Hearths for the Holidays

Incandescent pieces of furniture or objects of art, designer fireplaces give high-tech TVs competition for centerpiece of the living room

by Douglas MacMillan

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Once the center of social activity and source of winter warmth in the home, fireplaces lost their position to the kitchen and television with the advent of central heating. Outside of high-end homes, where multiple hearths are a growing trend, the fireplace has been left out of the blueprint altogether by homebuilders.

But a new crop of designer fireplaces, led largely by European makers, looks to reverse the trend by doing away with homeowners' preconceived notions. Most of these new fireplaces are gas-fueled, thus eliminating the smell, smoke, and the need to store wood. For the right price and, sometimes, with the right safety precautions, fire can be a piece of art or furniture that sets the tone for an entire room.

Some new fireplaces break away from the flat surface of the wall to become a spatial centerpiece of the room. See-through fireplaces are a popular option for homeowners seeking to join two rooms, such as a master bed and bath suite. In this case the fireplace acts as both a barrier and a window between the two rooms. A three-sided fireplace, which sticks out from the wall, exposes more heat and can be a subtler way to divide a room into two sections.

European Trend-Setters

Westheim (Germany)-based Max Blank is one of the top names in European designer fireplaces. The company's products are starting to become recognized—and indeed imitated—in this country for the way they transform the look and feel of any room. Max Blank's team of innovators found that the only thing more soothing than the warmth of a fireplace is the sound of a gentle waterfall, so they combined the two in the $18,000 Niagara model. With the push of a button you control both fire and water, which trickles over a bold stainless steel curve.

Tom Healy, founder of Connecticut-based Spark Fires, says that while European tastes are exerting some influence on the emerging trend of designer fireplaces here in the U.S., the safety restrictions imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency force American makers to be a little more ingenious. "Our emissions [regulations] are more stringent. So by time you try to convert [European designs] to be usable in the U.S. you've turned an orange into an apple," he says.

Nevertheless, Spark Fires is finding vibrant demand for its products on American shores. "There is a paradigm shift taking place in this industry. Baby boomers don't just want to burn wood any more," he says. His company's vent-free Fire Ribbon model can be installed on interior or exterior walls, or in a corner, and does not require a chimney. A built-in Oxygen Depletion Sensor monitors air quality to ensure that carbon monoxide and soot levels in the room stay well below harmful levels.

Intrigued by the innovations in fireplaces but not ready to part ways with the flat-screen TV that dominates your living room? A Surrey (England)-based company called Picture House has the solution for you: a standalone fire with a retractable plasma TV shelf, which conceals itself in an elegant, inconspicuous cabinet. The company offers eight different combo models, which run $4,000 to $11,000 (excluding TV) and can be shipped anywhere in the world. Now with the press of a button, you can go from a fireside tea time with Grandma to a raucous wide-screen Super Bowl party.

Click here to see a lineup of the hottest fireplaces designs.

Douglas MacMillan is a reporter at BusinessWeek.com in New York.