Electric Fireplaces Put a Flame Where There Was Never a Chimney

Firelight changes a room in the evening more than almost anything else you can plug in. An electric fireplace brings it to rooms that never had a chimney: a rented apartment, a bedroom, a finished basement, the corner of a living room where the sofa already faces the right way. Each one here can run its flame with or without heat, so it can glow through a mild autumn evening without warming anyone, and the heater is ready when the weather turns. Treat that heat as a supplement for one room, never as a replacement for the furnace.

What sets them apart is form. A stove-style heater stands on legs and moves from room to room. A mantel model brings the whole surround, shelf included, and gives a blank wall the look of a traditional fireplace. A slim linear unit hangs on the wall or sits recessed into it, and suits a modern room or the space under a TV.

HOMCOM Recessed and Wall-Mounted Electric Fireplace

A long, low band of flame is the look of this HOMCOM, and it suits a modern living room where a traditional mantel would feel heavy. Hang it on the wall at seating height or build it into a recess so only the glass shows, and the fire becomes a line of color across the room.

Both the flames and the crystal ember bed beneath them change color, so the fire can burn a classic orange through the winter and a cooler blue for a party. A remote and a timer handle the rest from the sofa. Under a wall-mounted TV, it gives the media wall a warm lower half.

Real Flame Silverton Electric Fireplace With Mantel

For a living room without a fireplace, the Silverton supplies the whole thing at once, with a white painted mantel with classic pilasters, a shelf for candlesticks and framed photographs, and a firebox of glowing logs at its center. Against a plain wall, it gives the chairs and sofa something to gather around, the way a hearth does.

The flame comes in several colors and brightness levels, and the remote sets the thermostat and the timer. Because the electric insert is replaceable, the surround can stay where it is if the firebox is ever swapped out, and a TV can hang on the wall above it.

HOMCOM Modern Electric Fireplace Stove

Glass on three sides lets the flame show from wherever you sit, which matters for a stove set in a corner or angled toward a reading chair. The HOMCOM has the squared shape and splayed legs of a modern woodstove, in plain black, so it looks at home in a Scandinavian room or a loft with exposed brick.

Two heat settings and a thermostat make it a heater for a cold bedroom or a home office, and on a warm night the flames run alone. As a freestanding piece, it can follow you from the living room in the evening to the bedroom at night.

duraflame 3D Infrared Electric Fireplace Stove

Duraflame modeled this stove on a cast-iron woodburner, down to a glass door that swings open on its hinges and a brick-pattern panel behind the logs. The logs glow from within while the 3D flame plays over them, and the brightness turns down far enough to leave it on as a night light.

The heater is infrared, and separate controls for heat and flame let the stove glow on its own on an autumn evening. A black stove like this looks right on a stone or tile hearth pad in a farmhouse living room, or in a cabin-style den where a woodstove would need a flue.

HOMCOM Electric Fireplace With Wood Mantel and Shelf

Under the mantel top sits an open shelf, a small but useful place for a row of paperbacks or a speaker. The white surround frames a brick-pattern firebox with log flames, which gives a cottage or farmhouse room the look of a hearth at a modest price.

Buttons on the top and a remote control the brightness of the flame and the heat. Because the HOMCOM stands free, it can go into a bedroom or a dining room with no wall to build it into.

e-Flame USA Hampshire Wall-Mount Electric Fireplace

The Hampshire shows its flames through the front and both sides, so on a wall it looks like a glowing box instead of a flat picture of a fire. Ten flame colors, from orange to blue and violet, and a bed of charcoal logs make it a showpiece for a basement den or a game room.

It can hang on the wall or sit recessed into it. The exterior stays cool while it runs, and the heater has a timer, so it can warm a guest room for an hour before bed and then switch itself off.

HOMCOM Electric Fireplace Stove With Arched Doors

Arched double doors with small brass knobs give the little HOMCOM stove an old-fashioned parlor look, more Victorian cottage than modern loft. Behind them, the flame and logs show through glass on three sides.

Two heat settings warm a guest room for a winter weekend, and the flame runs by itself when the heat is not needed. Set it on a tiled hearth pad in a cottage sitting room, with a basket of pine cones beside it.