Best Electric Fireplace

electric fireplace
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The best electric fireplaces both warm your home and take center stage in your living area; an appliance of both style and substance. With features including flame effects, crackle sounds, and mounting options, our guide has options with both practicality and aesthetic value in mind. Plus, electric fireplaces are a more environmentally friendly alternative to gas or wood-burning choices.

Best overall

Antarctic Star electric fireplace

(Image credit: Amazon)

Antarctic Star 36-inch Electric Fireplace

Wall mount or recessed option

The Antarctic Star is a stunning, contemporary fireplace that heats really well, is easy to install, and absolutely beautiful to look at. Its sleek frame features a huge viewing area, so you get the most out of its aesthetics. It has realistic-looking flames that have several brightness settings and 12 different color options. This model comes with glass crystals that when lit, look like embers beneath the flames. While this model is designed for recessing into the wall, you can also wall-mount it. The heat from this electric fireplace is distributed evenly and covers 400 sq ft of space. It is controlled by both a touch-screen panel and remote and has a timer that can control how long the fireplace runs, up to 8 hours.

Best media fireplace

Ameriwood

(Image credit: Walmart)

Ameriwood Home Carson Electric Fireplace

Built-in TV console

The Ameriwood is a contemporary TV and console unit with a realistic flame effect fireplace. This model has dual control, so you can use it with or without heat, which makes it ideal if you live in a warmer climate. Its LED flame effects are very realistic, and it has plenty of storage space for DVDs, consoles, and your WiFi router. Its energy-saving LED bulbs give an impressive 50,000 hours of use, so it’s a long-term, worthwhile investment.

Best free standing fireplace

Duraflame electric fireplace

(Image credit: Amazon)

Duraflame 3D Infrared Electric Fireplace Stove

Realistic looking flames

The Duraflame 3D electric fireplace looks like an old-fashioned wood-burning stove with views of the realistic logs and 3D flames from multiple sides. This model puts out an impressive 5200 BTUs, which effectively heats up a room of 1000 square feet. It features a variable thermostat and uses infrared heat to maintain the natural humidity of your room rather than drying out the air. It includes a remote control and is cool to the touch, which is a great safety feature for households with children.

Best fireplace with mantel

Classic Flame Pioneer Stone electric fireplace

(Image credit: Amazon)

Classic Flame Pioneer Stone Fireplace

Realistic-looking fireplace

This model has some great features, including dual control, so it can be operated with the heat and flame effect, or just the flames if you live in a warmer climate or want to use the fireplace as a focal point in your living room in summer. It has five different heat settings and three different flame effects to create the overall effect you're looking for. Not only does the Classic Flame electric fireplace look good, but this model is also quiet, easy to assemble, and the flame effect is realistic with several speed options.

Best wall mounted fireplace

Northwest 54-inch Fire and Ice Electric Fireplace

(Image credit: Northwest)

Northwest Electric Fireplace LED Color Changing

Red or blue flames

This 54-inch, contemporary wall-mounted LED fireplace from Northwest has a dual function, so the flame option can be used without the heat. This is a great option if you enjoy the ambiance of a fireplace but don’t need the heat output. It features an amazing LED flame effect - including both red and blue color options - that will add ambiance to any room. It comes with remote control and auto shut-off.

Finding  the best electric fireplace 

When evaluating the fireplaces for safety, we looked for features like automatic shut-offs which disabled the device if it overheats. We also looked to see if the fireplace stayed cool to the touch when in operation so that users can feel safe using the device with children and pets on the loose in the house. All of the devices in our best electric fireplace guide can heat a room of at least 400 square feet, though many could heat much larger rooms.

Since many people buy electric fireplaces for the visual spectacle and ambiance, not just for heating purposes. We looked at the visual styling of each fireplace along with the quality and variety of flame effects that they are able to produce. We also looked at the number of different heat settings that each model had and whether or not they came with various quality of life features like remote controls, programmable thermostats, and heating timers. We also considered how easy the fireplaces are to install, how big and heavy they are, and how easy it is to move them between rooms, as some users place a high value on portability.

Why trust us

At Top Ten Reviews we recommend the best products to enhance your life. As expert curators, we handpick products based on quality and usefulness to positively impact your day-to-day, from cart to doorstep. We take our responsibility seriously — testing products, reading reviews, and sourcing knowledgeable outlets to ensure our selections are worthy of your time and money. We deliver detailed product overviews, balancing objective information with subjective opinions, so making the best choice for your home and lifestyle is as easy as possible.

Juliette Wills

As a journalist, Juliette began her career writing about her first love - football. She was a columnist for The Guardian, contributing editor at lad’s mag loaded and then veered into writing about Formula One. These days Juliette divides her time between journalism and copywriting. She's also TopTenReviews' resident space heater and electric fireplace expert.