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An In-Depth Look at Modern Fireplaces: Which Electric Ones are Best

Depth Look at Modern Fireplaces

Electric fireplaces are easily becoming the premiere fireplaces for people these days. Many new homes don’t allow traditional fireplaces. Even for areas that allow it, many homeowners understand all of the problems that come with a wood or gas fireplace in their modern home. Of course, there are plenty of people who live in big cities like New York City. Places like New York are full of apartments and condos, especially if you live in Manhattan. Even places like San Francisco or Los Angeles that don’t see snowfall can still benefit from some reliable heating. Any new home where the interior design is leaning towards a modern appeal, can still enjoy the old-world comfort of a fireplace with a high-end electric fireplace. Give your modern space the makeover it deserves. Be the architect of your living space aesthetics.

In the following article, we will talk about modern electric fireplaces and the trends surrounding them. We will talk about how an electrical fireplace influences design ideas for your next remodel. Let’s jump right in.

Depth Look at Modern Fireplaces

Why are so many people choosing electric fireplaces as the go-to modern fireplace?

Gone are the days of using a wood or gas fireplace. The safety concerns and the regulations surrounding them just aren’t worth it. Here are the things wrong with fireplaces that burn wood:

  • Fire Hazard – Wood fireplaces are always at the top of the list when it comes to reasons that houses catch on fire. It’s bad enough when the fireplace is exposed to the flammable items in your home, however, even if you have an enclosed fireplace, there are still huge risks due to a buildup of soot in the chimney. That’s why you have to call a chimney sweep to professionally clean it multiple times per year. If the soot builds up too much, it will catch fire on the inside of your chimney, which can result in your entire home burning down.
  • Breathing Problems – Burning wood also produces a lot of smoke and carbon monoxide. Breathing an excess of either of these regularly can cause harmful health issues and can even be fatal.
  • A Lot of Work – Everyone who has built a fire and is constantly stoked it knows how much work must go into using a wood-burning fireplace. It gets really old really quickly. On top of that, you have to keep the fireplace clean from ash and dispose of it every single day.
  • Wood Storage – Do you have a garage or a large backyard? You’re going to need it if you want to store the massive amounts of wood that you will be burning to keep warm in the colder months of the year. Otherwise, you will need frequent deliveries of smaller piles of wood.
  • Perpetual Campfire Smell – That campfire smell is nostalgic when you go camping for the first time that year. Unfortunately, it is no fun having that same smell in your home and lingering deep in your furniture, carpet, and curtains.

It is easy to think that gas fireplaces are a better solution. They usually need ventilation and have a direct vent model to take care of this. Unfortunately, even with the direct vent model, you will still be dealing with the possibility of a house fire and carbon monoxide poisoning. Additionally, gas fireplaces always look really bad. They have strange colors and the flames don’t flicker very well, they just sit there like a series of Bunsen burners.

On the other hand, electric fireplaces easily have several benefits that make them the best possible option for your home. These benefits are:

  • Safer than wood or gas fireplaces because they don’t burn anything and don’t have any harmful emissions.
  • Easy to install as you mostly just need to place them and plug them in.
  • Easy to use with remote controlling and automatic temperature adjustments.
  • Cost-effective at heating your home efficiently since they don’t waste heat through ventilation.
  • They are great for simulating a real fireplace if you invest in a high-end brand and model.
corner Modern Fireplaces

What are some of the different modern fireplace design trends?

One of the first trends of electric fireplaces is that they aren’t just limited to being the centerpiece of your living room. You can easily install one in any room of your house due to the fact that electric fireplaces don’t require any kind of venting. This brings a whole host of heating opportunities. You can install a fireplace in your living room, your dining room, your master bedroom (consider these electric fireplaces for bedrooms with realistic flame effects), or any other room of the house. This is especially useful if you have a very large house. You can install multiple fireplaces around the house, and only turn them on when that room is being used, leaving the doors closed to unused rooms. This saves a lot of money on heating even the largest of homes.

While electric fireplaces are excellent for indoor spaces, there is also a trend for installing an outdoor fireplace for your back porch or if you have a large balcony area. This can be a firepit that burns wood, a gas fireplace that runs on propane, or even an electric heating option. Keep in mind that electric options are best for short, temporary use, and they aren’t as efficient outdoors as they are indoors. This can be as simple as a tabletop electric space heater.

Another trend that is really popular in modern homes these days is installing a wall mounted electrical fireplace. These are fireplaces that are raised up off the ground. A wall-mounted electric fireplace can be mounted directly, but it can also be recessed into the wall itself. You can do a partially recessed install, or fully recessed so that the fireplace sits completely flush with the wall. A living room with a recessed wall-mounted fireplace will save more space, allowing for more accessibility to freely walk around the room. Usually, these fireplaces have a frame of stainless steel or a sleek, beautiful wood.

While electric fireplaces are modern by definition, there is also the trend of adding a bit of rustic flair to them. This can be accomplished quite easily by incorporating more rustic design elements around them. This can be a mantel backing of barn wood, a texture that replicates a stone fireplace, and more. For an incredibly rustic look, you can get an electric fireplace stove that is made to look like classic wood-burning stoves that you might find in a cabin.

Another great trend that electric fireplaces lend themselves to is the ability to combine the fireplace with other pieces of furniture to save more space within the room. One of these is a fireplace that doubles as an entertainment center. By purchasing an electric fireplace that is built into the body of a TV stand, you don’t need to take up as much limited wall space. This is more common in apartments, condos, or smaller homes.

There are obviously plenty of great ideas for you to use an electrical fireplace in a modern designed home. For even more inspiration, check on sites like Pinterest for tons of amazing photos of electric fireplaces and how they are incorporated into many different home décor aesthetics.

Should I invest in a high-end electric modern fireplace or is a budget fireplace okay?

One really important thing to remember about electric fireplaces is that like a lot of products on the market, you can only expect the quality that you pay for. Because of this, so many people are incredibly disappointed when they install a cheap, budget electrical fireplace into their home. The problem here is that these cheap fireplaces don’t do nearly as good of a job to heat a home, which can be a big problem in parts of the country that have really cold winters. The cheap fireplaces also tend to look rather cheap and tacky. This is due to poor materials used, and poor build quality. Additionally, the technology used to simulate flames looks really bad in cheap fireplaces.

If you want to have a good electric fireplace experience where you will be satisfied with the end result, you want to invest in a quality brand of high-end electric fireplaces. While all good brands of electric fireplaces should have a high-quality infrared heater that can keep a home warm, you need to put special emphasis on the visual flame quality and other features if you really want something that feels like the real thing. While modern designs are fun, you want to make sure the flames themselves feel like a real fireplace, otherwise, the fireplace in question will look tacky.

Visual flames in electric fireplaces come in many different types. A lot of the generic brand electric fireplaces use very poor methods for the flame effect. Some are as lazy as having a few colored flashing LED lights with some kind of mechanical device that spins inside of the fireplace to attempt the look of a flickering flame. These kinds of fireplaces should absolutely be avoided at all costs.

Some other electric fireplace flame effect technology involves things like playing videos of fireplaces that loop on an LCD screen. While this is certainly a good step towards the right direction, this kind of look is still quite fake looking. It looks flat, and it is very obvious that you are just watching a screen instead of looking at the fire.

There are some other companies that try to get a more 3D effect by doing things like shining colored lights onto moving water vapor. Because the water vapor is constantly moving in a random pattern, this can get closer to the look of a 3D flame when it is flickering.

However, to truly get a super realistic fireplace look, you have to go down the road of using holograms and HoloFlame technology. The way this works is that holograms of moving, flickering flames, are perfectly projected onto the logs inside the fireplace. When sitting in front of these fireplaces, it is hard to tell that you aren’t looking at a real flame. Keep in mind that there is only one company that uses this ultra-realistic holographic 3D flame projection technology.

Depth Look at Modern Fireplaces

What is the best electric fireplace that is on the market today?

Being the only electrical fireplace with realistic HoloFlame technology, MagikFlame electric fireplaces are easily one of the best high-end electric fireplaces that you can choose to put inside of your home. Here are some of the best things MagikFlame electric fireplaces have to offer:

  • Ultra-Realistic HoloFlame Technology – To perfectly capture the ambiance and atmosphere of sitting in front of a wood fireplace, MagikFlame electric fireplaces project beautiful 3D hologram flames that flicker and dance over a real physical log set. These realistic flames are unmatched by any other type of electric fireplace visual flame technology. With MagikFlame, you aren’t just limited to one flame type either. There are 30 different flames that you can cycle through, allowing you to perfectly set the mood.
  • Crackling Log Sound Immersion – What is the point of all of those great visuals if you can’t actually hear the fireplace? That isn’t a problem with MagikFlame’s crackling log sound audio enhancement. Because of the sounds of real crackling logs, it is genuinely hard to tell if you are sitting in front of the real thing or not.
  • Powerful 5,200 Infrared Quartz Heater – There is nothing like a powerful and efficient fireplace heater that can keep your room with a feeling of coziness. The functionality of this modern fireplace electric heater can easily keep a space of up to 1,000 square feet warm. This is enough for many homes, apartments, and condos. However, if you have a particularly large home, you can get more than one electric fireplace to put into multiple rooms for a supplemental heating strategy, allowing you to save even more money when you only use a fireplace when that room is being used.
  • Modern Smartphone Controlling – Being able to easily control your fireplace with a remote control is one of the many things people love about electric fireplaces. MagikFlame takes this concept and pushes it further. With their app, you can easily control your fireplace from your smartphone or tablet from anywhere within your home. This trendy way to control your fireplace will allow you to turn it off or on, set the temperature, set the flame style, set the sound, and more.

All MagikFlame electric fireplaces come with the features listed above. However, there are several different electric fireplace models available for you to choose from. These different models fit different spaces and aesthetic preferences:

  • Trinity – If you want a more luxurious and modern design for your electric fireplace, you can’t go wrong with the sophisticated Trinity model. This electric fireplace mantel package features side post legs with beautiful clean lines in a fluted pattern. The ornately carved corbels on the side posts feature a bullnose edge. The bright white luxury mantel has a raised base for the electric fireplace to sit on. This allows for a much larger appearance, perfect for a larger home.
  • Artemis – The Artemis has all the grandiose and quality that the Trinity model has, with a few key aesthetic differences. In place of the fluted pattern and triangular corbels of the Trinity, the Artemis features a beautiful rectangular design that is wonderfully framed by impressive crown molding. This fireplace would go great with a room design that already has white walls and crown molding.
  • Morpheus small fireplace– The minimalist Morpheus contemporary fireplace design is perfect for apartments and condos that will benefit from a more compact electric fireplace. For any homeowner who enjoys the aesthetic appeal of the fluted leg posts of the Trinity but needs it to fit in a more limited living area, the Morpheus is the perfect choice for you.
  • Churchill – There are two reasons you might want a corner electric fireplace. To save space in a small home, apartment, or condo. Or, if you have an asymmetrical room layout where the corner might be a better focal point than a flat wall. Either way, the Churchill model can cover both of these needs and looks great doing so. The corner mantel design easily allows for a small TV to be placed on top. You can even install a corner bookshelf above it to use the space more efficiently.
  • Athena – The Athena is just as bold and beautiful as the grand Trinity modern fireplace. While the Athena still features a similar flute post-sided fireplace look, this variation puts more focus onto ornate carvings and design features, for a more intricate aesthetic. This is perfect for people who have a more luxurious interior design preference for their living space.
  • Insert – The MagikFlame insert has all of the same fireplace features, but forgoes the fireplace mantel entirely. Instead, you can use it to convert your existing fireplace into one that is electric. You can also install it in a recessed wall, install it with a third-party mantel that fits the size, or even build your own fireplace surround if you are a more adventurous DIY type of person.

Clearly, there are plenty of great MagikFlame options to go with. If you want something for a flat wall, you should go with a Trinity, Artemis, Morpheus, or Athena, depending on the size you want and the fireplace design mantel features that you prefer. If you want an electric fireplace that sits in the corner of the room instead of against a flat wall, you should go with the Churchill unit. Lastly, if you have an existing fireplace that you want to convert into an electric fireplace or if you want to install a fireplace into a recessed wall, you will want to get one of the MagikFlame inserts.

Traditional White Electric Fireplace Mantel & Insert with Sound and Heater
Stand-Alone Electric Fireplace Insert with Sound and Heater
Modern White Electric Fireplace Mantel & Insert with Sound and Heater
European Style White Electric Fireplace Mantel & Insert with Sound and Heater
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Highest Rated Fireplaces

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Trinity
Stand-Alone Electric Fireplace Insert with Sound and Heater
Artemis

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