An Essential Buying Guide for Your Electric Fireplace TV Stand

You already know how television sets have that uncanny ability to become a focal point in any room. Now imagine having an entertainment center that not only houses your TV but also serves as a source of pleasing, real-looking flames plus warmth.

No, you do not need to buy a separate electric fireplace unit and a TV stand, and you certainly don’t have to compromise having one in favor of the other. Not when you can have your cake and eat it.

How’s that, you ask? An electric fireplace TV stand.

Electric fireplace TV stands are also known as media console fireplaces.

They boast style, ranging from the traditional fireplace designs to sleek modern options. Whatever your fancy, you can be assured that you will find one that offers a unique addition to your living area, office, bedroom, or even basement.

What’s more, electric fireplace TV stands offer wire management options to hide those annoying cables, and storage for your media devices. This could be in a shelving behind closed doors, or an open media console area.

Our essential buying guide will help you understand what to look out for when you do decide to get yourself an electric fireplace TV stand. We delve into.

• Flame effects and heating considerations
• Function and storage considerations
• Size, style, and finishes 
• Good-to-have features
• Budget and value

Read on to find out which type, size, style, and features work best for you. 

Flame Effects and Heating Considerations

The beauty of having an electric fireplace TV stand as your entertainment center is that you no longer have to choose between having the TV or the fireplace as your room’s focal point.

Instead, you get to enjoy a crackling hearth right below your sleek flat screen. But what good is going to come out of this experience if your TV stand’s flame effects are underwhelming?

No problem.

Electric fireplace TV stands create flame images by projecting LED lights onto a screen in certain patterns. More LED lights can add extra details to the display, making the flames you see look more realistic.

The Ameriwood Home Manchester Electric Fireplace TV Stand is large enough for screens up to 70" and allows you to adjust flame brightness, for instance, among other options.

The kind of firebox that your electric fireplace comes with determines the flame effects you get. You’ll find that one console might have flickering or dancing flames that look very realistic, while another has flames that look unnatural.

There are even electric fireplaces with typical logs of wood, burning charcoal, or even faux brick firebox interiors. But whether you’re interested in flames that sparkle, change color, or those that are flawless in their simulation of a real fire, a high quality display is crucial.

It’s not just the real-like flame displays that make an electric fireplace tv stand attractive. The other major attraction is the zero worries about making and tending an actual fire — or cleaning up ashes every once in a while.

You might be curious, however, about the heating options available to you. Especially if you are not interested in having entertainment centers that only boast a flame display but provide no heat for those chilly winter evenings. Two options are available:

• Fan-forced units
• Infrared heating systems

If you go for a fan-forced media console, you can be assured it will heat up a room that’s up to 400 square feet in an effective and uniform manner. These kinds of fireplace TV stands have heating coils that help warm up cold air. They also have fans that blow hot air out in specific directions inside your living room, keeping you all warm and comfy.

While these stands are cost-efficient and quite good at heating rooms up, they do tend to clear the moisture from the air. This is an issue you will not encounter if you do decide to go for an entertainment center that uses infrared (IR) heat.

Fireplace TV stands with IR systems have quiet fans which disperse heat into the room. They work by allowing heat waves to reach the objects around them and warm them up. This is pretty similar to what the sun does.

A TV stand with an IR system can also warm up rooms that are up to 1000 square feet. This option, therefore, makes a lot of sense for the individual who is keen to place his or her electric fireplace tv stand in a large room.

Additionally, people who may have a sensitive respiratory or immune system, or even those who like the moisture in their air just fine, will find the infrared system very much to their liking.

Check out the IR system on the EZ-Style Electric 60' Included Walnut Segmented TV Stand Fireplace.

As you look around into the best heating options for you, keep in mind that for low and high heat settings, most models will offer between 750 and 1,500 watts. This kind of wattage can be great for providing you with supplemental heat in your living areas—or even be the primary source of heat for a small den or similar spaces. 

Function and Storage Considerations for Your Media Console Fireplace

You cannot forget the main reason you are looking for an entertainment center that comes complete with a fireplace: Its ability to accommodate your television set.

Make sure that after examining various TV stands, you choose the one piece of furniture that is solid enough to hold up your expensive flat screen TV and other items.

This kind of information is easy to come by, so don’t overlook it. Credible electric fireplace TV console brands will inform you of the maximum TV screen size in inches as well as weight in pounds that their products can support. 

Most do, however, accommodate 50-inch to 60-inch flat panel television sets. Others still can support even 70” and 80” TVs without breaking a sweat.

Storage can be a crucial deciding factor, especially since a built-in electric fireplace in the TV stand effectively reduces the space available to hold your books, appliances, and other items.

Some of the storage options available to you include open shelves, which can be space-efficient and versatile.

You could also opt for a TV stand with lockable enclosed cabinets or secret compartments, especially if you have curious children around.

Enough cannot be said about the peace of mind you’ll have, knowing that the little ones can’t get to your DVD player, BluRay Disk collection, or cable box. 

Detachable or adjustable shelves, too, can be a handy feature. These allow you to play around with your storage options, so that you can place your items according to height. Decorative items such as vases, books, or photos, become easier to display.

Included in your list of function considerations should be how well your entertainment center handles cable management.

You should be able to select your music and cleanly sort by featured artists, albums, or genres. In the same vein, the TV stand you settle for should have a cable or wire management system that keeps all cables neat and tangle-free so that the space looks tidy.

A good way to ascertain the cable management feature exists is to check the back of the TV stand for cord management ports. The Walker Edison Wren Classic 4 Cubby Fireplace Stand for TVs up to 80”, for instance, has four. 

The Size, Style, and Finish of Electric Fireplace TV Stands

When thinking of entertainment centers, one of the first considerations you definitely should have is how well they complement the room in which they’ll end up.

You certainly don’t want to buy a beautiful electric fireplace TV stand, only to learn that it’s either too small or big, or that its rustic, old-fashioned style clashes with your interior decor.

Avoid such predicaments by first considering the size of the room. Your room’s length and width determines the size of the media console you intend to buy. A bigger room, for instance, demands a TV stand that’s larger and likely has more heating power.

A smaller electric fireplace TV stand with less heating power, on the other hand, is more suited to a much smaller den. If you only have room for a corner TV stand, for example, the SEI Furniture Redden Faux Stone Convertible Electric Media Storage Corner Fireplace for screens up to 50 inches is worth looking into.

Remember, entertainment centers installed according to room size strike the perfect balance between saving you increased utility bills and giving you sufficient heat and warmth.

It is not only size that matters. Your media console’s style is equally important. You don’t want to buy a sleek, contemporary-styled fireplace entertainment center that stands out like a sore thumb against your oak or rustic furniture. 

Most entertainment centers are meant to serve as focal points in the rooms they are installed. But there’s no need to get one whose design and gray color, perhaps, don’t blend well with the rest of your decor. 

Consequently, ensure your furniture, room style and your TV stand’s style and finish complement one another. This is not too hard to do. The various styles of electric fireplace TV stands in the market range from traditional to contemporary. 

If they are traditionally styled, fireplace TV stands can vary from the rustic oak farmhouse look to those with more detailed designs or wood carvings that make them appear elegant while mimicking the conventional fireplace. These units look very solid.

For those opting to go with contemporary styled TV stands, sleek options with minimalist design features such as stainless steel surrounds are available. You could even opt for a unit with a touch of wood.

Wood types such as cherry, oak, maple, and walnut are preferred due to their durability. These are better bets than going for TV stands which use cheap laminate for decoration. Those might look okay, expensive even, at first—but their corners chip quickly.

Good-to-Have Features in Electric Fireplace TV Stands 

While we have looked at some of the major features to take into consideration when buying an electric fireplace TV stand, there are other conveniences that could always be factored in:

Adjustable Thermostat

An electric fireplace TV stand that has an adjustable thermostat allows you to set the rate at which your room is warmed. If you go for a media console that has a digital thermostat, you get access to even more features.

It can shut off when the temperature reaches your preferred setting, making it vital for energy efficiency. And when paired with overheat protection, the heater is automatically turned off to prevent your electric fireplace unit from overheating. 

Flame-Only, Heat-Only Modes

Sometimes you just want to enjoy the ambiance of a crackling fireplace and not endure the heat. Especially not if it is already hot. Yet, this is what happens when you go for an electric fireplace TV stand that doesn’t allow you to control the flame and the heater separately.

You could always opt to go for a flame-only console. These enhance your home’s aesthetics by displaying realistic flames, but they don’t produce any heat.

What, though, do you do when winter comes rolling in? Going for the option that allows you to enjoy the fireplace ambiance minus the heat, or vice versa now makes a lot more sense!

Adjustable Flame Speed and Brightness

Personal tastes and preferences play a big role in shaping what an individual considers to be the perfect ambience. This is why it’s important to get a TV stand that offers you and your partner, perhaps, the choice to adjust the brightness and the speed of the flames.

There are even options in the market that allow you to change the color of the flames, in fact. You might dismiss this feature as flimsy or extravagant, but it can dramatically lift your moods and add to your visual experience.

Remote Control Operation

There’s nothing as convenient as being able to swiftly change the settings of your electric fireplace TV stand without having to get up and walk all the way to the console.

Remote controls don’t just save your hair from turning gray, they provide you with the options to adjust the firebox’s heat level, its brightness, and even the flame speed. Some remote controls go as far as giving you options to alter the flame color, intensity, thermostat settings, and even the timer, if available. 

Cool-To-The-Touch Feature

This is where a cool-to-the-touch feature comes in. This feature is especially important in entertainment centers with metal components as they can get hot enough to cause burns. With the feature in place, the unit is able to resist the heat it produces, making it safe for all.

Assembly Difficulty

Not everyone wants to agonize over the best way to put together an electric fireplace TV stand. Folks who are no experts at assembling should, therefore, consider buying consoles that have already been assembled or those that require the slightest assembling efforts.

But for the handy experts who relish nothing less than a challenge when it comes to putting together their furniture, buying entertainment centers that put their skills to the test is welcome.

This Ameriwood Home Carson Electric Fireplace TV Console for screens up to 70", for instance, is rated as a tough assembly level console, and it recommends 2 adults put it together.

Whether you lean towards the easy or the long winded road, make sure you follow the provided instruction manual. 

Budget and Value of Your Fireplace TV Stand

Electric fireplace TV stands are worth the investment because they come with supplemental zone heating that you just can’t get from a regular TV stand.

And they’re also quite pain-free in terms of further cabling in your house. All you need to do is plug your fireplace into a standard 120V outlet, without needing to install a dedicated circuit, and you’re good to go!

But whether you fancy a white, gray, dark, or some exotic color TV stand, you will ultimately go for the one that not only checks your boxes for the value you get, but also fits within your budget.

As you prepare yourself to make the buy, don’t forget to run through this quick checklist:

• Do I need heat? If so, what’s the size of the room I’ll be warming?
• What TV stand designs or styles will match with my interior decor?
• Where am I installing this TV stand? How big or small is this space?
• Do I need lots of space for storage, or will a simple stand be sufficient?
• Are there any safety or must-have features I simply cannot live without?
• What is my budget?

If, after reading through this guide, you find that electric fireplace TV stands might not give you the oomph effect you crave, then perhaps our ultimate ethanol fireplace buyers guide will do it for you.

You could, however, always choose to cut to the chase and go straight to our best ethanol fireplace review.

Featured Image from: Pxfuel