calculator is super handy for a rough estimate on how much you will need.

Since there is such a variety of styles and options- the right choice for your family will not just depend on what style you’re looking for but on whether you will be spending time in the space in only the evenings and if you will be worried about glass getting strewn across your outdoor space.

I hope this fire rock comparison has been helpful for you!

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