Oxhark Flame 60" Electric Fireplace Review: Big wall fire, small hassle

I’ve had this Oxhark Flame 60-inch electric fireplace on my wall for a few weeks now, and I’ll be straight: I didn’t expect much at this price and from a brand I’d never heard of. I mainly wanted something to fill a blank wall and take the chill off the living room without messing around with a real fire or gas. In practice, it does that job pretty well, with a few quirks you should know about before buying.

The first thing that hit me is the size. At 153cm wide, it’s big. On a standard living room wall it becomes the main thing you notice. If you’re in a flat or a smaller room, double-check your measurements, because it can easily look oversized. I mounted mine under a TV and it lines up nicely with a 55-inch screen; if your TV is smaller than that, the fireplace may visually overpower it.

What surprised me most is the flame effect. I’ve seen a lot of cheap electric fires that look like a screensaver from 2005. This one is actually decent. The 13 flame colours and 13 ember colours sound like a gimmick, but it does let you tune it from “fake neon club” to “fairly realistic warm fire”. I mostly stick to the basic orange/yellow combo and logs, which looks the most natural.

Overall, first impression: it’s not luxury gear, but for a plug-in, wall-mounted heater that lights up nicely and doesn’t sound like a jet engine, it’s pretty solid. If you’re expecting something that feels like a built-in gas fireplace, you’ll be disappointed. If you just want a large, modern-looking electric fire that heats a normal-sized room and looks good in the evening, this one gets the job done.

In terms of value, I’d put this Oxhark 60-inch fireplace in the “good for the price” category. You’re getting a full-width, 1500W, app-controlled unit with a lot of flame customisation and a decent build. If you compare it to big-name brands with similar size and features, those often cost noticeably more. Here, you’re basically trading a known logo and slightly nicer finishing for a lower price but still solid functionality.

The fact it can both hang on a wall and be recessed gives you some flexibility. If you move home later, you can always switch to surface mount and take it with you, which you obviously can’t do with a built-in gas fire. Also, running it with just the flame effect uses far less power than a real heater, so if you mostly want the look and only sometimes want the heat, it’s not too painful on the electricity bill.

On the downside, there are a few “budget” signs: the remote feels cheap, the app is not super polished, and you don’t get fancy extras like voice control out of the box. The 1-year warranty is decent but not outstanding; some higher-end brands offer longer coverage. If long-term peace of mind is your main concern, that’s something to factor in.

For someone who wants a big, modern-looking electric fireplace that looks good under a TV, adds some cosy atmosphere, and gives a useful bit of extra heat without spending a fortune, I think it’s fair value. If you’re very picky about premium materials and brand reputation, or you want this as your main heating source, you might want to look at more expensive options. But for a mid-range decorative heater, it punches above what I expected from an unknown brand.

Design-wise, it’s very much in the modern, flat-panel style: a big black rectangle with a glass front and a thin metal frame. It looks clean and simple, which is what I wanted. There’s no fake wood surround or cheesy metal trim. If your living room is fairly minimal or you have a wall-mounted TV, it fits in pretty well. It doesn’t scream “cheap”, but it also doesn’t look like a built-in unit that cost thousands.

The front is fully covered in thick tempered glass. It’s glossy, so you will see reflections during the day, especially if there’s a window opposite. At night, with lights dimmed, the reflections are much less noticeable and the flames show up clearly. The glass does get warm when the heater is on, but not dangerously hot. You can touch it briefly without burning yourself, which is reassuring if you’ve got kids around.

The controls on the unit are tucked on the front edge and don’t stand out much, which is good visually but slightly annoying in the dark if you’re trying to use it without the remote. The display (temperature, timer, etc.) is digital and shows up on the glass when you change something, then fades away after a bit. I like that – you don’t have a bright glowing screen in your face all evening. It keeps the look fairly clean.

The only design gripe I have is cable management. The power cord comes out one side, and if your plug isn’t directly below or behind, you’ll end up seeing a bit of cable unless you plan ahead. On a recessed install, you can hide it in the wall. On a surface mount, you either add a cable trunking strip or accept the visible wire. Not a deal-breaker, but worth thinking about before you start drilling holes.

The body is mainly metal with a full tempered glass front. The glass feels thick and properly fitted, no flex or rattling when you tap it. The metal casing is painted black and the finish is okay: not rough, no sharp edges on mine, and the paint seems even. It doesn’t feel flimsy when you lift it, but you can tell it’s not some ultra-premium unit either. I’d describe it as “good enough for the price”.

The interior decorations (crystals, crushed carbon, logs) are obviously synthetic, but once they’re in and the flames are on, you don’t really stare at the details. The crystals catch the light fairly well, and the log pieces are decent, even if up close they don’t pass for real wood. Swapping them out is easy: you slide off the front, rearrange, and close it again. This is nice if you get bored of one look after a while.

The remote is where you really feel the budget side. It’s very light plastic, the buttons are a bit squishy, and it feels like the kind of remote you’d lose in the sofa and not cry about. That said, it works every time and the range is fine across the room. I didn’t have any connection issues or lag. For something you use a few times a day at most, it’s acceptable, just don’t expect a premium feel.

Safety-wise, it has overheat protection and UKCA/CE certifications. It’s supposed to cut off at 212°F (100°C) internal temperature. I’ve run it on full heat for a couple of hours and it never felt unsafe. The glass was warm but not burning, and the wall behind didn’t heat up worryingly. As long as you follow the clearance instructions in the manual and don’t block the vents, it seems like a well-thought-out unit from a safety standpoint.

On performance, I split it into three things: heat, flame effect, and noise. For heat, you get two modes: 750W and 1500W. In my roughly 20m² living room (so around 215 sq ft), the 1500W mode warms things up in about 15–20 minutes from mildly chilly to comfortable. It’s definitely “supplemental heat” level, but for evenings on the sofa it’s enough. The 750W mode is more of a background boost if the room is already warm.

The thermostat range is 17–37°C (62–99°F). I mostly leave it around 20–22°C, and it cycles on and off as the room warms. One nice thing: you can run the flame effect with no heat at all. So in warmer months, you still get the visual effect without roasting yourself. The timer (1–9 hours) works as expected; I usually set it for 2 hours in the evening and forget about it.

The flame effect is better than I thought it would be. You get 13 flame colours and 13 ember-bed colours, which you can mix. Most of them are more for fun than realism (blue, purple, etc.), but the standard orange/yellow combination with the log set actually looks fairly convincing from a few metres away. The crystals give a more modern, hotel-lobby look, while the crushed/whole carbon combo feels more like a traditional fire. I ended up using the logs plus a few crystals mixed in, which looks decent without being too flashy.

Noise-wise, it’s under 40 dB according to the specs, and that matches my experience. The fan is audible when the heat is on, but it’s more of a soft hum than a loud blower. With the TV at normal volume or some music playing, you don’t really notice it. If you sit in a totally silent room you’ll hear it, but it’s not annoying. For an electric heater, I’d call the noise level pretty good – I’ve had smaller fan heaters that were way louder.

Installation is where you want to slow down and think a bit. The fireplace can be either wall-mounted or recessed. I went for a semi-recessed setup into a stud wall under my TV. If you’re handy with basic tools, you can do it yourself, but this isn’t a 10-minute job. You need to be comfortable measuring, drilling, and ideally finding studs or building a proper frame.

For a surface wall mount, it’s easier. You basically fix the bracket to the wall, hang the unit, then secure it with a couple of screws. The unit is fairly wide, so you really want at least two solid fixing points into studs or masonry, not just plasterboard anchors. Once it’s up, it feels secure and doesn’t wobble. Two people make this job much easier – one to hold, one to mark and drill.

For a recessed install, you need to cut a fairly precise opening: 147.3cm wide, 41.58cm high, and about 15cm deep. If your wall is stud and plasterboard, you’ll probably end up building a small frame between studs to support it. That’s what I did. The manual gives the dimensions clearly, but I still measured three times before cutting. Once it’s in, the look is much cleaner than surface mount, but obviously it’s more work, and if you rent, it might not be worth the hassle.

One important point: power. It’s AC powered with a standard plug, so you either need a socket directly behind the unit (ideal) or accept a visible cable dropping down. If you’re doing a bigger renovation, I’d definitely add a hidden socket behind or below it. Overall, I’d say installation is manageable for a reasonably confident DIYer. If you’re not comfortable cutting into walls or dealing with studs, pay someone – the unit itself is too big and heavy to be messing around with loose fixings.

Out of the box, you get the fireplace unit, a basic remote, mounting hardware, and different decorative bits: crystals, crushed carbon, and whole carbon/log-style pieces. No surprises, but also nothing fancy. The manual is the usual translated stuff from China: understandable, but you have to read a couple of sentences twice to be sure. That said, all the important info is there: cutout size, power, controls, safety notes.

The fireplace itself is 153cm wide, 45cm high, and about 16cm deep. For a recessed install, you need a hole about 147.3cm x 41.58cm x 15cm, so this isn’t something you casually shove into a random alcove. If you’re planning to recess it, you really want to measure properly and ideally sort the framing before it arrives. For wall-mount only, it’s simpler: you just need a solid wall and a nearby plug.

Controls-wise, you’ve got three options: buttons on the unit, a remote, and an app. The remote is straightforward: flame, heat, timer, temperature. Nothing fancy, plastic feels a bit cheap, but it works. The app control is a nice bonus. It’s not the smoothest app I’ve used, but once set up, it’s handy to switch it on from the sofa or even from another room instead of hunting for the remote.

In terms of what this thing is meant to be: it’s clearly designed as a decorative heater for indoor use, not a primary heating system. Oxhark claims it can provide supplemental heat for about 400 sq ft (so roughly a medium-sized living room). That feels accurate: it takes the edge off, but it won’t replace a proper central heating system. If you go in with that expectation, you won’t be disappointed; if you’re thinking it will heat your whole flat by itself, that’s optimistic.