Electric fireplaces are designed to imitate the effects and provide the atmosphere of having of a real fire in your home.
Although electric fireplaces don’t have a real flame, many can provide a very realistic view of a fire, but can electric fireplaces be considered tacky?
Higher end electric fireplaces that are more expensive will provide a more realistic view and provide a better experience of having a real fire in your home, compared to cheaper versions of electric fireplaces where the lower quality build and flame effects will be more noticeable.
More modern electric fireplaces will generally have better quality components and more realistic flames as technology has improved.
I’ve shown my own fireplace below to discuss whether electric fireplaces can typically be considered tacky and cheap looking.
Are Freestanding Electric Fireplace Stoves Considered Tacky?
I have a freestanding electric fireplace in my home. It cost me $85 (£65) and is designed to look like a wood burning or multi fuel stove. I would consider it to represent a typical electric fireplace stove that’s middle of the range, and not too expensive and not too cheap.
Overall, I would consider this electric fireplace to be good quality, There are some components that are tacky and could be better quality, but they are hidden and don’t bring down an otherwise well-built fireplace with a good flame effect and great heater.
Here’s what my fireplace looks like:
For the price, I was really quite impressed how well built and designed this electric fireplace is. The unit itself is sturdy, and the flame effect is quite good. It also outputs a load of heat, and I did a test to see how well it would heat a room and you can see the results right here.
I’ve gone through below what you can expect quality wise for each component of a typical freestanding electric fireplace, using my own fireplace as an example.
Unit
The main unit of my electric fireplace is made from metal, and is very study and well built. It feels solid when I pick it up from the top and move is around my house. The main body also doesn’t get hot when in use apart from at the base in front of the heater.
Below are pictures showing what it looks like around the fireplace:
Legs
My electric fireplace came pre-assembled apart from the legs, which I had to screw on before it could be used. Unlike the body of the fireplace, the legs are made of plastic, but are sturdy enough and don’t detract from the overall quality build of the fireplace.
You can see how this particular electric fireplace was put together in another article right here.
Firebox
As many freestanding electric fireplaces are designed to look like wood burning stoves, they will have a firebox to imitate where a real fire would be inside a stove.
Here’s what the firebox on my electric fireplace stove looks like:
The fireplace has a door that opens up to the firebox. The door is well made, but unfortunately the panel is made from plastic and not glass. The door is held shut with magnets, and has a solid brass handle on the door.
Behind the door is the component that imitates the logs. Unfortunately I would consider this part to the lowest quality piece of the fireplace, but this part is hidden away behind the door, and so only when the door is open will you notice the low quality of the plastic logs.
The image below shows what the fake logs look like.
The logs and backing screen (where the flames are projected onto) is made of one piece of plastic and isn’t secured to the main unit of the fireplace, and so moves around inside when the fireplace is moved.
However, the logs and screen do look very good when the fireplace is turned on. A light inside the electric fireplace creates both the hot logs and flame effect simultaneously (I’ve shown how this electric fireplace works in another article here).
Here’s what the logs look like when they’re lit up:
The fireplace also produces a fairly realistic effect of flickering flames. You can see what my electric fireplaces looks like when it’s on in a video I took shown below: