66 Outstanding Fireplace Designs for Your Modern Home
Whether they’re indoors or outdoors, fireplaces make a bold statement no matter the time of year. Sometimes seen as a thing of the past, modern fireplaces are capable not just of giving off heat, but also of functioning as a visual and focal point in a room or space, and can be sheathed in stone, marble, or tile—and detailed for a contemporary touch. Scroll on as we look at 61 different modern fireplaces that will be sure to have you inspired to incorporate one in your home.
1. Amazing Cantilevered Home in the Mountains
Architecture firm _naturehumaine designed a dream hideaway in eastern Quebec, complete with a centralized fireplace. The modern fireplace was built into a custom, multi-purpose cabinet welded from sheets of hot-rolled steel. It stores firewood, holds a TV, and even acts as a guardrail for the staircase.
Three small pavilions connected by a deck form a summer retreat that balances privacy with a panoramic view—all in less than 900 square feet. Among the three pavilions are the standard comforts of any home: a kitchen, living space, and dining area are situated in an open floor plan in the main cabin, where a collection of vintage pieces—including leather lounge chairs from Belgium and a modern fireplace by Preway (whose chimney stretches into the tall ceilings)—mix with white Bertoia wire chairs and Noguchi table lamps.
Jennifer and Mattias Segerholt renovated a five-bedroom, 2,400-square-foot post-and-beam house in Portland, Oregon. Though the house’s features were a complete mess upon purchase, its form was perfectly preserved, including the brick wood-burning fireplace whose chimney rises up the walls to the ceiling.
The iT House brings together raw industrial aesthetics with the tactics of green design to forge a new home in the sunbaked wilds of California’s east. In a living space with floor-to-ceiling windows, a suspended fireplace by Fire Orb provides a shared hearth for friends and family to gather around.
The modern fireplace is located at the original chimney stack of the building. Robb Studio created a sculptural fireplace using exposed concrete, steel, and shou sugi ban wood for the hearth seat.
The open-plan home’s core is the towering chimney—clad in the same double-long, thin bricks that sheathe the Kolumba museum in Cologne, Germany. It holds three fireplaces, a conventional oven, and a pizza oven; all vent into three distinct flues, emerging from the chimney as their own kind of architectural statement. Inside, life revolves around the brick chimney, which the architect surrounded with a concrete counter that wraps from the kitchen to the living area. The stools are vintage.
Inside the sleeping cabin, a fireplace built of local granite marks the midpoint between two bedrooms and a bathroom. The floors and walls are wrapped in warm-hued Douglas fir.
Architect Alex Gil and his wife, Claudia DeSimio, affixed a 750-square-foot addition to the roof of a 19th-century Williamsburg townhouse, transforming their cramped third-floor apartment into a modern duplex. The original fireplace remains, but has been stripped down to exposed brick, as have the surrounding walls, creating an almost wainscot-like design of exposed brick with flat white drywall above.
Jean-Christophe Aumas’ multihued Paris apartment houses both the highly sought artistic director and the stunning assemblage of furniture he’s brought back from his travels. A historic, stately marble fireplace, topped with a mirror, contrasts with the eclectic furnishings and multi-colored vignettes throughout the apartment.
Tigg Coll Architects took a new approach to a straightforward town house renovation and expansion in London. The home’s rear extension has its own personality, with with pivoting glass doors, sharp red support beams, and a wood-burning fireplace. The overhanging concrete plinth acts as a hearth or, as Tigg imagines it, a sort of contemporary inglenook. Wood piles neatly between the beam and wall. The fireplace, a Stovax Riva 2, is flanked by a Lampe Gras wall lamp.
A dramatic departure from your typical cabin on the lake, this unique retreat adds shades of black to a tiny island awash with local color. A modern brick outdoor fireplace, tall and slim, is flanked by Philippe Starck’s outdoor chairs for Kartell for cozy fireside seating.
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In Los Angeles, homeowner Bill Thompson warmed up his otherwise dark living room with a series of Douglas fir slats applied above the fireplace, as well as other wood accents throughout the room; the slats provide both texture and pattern to the fireplace, acting as a focal point and emphasizing the space’s vertical height.
A 3,500-square-foot home in upstate New York was designed by the architecture firm Mapos with simple materials and passive design principles. The contemporary fireplace, which sits on buffed concrete flooring at the center of the ground floor, was custom-made by Mapos.
Architects Alice Fung and Michael Blatt designed their own home in Los Angeles, complete with a modern fireplace design clad in galvanized steel.
On an agricultural estate in Portugal, Blaanc Studio designed a simple retreat that does its utmost not to interfere with the scenic backdrop. The home was built with rammed earth, which is known for its thermal properties that help maintain a mild temperature all year long. A large, open fireplace with plenty of wood storage is used to warm the living area in winter.
At a renovated farmhouse in the Italian countryside, a crisp, modern white plaster fireplace and hearth infuse the interior with coziness and warmth.
Atelier Oslo overcame nature’s challenges when they designed Cabin Norderhov, a seasonal, eco-friendly retreat on a steep hillside overlooking Lake Steinsfjorden. The home’s layout revolves around a central glass and metal "campfire" that burns beneath a suspended mantel. Since it’s located at the access level, the fireplace’s flickering warmth can be enjoyed throughout the house. The surrounding floor is covered with hexagon tiles cut from marble, which transition into tiles made of birch log in the rest of the house.
This San Francisco home in the Theatre Lofts building, built in 1926 as a movie palace, was given a sophisticated upgrade by LOCZIdesign for a couple. A new study makes it possible for the husband to read and work late into the night, while the wife sleeps upstairs. The modern fireplace is clad in ceramic tile with a subtle textural pattern.
After years of visiting the area as vacationers, one couple builds this striking home for their retirement outside Greenwater, Washington. A fireplace can be used on the rear patio and in the living room, making it feel like one cohesive space. Ipe planks, the same wood that’s used in the front courtyard, cover the floor.
To inform the color palette for this interior renovation in Stockholm, NOTE Design Studio began with three inspirational images. The sculptural fireplace, covered in plaster, contrasts with oak parquet floors.
With neighboring duplexes supplying rental income, two Knoxville architects patiently—and affordably—craft their dream home. Their deck has a two-sided concrete block fireplace and antique wooden furniture.
Interior designer Anne Sophie Goneau gave an apartment in a former factory a bright makeover. The minimal gas fireplace is from Ortal, acting as a focal point in the room, complete with integrated shelving.
Blogger and stylist Annaleena Leino Karlsson has designed her 1950s farmhouse to have a mostly white interior. Her workspace is next to a rustic brick and stucco fireplace, which is adorned with cacti and decorative objects.
The living room and dining room were originally separated by a central fireplace, which interior designer Nicole Hollis removed to create this great room. She installed a modern, custom eight-foot-long open gas fireplace in the living room, equipped with sensors that automatically turn it off when someone gets too near to the flames.
The Irwin pool house designed by Landis Gores in 1957 boasts a central room with high ceilings and an unobstructed view of the landscape. In 2005, the Town of New Canaan purchased the property and added exhibition spaces, as well as rooms for lectures and events. The small pavilion also houses an oversized, monumental brick fireplace design that divides the main space from the kitchen area.
Scandinavian architecture firm C.F. Møller designed a serene, zinc-clad home in Aarhus, Denmark. On the interior, a large, three-sided fireplace incorporated into a floating wall helps connect two spaces and warm up the home.
Movable and space-saving design elements define this creative family home in San Francisco’s Mission District. A midcentury home was transformed, and through the renovation, the molding at the fireplace was taken down, as was the cast plaster mantle. The sleek, new, metal fireplace design features a white oak custom bench made by Zack, accented by a vintage carnation milk crate from his mother’s childhood.
Armed with a keen eye for design and a yen for vintage furniture shopping, Glee star Jayma Mays and actor Adam Campbell revitalize a formerly jumbled Los Angeles house. On an outdoor deck space, the couple placed their fire engine red fireplace, found at the Rose Bowl Flea Market.
Metals broker S. J. Sherbanuk (left) and designer James Campbell (right) created a new home in Collingwood, Ontario, with old scrap. "Repurpose, refurbish, recycle" was the guiding principle for the project. The modern, metal fireplace becomes a sculptural feature of an outdoor deck.
A central wood-burning fireplace efficiently heats the whole home, minimizing the need for supplemental in-floor heating incorporated in the concrete floors. Natural cross-ventilation is achieved through the use of CO2 directed grills at the north and south of the home, an added green feature that further reduces the ecological footprint.
A husband-and-wife design team revived a 1940s home in East Los Angeles’s Mt. Washington area for a single man. Bearing few tell-tale signs of bachelorhood, aside from a photography and music studio in the garage, the renovation retained the home’s dual fireplaces and added an array of modern tiles. A transformed modern fireplace surrounded by Japanese tile flanks a custom banquette table in the dining/kitchen area.
At a renovated farmhouse on a 19th-century homestead, a gas fireplace fronted in weathered steel warms up the lofty master bedroom, whose spare decor is framed with beams discovered in a Pennsylvania barn. The Tizio desk lamp is by Artemide.
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When JAC Interiors was commissioned to revive an old 1,200-square-foot Hollywood home, the clients—a young couple who the designers call "fun and quirky"—requested the firm find a way to transform the space with as little construction as possible. The fireplace is a custom-made, three-dimensional feature that stands in stark contrast to the soft woods and white walls that make up the rest of the room.
Alexandra Young’s Craftsman-style bungalow in Oakland testifies to the wisdom of patiently accumulating a collection over many years. An ornate masonry fireplace fits easily into the home’s historical mood, but like other rooms in the house, it has been updated with a modern fire screen.
Subverting the traditional, conservatively cozy British barn conversion, Carl Turner created a getaway in rural Norfolk for himself and his friends to visit, repose, and consider the beauty of agrarian minimalism. In the converted barn, a modern fireplace with a sleek, shiny chimney contrasts with the wide, reclaimed wood floorboards and textured exposed brick wall.
Architect George Bradley and his husband, Eddie Baba, renovated a 1941 house in San Francisco. Tiles from Heath Ceramics surround the Ortal Clear 130LS fireplace. The white ceramic logs are by Klein Reid; the floor is oak.
37. Ski Lift
Michael Johnson’s answer to having little buildable land to work with in his design of Ruth Hiller’s Winter Park, Colorado, house was to elevate and cantilever the kitchen, living, and dining space over the carport, nearly doubling the home’s living area. To avoid a space-hogging fireplace, Johnson recommended a Bathyscafocus by Focus Creations. Hiller took the suggestion and now enjoys the warmth of a fireplace and the full square footage of her living room.
A Rais wood-burning fireplace heats the central space and the architectural element surrounding it was designed and installed by Charlie Lazor. The sleek, minimalist kitchen is outfitted with zinc countertops and the counter stools are by Blu Dot.
At a contemporary farmhouse in a canyon in Utah, the site is adjacent to the Park City ski resort with ski-in access, and texture and natural materials are found throughout the project. For example, the living room fireplace extends outdoors with a board-formed concrete bench.
In a Manhattan Beach home, homeowner Matt Jacobson and architect Michael Lee designed the long steel-and-Ipe bench surrounding a square, concrete outdoor fire pit, which suspends from the low concrete wall in their outdoor space. Dukes relaxes on a Willy Guhl Loop chair with her German Shepherd, Major.
Eco-friendly features like solar panels and rainwater catchments keep this retreat’s environmental footprint small. Immediately to the right of the entry is the main living space, which features a Jetmaster 700D wood-burning fireplace with a tiled hearth.
"I’m not trying to hide anything. I wanted to stay true to the industrial look," explains Owen Wright, the owner of this Brooklyn loft. Owen works with his building’s landlord and consequently has accrued countless pieces of furniture from both former tenants and Craigslist—including this 1960’s bright orange metal fireplace and pair of steel frame chairs Owen had reupholstered. A BoConcept sofa and coffee table Owen constructed himself complete the living room.
Inside a Rolling Hut by Tom Kundig of Olson Kundig Architects, a metal fireplace keeps the compact interior of the chalet cozy.
Architects Anne Marie Lubrano and Lea Ciavarra limited the material selection in their renovation of a town house dating from 1899. The powder room on the first floor is located in a former waiting area (the previous resident used the level for his dental practice). It features a custom Alabastro marble sink and fixtures by California Faucets. The architects kept the original marble fireplace, paying homage to the structure’s history. Benjamin Moore’s Super White paint was applied to the ceiling and the White Dove hue to the walls. "Positioning the faucets on the side wall emphasizes the horizontal," Lubrano says. "Wall-mounted fixtures feel less grounded and materials can continue uninterrupted below. We wanted the spaces to feel light, spacious and light-filled."
45. Mod Men
Built in 1957, Witthoefft House was designed and lived in by the architect Arthur Witthoefft. At the time, he was an architect in the Manhattan office of corporate modernists Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. This recently restored 1957 modernist masterpiece features a freestanding travertine-and-steel fireplace, open on all four sides, that divides the living and dining areas.
Serenity and purity of the elements inspired the concept of r3R residence, a project realized in an existing building. A low-lying modern fireplace design in the living room brings warmth to the space.
Originally built in the 1960s, this light-filled property underwent a complete program of renovation and extension. A modern fireplace was clad with natural stone to complement the oak ceiling.
The original circular brass Malm fireplace sits atop its new tiled platform in the opened up living room. Since the home’s setting feels very park-like, the new covered deck—visible just outside the windows—was designed to add year-round living space to the home.
"The ceiling moldings were kept to create a sense of intimacy, and to blend the home’s classical style with the modern look of the kitchen," architect Maxime Moreau says. A PH Snowball light pendant by Louis Poulsen illuminates the living room, and a gas fireplace by Foyer Universel keeps it warm, with a mirror above the fireplace allowing light to bounce around the space.
The dining area features a distinctive cinder block fireplace. Molded plastic side chairs are arranged around a Segmented Base table, all by Charles and Ray Eames for Herman Miller. The space is illuminated by a Saucer pendant lamp by George Nelson from Modernica.
In a converted church in Connecticut, a modern fireplace and mantel design incorporates a ledge that functions as a bench and place for holding artwork or extra firewood. Above the fireplace, a Warhol collage is surrounded by a papier-mâché sculpture of no special provenance, a Vigliaturo glass piece, and a Picasso plate.
In realizing their dream to build a country retreat in upstate New York, Sandy Chilewich and Joe Sultan—proprietors of the textiles firm Chilewich|Sultan—eschewed a mountainous view for an understated wooded plot. Situated near the south-facing facade, the main living space is furnished with a Michel sectional from B&B Italia, Feel Good side chairs by Flexform, and a suspended, contemporary Ergofocus fireplace from Focus.
Built at the end of the 19th century, 411 Vanderbilt Avenue is a brick carriage houses that originally sheltered the horses and coachmen for an upscale estate on Clinton Avenue. The luminous living room features built-in shelving, custom cabinetry, and a gas fireplace with a customized wood mantel by Fitzhugh Karol further enhance the interiors.
This midcentury modern home that dates from 1952 was given a fresh renovation before it was put back on the market. The happy, modern home gives a nod to its original construction with details like a fireplace with painted grey bricks and white mantel.
Konstantin Grcic’s Venus chairs for ClassiCon surround a table by Poliform in the formal dining room. Hill selected the Flos chandelier designed by Marcel Wanders for its "Old World reverence." The sleek fireplace mantel was designed by Hill and cobbled together onsite from three solid slabs of limestone.
A home near Rye, England, opens onto a deck through a Sunflex door. The living room features a sofa by Terence Woodgate, 620 chairs by Dieter Rams for Vitsœ, and an Oluce Atollo 239 lamp by Vico Magistretti. The wood-burning fireplace sits along one wall in the room, with a bright orange flue acting as a sculptural focal point.
Thanks to a contemporary interior that she’s been updating for a decade, modern architect Abigail Turin has learned to love her traditional 1925 San Francisco home. Rather than indulge her impulse and strip away the home’s traditional flourishes, Turin embraced the dark in her striking living room—the deep paint is Le Corbusier’s 4320J from Les Couleurs Suisse. An iconic Arco lamp by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni for Flos, Charles sofas by Antonio Citterio for B&B Italia, an Extra Big Shadow floor lamp by Marcel Wanders for Cappellini, and a painting over the marble fireplace by Martin Barré shed a little light.
In legendary designer Jens Risom’s home, the painted white brick fireplace is flanked by wood bookshelves that join to form a mantle.
A collaboration between YUN Architecture and interior designer Penelope August, a renovated, 19th-century townhouse with landmark status used to be an egg and poultry distributor. Now virtually unrecognizable, the parlor floor is the home’s open-plan living area. A formerly defunct fireplace was reactivated and clad with a custom-made, limestone mantle.
In a renovated California home, the double-sided fireplace anchors the first floor as a transitional element between entry, kitchen, dining room, and living room pictured. The fireplace tile was a custom designed shape by the interior designers and was manufactured locally by Fireclay Tile. The integrated bookcase and mantle were made by Kaimade Woodworking with locally sourced walnut.
In the living room, a Nelson bench doubles as a coffee table, and a wood-burning stove from Cleanburn Stoves set in a white brick hearth keeps the space warm.
The family chose Glidden’s Velvet Slipper as an accent color for the wood storage reading seat, custom built but Geoffrey and the family. They matched a shade of purple in Elli Pop’s ‘A Forest-Into the Trees’ wallpaper, installed on the adjacent wall. The fireplace is a Stuv 21 with a hand-built tile surround. The Duncan Phyfe sofa was found on Ebay.
Oliver and Sara worked with Blaine Skowhede of Keystone Architecture to create their cozy Alpine Noir ski chalet in Mount Hood, Oregon. Located in the middle of their open floorplan, the fireplace features dramatic black brick that scales the full height of the ski chalet’s wall. The fireplace surround visually aligns with the upward angle of the onyx window frames, adding to the chalet’s aesthetic appeal.
Architect Patrick Gwynn designed The Homewood in Surrey, a family-owned Victorian property. This home is known for its large rooms and luxurious feel; the fireplace needed to adhere to the home’s level of sophistication. In this sitting room, Gwynn installed a fireplace with a granite-color accent wall that becomes a beautiful addition to the interior by balancing out the room’s color profile.
This lavish New York City home features a 19th-century French Scagliola fireplace in the living room. The pristine white fireplace becomes a focal point within this luxury home because of the onyx details that showcase its intricate design and tie in other elements of the home including the floors, tabletops, and grand piano.
Jon P. Antelline designed the Fred Antelline House (originally built in 1960). He uses circular geometry to define the floor plan, including this sunken seating area in the living room. This gathering spot features the home’s original curved fireplace. In the redesign, the fireplace received a faux patina application, which lightens the area’s color scheme, creating an updated look on a classic home design.
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