How much does it cost to install a built-in electric fireplace, including the wiring?
The electric fireplace itself can be a few hundred dollars — the built-in part is where the rest of the cost lives: framing the recess, running a dedicated circuit for the heater, and finishing the wall around it. Even so, a recessed electric unit is the least expensive built-in fireplace project there is. We quote the whole job free — call (828) 545-0525.
Where the money actually goes
The unit is the small part. A solid electric fireplace can be a few hundred dollars, and even a premium 50-inch linear like the Dimplex IgniteXL Bold 50 — the most convincing electric flame on the market — starts well below where any gas project begins. What turns it into a real project is the phrase built-in: framing a recess into the wall, getting power to it properly, and finishing drywall, tile, or shiplap back around the opening so it reads as architecture rather than an appliance hung on the wall.
We install these regularly in Asheville bedrooms and dens where a gas vent run doesn't make sense — the finish carpentry usually costs more than the fireplace itself.
The wiring, told straight
An electric fireplace heater pulls around 1,500 watts — the same load as a space heater running wide open. A plug-in wall-mount can live on an existing outlet, but a recessed built-in should be fed by a dedicated circuit with the outlet hidden inside the cavity; share a breaker with the TV and the lamps, and it will trip on the first cold night you run everything at once. Electrical work isn't our trade — we handle what makes fire and heat — so we coordinate a licensed electrician for the circuit and sequence the recess, the unit, and the finish ourselves. One project, no finger-pointing.
How it compares — and the honest catch
For scale, a fully vented gas or wood fireplace with a new fuel line and chimney runs $4,000–$12,000, so a built-in electric is the budget path by a wide margin. Be clear-eyed about what it is, though: roughly 5,000 BTU of supplemental heat for a space up to about 400 square feet, and nothing at all when the grid goes down. After Helene, that stopped being a theoretical footnote in WNC.
If the goal is a finished feature wall with flame and a little warmth, electric is the honest winner. If the goal is heat you can count on in an outage, put the money toward gas or wood instead. See the IgniteXL running at our Asheville showroom, or call (828) 545-0525 for a free quote on the whole build-out.
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