Touchstone Forte 40" Smart Electric Fireplace Review: a simple way to fake a real fire without tearing up your wall

I picked up the Touchstone Forte 40" because I wanted a fireplace look without dealing with gas lines, permits, or a full renovation. I’ve got an old, unused fireplace opening and was tired of staring at a black hole in the wall. Gas quotes came back pretty high, and honestly I didn’t feel like dealing with venting and inspections. So I went the lazy route: electric insert that plugs into the wall, looks decent, and gives at least some heat in the winter.

I’ve been using this Forte for a few weeks in a medium-sized living room, roughly the typical 400 sq ft they claim it can help heat. I installed it recessed into an existing opening, not wall-mounted. I also hooked it up to WiFi and Alexa because if a product says it’s smart, I actually want to see if that part works or if it’s just marketing. I tested both the log and crystal setups, all the flame colors, and used it with and without heat to see how it fits into everyday use.

My expectations were pretty basic: I wanted something that looks better than a cheap space heater, doesn’t sound like a jet engine, and doesn’t feel like it’s going to trip the breaker every time I turn on the microwave. I wasn’t expecting it to fully heat the whole house, just take the edge off in the evenings and make the room less boring. I also wanted it to be safe enough to stick under a TV without worrying about cooking the electronics.

Overall, it does what it says, but it’s not magic. If you go into it thinking you’re getting a real fireplace replacement, you’ll be disappointed. If you treat it as a nice wall feature that throws some extra warmth and mood lighting, it makes more sense. I’ll break down what I liked, what annoyed me, and whether I think the price matches what you actually get in day-to-day use.

On value, I’d say this fireplace sits in a “pretty solid for the price” zone, especially when you compare it to what it costs to install a proper gas insert. A gas unit with venting, labor, and permits can easily run into the thousands. This thing is plug-in, no vent, and usually sits in the mid-range price bracket for electric fireplaces. So if you treat it as a visual upgrade plus a built-in space heater, the cost feels reasonable. You’re paying for the clean look, the recessed install, and the smart features more than for raw performance.

Compared to cheaper electric fireplaces you might find at big-box stores, the Forte feels a bit more solid in build and less toy-like in appearance. The flame isn’t perfect, but it’s better than a lot of the really cheap units I’ve seen. The WiFi/Alexa integration also gives it a bit of extra value if you’re into smart home stuff. That said, if you truly don’t care about smart features and just want a heater with some fake flames, you can definitely find cheaper options that will warm up a room just as much.

Where the value takes a small hit is if you buy it expecting it to be your primary heat source. At 1,500W, it’s capped by what a normal outlet can deliver. So you’re not getting more heat than a decent $60 portable heater. What you’re paying extra for is the wall integration, the look, and the flexibility of flame-only mode. If you see it that way, the price is easier to swallow. If you think in terms of “BTUs per dollar,” it’s not impressive.

For me personally, it felt like a good compromise: I didn’t want to spend for gas right now, but I also didn’t want a cheap-looking box sitting against the wall. The Forte hits that middle ground. Not the bargain of the century, but fair value if you actually use the visual side often and care how your living room looks.

Design-wise, the Forte is pretty simple: black frame, glass front, and a clean rectangular shape that recesses nicely into a wall or old fireplace opening. It’s not trying to mimic a cast-iron stove or anything like that. If your room is more modern or you’ve got a TV wall with a clean look, it fits in well. The front-vent design means the hot air comes out of the lower front area, so you can mount it under a TV as they suggest, as long as you keep that 8-inch gap. I did that, and the TV doesn’t get hot, which was a key concern for me.

The flames themselves are where people usually get picky. Touchstone markets this as having very realistic flames. I’d say they’re decent, but let’s be honest: you can tell it’s not real fire. The movement is decent enough that it doesn’t look like a screensaver, but if you stand there staring at it, you’ll notice the repeat pattern. There are 5 main flame intensity settings and a bunch of color combinations (they say 30 ember/flame options). In practice, I used maybe three: a warm orange/yellow combo for “fake real fire,” a blue/white for a cooler look, and one of the brighter options just to show it off to guests.

The log set looks okay from a normal sitting distance. It’s not museum-quality, but it gives the general impression of logs glowing. The crystals are more fun if you’re going for a modern or “hotel lobby” style. I actually liked swapping them out depending on the season: logs in winter, crystals in summer with cooler flame colors. Friends who came over mostly commented that it looked “cool” rather than “real,” which matches my own take. If you expect perfect realism, you’ll be let down. If you just want a decent visual focal point, it does the job.

One design detail I appreciated is that the sides and back stay cool to the touch even when the heater is running. That makes it less stressful to install in a tight framed opening or an old fireplace cavity. Also, the glass front doesn’t get dangerously hot like some old gas inserts, so kids and pets bumping into it isn’t a huge drama. Overall, the design is practical and neutral. It doesn’t scream luxury, but it also doesn’t look cheap or tacky if you install it cleanly and finish the wall nicely around it.

In day-to-day use, the biggest thing this fireplace adds is ambiance, not raw heat. With just the flames on and no heater, the room feels a lot cozier, especially at night. It sounds cheesy, but having something moving and glowing on the wall instead of a blank TV or dark opening actually changes how the room feels. I found myself turning it on even when I didn’t need the heat, just to make the space feel less flat. Guests almost always comment on it when they walk in, which says something.

When you do kick the heat on, it’s more about taking the edge off than making you sweat. Sitting about 8–10 feet away, you feel a gentle flow of warm air on your legs and lower body after a few minutes. It’s not blasting like a cheap portable heater, and that’s both good and bad. Good because it’s not drying out the air or making one corner of the room super hot, bad if you were hoping this would replace your main heating. It’s best for shoulder seasons or boosting a slightly cool room rather than fighting deep winter cold on its own.

One thing I appreciated is that you can run the flames without the heat, so you’re not forced to warm up the room if you just want the look. That’s been useful in warmer weather. I actually used the crystals and cooler flame colors in summer as a sort of “decorative light” in the evenings. The kids also like turning it on themselves; the controls are simple enough that they figured it out pretty quickly, and the glass doesn’t get dangerously hot, so I wasn’t too stressed about it.

Overall, in terms of comfort, it does what I hoped: makes the room feel less sterile and adds a gentle heat option that’s built into the wall instead of having a portable heater sitting around. If you walk in expecting a roaring fireplace experience, you’ll be underwhelmed. If you just want a steady, quiet, visual and thermal boost, it’s pretty solid.

On the performance side, you have to remember this is basically a 1,500W space heater with a fancy front. That’s about 5,100 BTU. In my medium living room (roughly 400 sq ft, 8–9 ft ceilings), it takes the chill off but doesn’t replace the main heating. On a cold evening, if the central heat is set lower, turning this on makes the seating area feel more comfortable after 10–20 minutes, but it’s not going to turn a cold house into a sauna. One Amazon reviewer called it a “hair-dryer,” and that’s not far off. It’s like having a quiet, built-in space heater.

The fan noise is noticeable but not crazy. If the room is dead quiet, you’ll hear the fan when the heater is on, but it’s more of a low hum than a roar. Watching TV with the volume at a normal level, it doesn’t really bother me. With the flame-only mode, it’s very quiet. I’ve fallen asleep on the couch with just the flames running more than once, so it’s not obnoxious. If you’re super sensitive to any fan noise, you might be slightly annoyed on the highest heat setting, but for most people it’s fine.

The thermostat and timer are handy but basic. You can set a target temperature and it cycles the heater on and off to roughly maintain it. Don’t expect pinpoint accuracy like a good HVAC thermostat, but it keeps the room from overheating. The timer is good if you like to fall asleep with the fireplace on; you can set it to shut off automatically after a set period. I used that a lot when running it in the evening.

As for WiFi and smart control, once you get it paired with the app, it’s actually pretty convenient. I had a bit of setup annoyance (standard smart-home stuff: connect to WiFi, authorize, update, etc.), but once it was done, I could turn it on/off, change flame colors, and control the heater from my phone or via Alexa. Being able to say “Alexa, turn on the fireplace” is a bit of a gimmick, but I ended up using it more than I expected, especially when I was already on the couch and the remote was across the room. So performance-wise: heat is modest but useful, noise is acceptable, and the smart features are more than just a sticker on the box.

Installation was probably the part I was most nervous about, and it turned out to be pretty manageable. The unit weighs around 45 pounds, so you can lift it with one person, but two people make it a lot easier to slide into a recessed opening without scratching the wall or the glass. Touchstone keeps saying “measure twice,” and they’re right. The published cutout dimensions are close, but I’ve seen at least one buyer mention they needed about a 1/4" extra height compared to the manual on a larger model. In my case with the 40", the fit was snug but fine. I’d still say: leave a little wiggle room vertically so you’re not shaving drywall at the last minute.

You have two main options: recess it into a wall or existing fireplace, or surface-mount it using the included bracket. I put mine into an old fireplace opening, and that’s pretty straightforward: secure the framing if needed, make sure any old gas lines are capped by a pro, slide the unit in, and fasten it to the studs or masonry with the provided hardware. The sides and back staying cool makes this less scary than working with gas or a wood-burning insert. There’s no venting to worry about since it’s vent-free; it just circulates room air.

Power-wise, it comes with that 6-foot cord. I used a dedicated 15-amp circuit with not much else on it, and it’s been fine. They say it pulls up to 12 amps at full heat, so if you’ve got a bunch of other stuff on the same circuit (space heaters, big TV, etc.), you might want to think about a 20-amp circuit or at least be aware you could trip a breaker if you go crazy. You can also hardwire it, but I stuck with the plug for flexibility.

Smart setup (WiFi, Alexa/Google) was the only slightly annoying part. The remote works out of the box (once you add AAA batteries), but the app pairing took a few tries. Standard stuff: 2.4 GHz WiFi only, standing near the unit, making sure the phone is on the same network. Once that was done, everything stayed stable. So overall, I’d rate installation as very doable for a reasonably handy person. If you’re cutting into a finished wall from scratch, you’ll spend more time on framing and patching than on the fireplace itself.

Out of the box, the Touchstone Forte 40" is basically a big, fairly heavy black rectangle with a glass front and a simple control panel on the side. In the package you get the unit itself, the remote, the log set, the crystals, drywall anchors and screws, and the mounting hardware if you want to surface-mount it instead of recessing it. There’s a 6-foot power cord already attached; it’s meant for a standard 110–120V outlet and pulls up to 12 amps. So you’re not hardwiring by default unless you specifically want to go that route.

The first impression is that it looks more like a TV component than a traditional fireplace insert. It’s 40" wide, 26.5" high, and just over 5" deep. The glass front covers the whole viewing area, and behind it you can either drop in the fake log set for a more classic look or the clear crystals for a more modern vibe. I swapped between them a few times; it’s easy, just a matter of lifting them out and placing the other set in.

Controls are pretty straightforward once you get used to them, but not super intuitive on day one. You’ve got an included IR remote, the buttons on the unit itself, and then the WiFi/app/Alexa/Google Home stuff if you bother to set that up. The remote is fine, but you do need AAA batteries which aren’t included, so factor that in. The app side takes a little patience to set up but it does work once you’ve gone through the pairing dance.

In daily use, the main things you actually interact with are: flame color/intensity settings, ember bed colors, the heat on/off and thermostat, and the timer. It’s not overloaded with features; it’s more like a basic heater plus a bunch of visual options. If you expect a super smart, ultra-customizable home-automation product, this is more modest than that. But as a living room feature that looks clean, it presents well and doesn’t scream “cheap electric fireplace” from across the room.