Frank Lloyd Wright once said, “The fireplace is the hearth of the home,” and he couldn’t be more right. Fires and fireplaces transform any room with warmth and a relaxing ambiance; it’s a built-in anchor to any room. In fact, fireplaces activate all your senses: from watching flame movement, to hearing the crackling sounds, to experiencing the radiant warmth that emanates from the hearth. This multi-sensory experienxe is exactly what gets people excited about fireplaces.
Fireplaces in the 1960s and 1970s featured a masonry-first approach with big, open, wood fireplaces surrounded by brick and stone. During the 1980s, factory-built, “zero-clearance” wood and gas fireplaces arrived notably with much lighter framing than its earlier counterparts. By the early 2000s, tighter, cleaner fireboxes come onto the scene, and multi-sided and see-through fireplaces become signature features; linear becomes a “look” along with minimalist trims.
Today a renewed interest in open-hearth fireplaces that produce taller, fuller flames at lower BTUs. There are full ecosystems with scenes and app integration combined with hyper-realistic ceramic media and thin frames that indicate to fireplace enthusiasts and experts, that the future has arrived.
“Open hearth demand is rising because luxury buyers want a substantial blast of heat that also anchors social spaces,” says Elliott White, Executive Vice President of RPG Brands, parent company to Summit Open Luxury Fireplaces. “Designers love clean sight lines and materials, and technology for make-up air systems plus better smart controls that are more reliable, create those right moments for consumers.”
Undeniably, consumers are seeking that “statement moment” at home, a photo-friendly cinematic fire that creates an ambiance that is perfect for entertaining and having a warm conversation, whilst having an immersive sensory experience. Architects and interior designers embrace the glass-free, minimalist sightlines and material storytelling (stone, steel, plaster, and artisanal premium finishes) as well as the indoor-outdoor continuity that open hearth aesthetics weave. As a symbol of luxury, homeowners aspire to achieve the look that linear fireplaces in custom new-builds and sophisticated resorts and restaurants have acquired.
As demand grows, so does the need for customization. Homeowners and designers are asking for more. More brick and panel options, more media styles, and more burner configurations. This shift is driving renewed interest in B-Vent systems and open-hearth linear designs, as well as increased demand for ultra-realistic flame presentation, such as GlowFire® Logs (Flame-in-Log Technology).
At the same time, technical considerations, particularly around airflow, are becoming more critical in modern, tightly built homes.
“Make-up air is a critical but often overlooked component of hearth fireplace performance. It ensures adequate combustion while maintaining indoor air quality and prevents back drafting and
negative pressure,” says White. “It’s not our job to solve the make-up air problem, but it is our job to start the conversation with the builder or contractor about the solutions out there.”
White further explains the concept: “Make-up air refers to refreshed air from the outside that you can build into a space. The fireplace is pulling air from the inside room and exhausting it outside the home. That air needs to be replaced in one way or another. If you’re not replacing it properly, you’re going to run into situations like negative pressure.”
This balance is essential. “Negative pressure can cause issues with the indoor air quality of the home itself,” White adds. “Makeup air systems need to introduce equal or more air into the home than is being exhausted out, creating either neutral or slightly positive pressure within the home.”
With advancements such as packaged make-up air integration, improved air-fuel mixing, high-fidelity ceramic media, hidden heat-deflection details, and app or voice controls, the modern fireplace is as much about performance as it is about design.
