Customer Reviews for Chimney Free Salton 51 in. Triple Function Media Console Electric Fireplace in Empire Cherry

Comes ready to assemble with easy to follow instructions. The electric fireplace insert is very realistic. I haven't used the beverage cooler yet, but it's a great added feature. No mdf, or press board but honest to goodness wood throughout!! As it is very heavy, it's best to have two people to assemble it. The only fault it has is that the door closes with a key and the mechanism is not working. I have not contacted the manufacturer yet, so don't know how this will be resolved. This issue did not stop me from giving this fireplace a five star rating as I know that they will take care of the problem. Highly recommend to anyone looking for a quality piece of furniture with great ambiance. Would not recommend this as a sole heat source, however.

Solid wood is something that I had to have. The fireplace warms the large family room I have it in. My 46" TV looks great on top of the media console. Bottom line is this console is a great quality item.

The Good: Assembly was very straightforward for this piece of furniture. Instructions for the most part were very clear and extra hardware was included. The piece looks great when finished, the quality of the wood and stain was pleasing, and the fireplace looks GREAT. The heat provided is very nice, and we use it more than expected. Remote control, timer, and thermostat functionality are great additions. The Bad: Installing the refrigerator was the most difficult part, and the screws to hold the fridge door hinges were of very low quality. I snapped off two of the screw heads just hand-tightening them, and had to search for replacements. Aside from those two frustrations, assembly was cake. The furniture is shipped (presumably straight from China) using the absolute lowest grade cardboard and Styrofoam materials. It took over an hour to get all the components unpacked, and a mountain of waste material remained (see photo). I can still find static-cling bits of Styrofoam inside my house, remnants from this assembly over a month ago. As far as noise goes, yes, you can hear both the fridge and the fireplace when they are operating in a silent room. It's not enough to be troublesome, but you will hear them both in a very quiet setting.

I have a real fireplace, and growing up our family has always had one; at first, an electric fireplace sounded cheesy - but then I got this, and I have to admit - I really like it! It's a good size, it looks nice and works great. This one is made of SOLID hardwood, top to bottom… not a single piece of particle board, plywood, or MDF. Even the thin back piece is real wood. It weighs around 100 lbs. The top is about 1-1/2 inches thick and looks like it would support an elephant. It has a fairly thick coat of varnish, and when you first unpack it, you'll notice the odor. Not bad, but it does take a bit to air out; I didn't find it too objectionable. Main pieces go together with T-nuts and burly philips screws, so you can really crank them down and make the whole thing solid. The alignment dowels fit really loosely but I think they are just there so things don't slide around while you tighten the fasteners. The only minor issue I ran into was the fridge door - the supplied screws (unlike all the others) for the hinges were super tiny, and they all snapped off (I used a hand screwdriver only). I had to re-drill things and install the door with better wood screws. The fridge is your basic mini-fridge sans freezer, and it works well. It's very quiet. Since it's black, it blends in well when you open the cabinet door. The fireplace was a surprise; I was expecting just a flat 'picture' but instead it's faux logs and grate with projected flames. It's only a few inches in depth, but it's enough that it doesn't look flat - it looks pretty nice. The front is real glass, and exceptionally smooth and flat, which gives a good 'see-through' appearance (i.e. you don't really notice the glass). There are different fire-light levels, and one setting is especially nice, where only the logs glow and there's no flames. This is nice because the flame motion comes from a small motor, and you can hear the motor turn if you're in a quiet bedroom (where I have mine). With the 'glowing logs only' setting, the motor is off and the unit is very quiet. The heater works great and seems to put out more heat than a typical 1500W stand-alone heater. Interestingly, I measured only 1250W when running. The squirrel cage fan makes it very quiet.

I have a refinished garage that acts as a second living room. But it was lacking a proper entertainment center, ready access to a refrigerator, and a heat source in the winter months. I'm just thrilled to say that this media center is exactly the answer to my top three woes! CABINET The exquisite cabinet is made of an absolutely beautiful solid oak. It has a nice finish to it that gives of a very nice color, and a pleasant smell. The pieces of wood are chosen such that the grain can be seen and admired. The cabinet is well designed and incredibly sturdy. You could do a dance on top of this thing. It's tough to move, but that's a good thing! The door to the fridge/cooler has a lock, preventing the children or unruly guests from ransacking your beverages. ASSEMBLY The cabinet comes delivered in pieces that are individually carefully wrapped with sheets of foam and cardboard. A lot of care went into packing the pieces. The foam is very brittle and causes quite a mess when unpacking. The cabinet itself is very heavy; i needed a dolly to move it around. The assembly instructions were very thorough. Each piece is labeled with a letter, and the reference guide tells you which screws you need. There was absolutely no confusion what so ever with the assembly. The pieces go together smoothly and present a nice frontal appearance. Despite one step which was a bit tricky without a second pair of hands, i was able to assemble this unit by myself in just over an hour. Width: 50 3/4" Height: 34 3/4" Depth: 20 3/4" Another item of note is that this unit is modular. In the future, if either the fridge or fireplace were to break, you could easily purchase just that replacement and swap it out. No need to buy a whole new cabinet. FIREPLACE This cabinet features a top of the line 23” Electric Fireplace Insert from ClassicFlame. Despite being visually stunning, the fireplace offers warmth via built-in electric heater. The heater is very effective and can heat up a 20x20 space in no time. It comes with a remote that makes it a snap to use. Different buttons change the visual and temperature settings, allowing comfortable control from afar. There is also a timer that turns off everything after a specified amount of time. Each one of these functions pops up on a display on the front of the fireplace for a short period of time, giving you a very good indication of what is going on, while not distracting from the actual fire show. The fireplace fits right in with the warm color of the oak and really completes this piece of furniture. With the heater running full blast, i had no issues with any other compartments getting unduly warm. FRIDGE When i first lifted this box up, i almost fell over because i expected it to be much heaver than it was. That is because it is actually a "cooler." Instead of a standard compressor, it uses a Peltier thermoelectric cooler and a fan to keep the insides cool. The upside is that there's pretty much no noise coming from this unit. The downside is that it is not as effective (or efficient) as a refrigerator, and that the internal temperature is determined by the difference to the outside air temperature. I put in a digital thermometer that records min/max temperatures, and my readings currently vary from 37F to 49F on the coldest setting. A perfect beer temperature is at around 33F, so this is a bit warmer, but not completely unreasonable. Another upside is that coolers theoretically should last much longer, as they don't have a compressor that can burn out, or freon that can leak out. Size wise, i was concerned that this unit wouldn't hold much beer because it was so small. Boy was i wrong! Due to the absence of a "freezer," there is plenty of room inside to hold two 12 packs of beer in a standard beer bottle. See picture below. MEDIA CENTER DESIGN If there is one questionable aspect to this design, it is the designation as a "media console." As you can see from the picture, the stereo receiver takes up the entire space above the fireplace. This leaves no room for other electronic devices such as a cable tuner, TIVO, DVD player, game console, etc. There is a nice sized alcove above the fridge, but this required two modifications as it was not meant for this application. First, a hole needed to be cut in the back so that cables could pass through. I have a PlayStation 3 that i use to watch DVDs on. I placed it in this alcove, closed the door, and watched a movie. After two hours, i opened the door to discover the PS3 was HOT to the touch, and entire space was extremely warm. This can be catastrophic to electronics and shorten their lifespans considerably. The use of this space for electronics requires the door to be unlocked and open to allow access/ventilation to the device. By design, the fridge door is coupled to the front door so they open together. I had to remove this to allow the fridge to remain closed while the cabinet was opened. Perhaps a different design (such as a shorter door) would allow more room for electronics, and allow some flexibility in your media setup. It's not a problem if you don't mind the electronics sitting on top; i simply prefer a more "managed" appearance, SUMMARY An absolutely beautiful piece of furniture that offers two great additional functions: room heating and chilling beverages. Cooler has a decent capacity, and the fireplace puts out a good amount of heat. It is well designed, and is quite pleasing to the eyes. Cabinet is solid, sturdy and assembly is a piece of cake. This ideal piece fits my needs perfectly. Highly recommended.

Nothing beats a roaring fire on a cold wintry night, nothing that is, except a roaring fire that needs no tending, no chopping of wood, and no cleaning of grates. This media console fireplace provides all the aesthetics of a traditional wood fireplace, with the convenience of electricity. The fireplace can be position against any wall, or leave free standing if desired, and does not require venting. It is a long time since I have looked at flame effect electric fireplaces. The anemic blue flames and unrealistic faux logs are happily a thing of the past. You could be forgiven for believing this fireplace was wood burning, I found myself mesmerized by the flame effects, just like a real fire. The fireplace arrived in 3 boxes. The console, which needed assembly; a fire insert; and a compact refrigerator. Assembling the console took around 45 minutes, and requires only a philips screwdriver. Wood dowels position each section in place, then bolts are used to hold each section firmly in place. The fire insert slides inside the console, and is held in place with a support beam. The refrigerator requires two supports be attached to it, before it is slid inside the console (incidentally, you could remove the refrigerator and use that area for extra storage if you so desired). You have the option of 5 flame intensify levels (see my video for an idea), and the flame effect can be left on without heat (perfect for the illusion of a wood burning fire without the heat on a summers evening). The fire does not include a kracklebox for fire like sounds, although one can be purchased separately if desired. The heat output is equivalent to a conventional electric fan heater (1500 watts), which is perfect for a small room, or to use as we do as supplemental heat to a forced air system. The cabinet is a rich color, and very substantial at around 100lbs. The hardware is contemporary and well made. The refrigerator is compact and is perfectly concealed inside the console. The heavy duty console and dampening gaskets minimize compressor noise. The remote control is a real let down. It looks like an afterthought, and is truly the ugliest remote I have seen. It functions just fine, but is unpleasing to look at. As the fire receives each remote command the fire displays an image that confirms your action. This image is momentarily, and turns off so as not to spoil the illusion of a real fire by having a LED display inside it. I would have liked to rate this product 4.5 stars, based on the ugly remote. It leans closer to a 5 than a 4 star product. Pop a tub of your favorite ice-cream in the mini refrigerator, turn on the fire place, and snuggle up with your loved one in front of it. Things are just starting to heat up . . .

Lets start with the delivery,It came in 3 boxes.1 for the heater,1 for the fridge and one for the entertainment center (the heaviest). The directions have a lot to be desired,this is a 2 person job because the pieces are solid wood not particle board and are heavy.all the holes are pre-drilled and bolt anchors are already installed.All you need is a Philips screw driver.Now back to the directions. They are OK but you can get lost on which way is up and when putting part a to part b together it was like trying to figure out a puzzle. Once completed this is a very heavy high end piece of furniture and looks absolutely Beautiful,the heater is quiet and the flames are adjustable in intensity.The mini fridge is a like the 12 volt fridges for you car which keeps the temps 40 degrees below room temps and works well. You will need to place it near its own electrical socket due to the two cords (one for fridge and one for heater). You don't want to use extension cords due to power requirements. For what you pay and what you get I think this is a great deal and it will add a lot of ambiance to a room.

I have this in my living room and my kids are not allowed to get in the fridge! Its all mine! Very convenient for football day, i dont have to go to the kitchen!! And I stay warm at the same time!

The one piece I have looks great but since I only got one box out of three, I do not know about the fireplace and refrigerator.

The cabinet was beautiful and packed very well, but many parts missing, had to return.

If you're looking for a media fireplace and don't need a lot of space for components, this has some nice bells and whistles. Fairly easy to put together, but definitely recommend two people. I wanted something that would fill the space under the TV. We hard wired all the components through the walls and ceiling to a central location so the need for a lot of space for stuff wasn't necessary. You can't beat the price, and it is solid. The refrigerator came as a nice perk. Fits about 2 six packs of 12oz beer bottles. Fireplace puts out some generous heat, which has come in handy for the location in the basement. The sale price is uncomparable. If you're looking for a media fireplace, you won't go wrong with this one.

excellent fire effect. Heater works well. Neat to have a cooler as we needed one upstairs. quality product

I bought this model specifically because I thought it was solid wood...it's not. Only the top and bottom may contain actual wood. The rest is some sort of partical board. That being said, this is huge and looks great. Even though I'm used to a real wood fireplace, I catch myself staring into this one more than the propane stove in the basement. The remote is nice and the heat takes off that little chilly edge in the living room. The adjustable flame settings were fun for 10 minutes and then it got set to max and we never changed it again. I was pleased the fridge looks great separately and placed it in the bar area by itself. The fridge keeps beer cold, but deffinately not high quality. Without the fridge, the cabinet leaves plenty of out of sight storage. The lock is almost useless. I locked it the first day and my 3yo son walked up a hour later and handed me the inside portion of the lock...the part that's not supposed to detach. I was able to snap it back on, but was forced to removed the handle so he doesn't do it again. In summary the fire box is a top notch 5 star rating. The cabinet is obviously poor quality, but looks nice. If I were to do this over again, I would just buy a smaller model with the same firebox and save the couple hundred bucks. I'm still debating on returning it for exactly this purpose. (I'm also rolling in tears of laughter that this was originally sold for $799...not even worth the $399 on sale)

The first thing that stands out is quality of the wood. The oak finish is very nice. It is a dark oak finish. The overall construction of the unit is very solid and heavy duty. It was pretty easy to put together overall. The door however did not go on very easy there were pin holes indicating where to hang the door, holes were not correct and the door did not line up properly so the door does not sit flush when closed. The refrigerator that came with it is nice it can be used in the unit or kept out if you don't wan't it in there and it just gives you extra storage. It is a very heavy unit so I would recommend building it where you plan on putting it so you don't have to move it far. The fire place is nice as well. It is not very deep but it looks good when it is on (better on than off). The thermostat works well and it puts out nice heat. There are 6 settings for the flame not a huge difference between them but it does get dimmer. The heater/fan is pretty quiet which is nice. The remote control works very well and controls the unit from a nice distance. Overall I like the fact that the stand works and looks good with the fire place and refrigerator or with out (no skimping on the finish) same quality inside and out.

The first thing that stands out is quality of the wood. The Cherry finish is very nice. The overall construction of the unit is very solid and heavy duty. It was pretty easy to put together overall. The door however did not go on very easy there were pin holes indicating where to hang the door, holes were not correct and the door did not line up properly so the door does not sit flush when closed. The refrigerator that came with it is nice it can be used in the unit or kept out if you don't wan't it in there and it just gives you extra storage. The fire place is nice as well. It is not very deep but it looks good when it is on (better on than off). The thermostat works well and it puts out nice heat. There are 6 settings for the flame not a huge difference between them but it does get dimmer. The heater/fan is pretty quiet which is nice. The remote control works very well and controls the unit from a nice distance. Overall I like the fact that the stand works and looks good with the fire place and refrigerator or with out (no skimping on the finish) same quality inside and out.