Zero Clearance Fireplaces Are A Great Alternative When A Real Fireplace Isn't Possible

The great thing about the zero clearance fireplaces is that it is completely customizable to a home's style and the homeowner's preferences. Styles range from contemporary to classic, simple to robust, with the options to choose colors and mantles that best complement a room design. The possibilities are endless, and very easy to find with a variety of options.

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In many respects, these fireplaces are like an outdoor fire pit you can use indoors. There are a few different options in design including the type you can actually build into the wall for a home renovation. You can put these in rooms as well bringing a new atmosphere to a master bedroom. When reselling the home this will definitely add value and appeal to the property.

Just 100 years ago there were a very limited selection of fireplace types. Mainly, you had to have a chimney often made from brick and that could be an eyesore on certain types of homes. With the modern day homes the chimney concept just doesn't fit into it.

It was nice for rustic homes and is still used in cabins and some classic styles of home, but in the city or urban areas the chimney fireplace has practically vanished from existence.

New designs use either the zero clearance wood burning models or the more popular gel fuel burning models.

This made it not only inexpensive to add to new homes and offers more variety with "where" you can put it including up in the higher part of the wall for a unique and wealthy look aesthetic but you can also find versions that are highly portable and can be placed in a home or removed without any problems or holes being bored into the wall.

Fireplaces have also become smaller and in exotic shapes as well. Below are just a few of the available styles and types of portable units:

One of the classic hallmarks of a fireplace is not really the actual chimney but the mantel built around the fire hole in the home.

For many homes, this is the distinction between cool or "ordinary".

The new evolution in fireplace design from the zero clearance fireplace built into the wall to the version that sits in front of it to the fire-less models (heaters and entertainment centers) doesn't change the necessity for a great looking mantel.

The fire-less models or entertainment centers with a fireplace center piece (heater no actual fire is created but a rendition of fire is simulated) often are designed to themselves look like the mantel (built into the look / aesthetics) but the fire burning / gel fuel burning models you vent out could always use a great mantel to bring it closer to the classic built in look of a chimney fireplace.

You can purchase prefabricated mantels that either hang on the wall as a shelf or that surround the fireplace or you can build one yourself.

Below are some resources for books that have full illustrations and plans for building your own. Others there show you some design ideas to inspire the Carpenter in you!

Fireplace models are increasingly becoming more innovative as the demand for inexpensive heat but a more modern contemporary look and feel are in more demand. The boundaries often perceived in fireplaces have been broken again and again with new technologies coming out that makes fireplaces as easy and inexpensive to buy and place in the home as an aquarium! 

You can often save money by purchasing your unit online at places like Amazon and eBay and like anything you can find new and cheaper used models saving you money.

I hope this gave you some insight and helps you find your next fireplace and fuel. I built this article as my own research (what I found) to finding a unit for my parents and they now own the TV stand fireplace/heater unit and it looks amazing in their home!

Thank you for reading my review!