What are the best smart-home compatible gas fireplaces?

The smart lineup on our showroom floor

IntelliFire is the ecosystem to know. Heat & Glo runs it across units like the 6000CLX and the Cosmo 42, Heatilator's Novus nXt 36 carries it at a friendlier price point, and the Majestic Meridian pairs its 42-inch linear firebox and split-oak log set with IntelliFire Touch — full app control from your phone. Napoleon units answer to capable remotes as well. Integration specifics vary model to model, so tell us what your smart home runs on and we'll confirm what talks to what before you commit.

What app control is actually good for

Scheduling the great-room fireplace to be burning when you walk in from work. Setting a room temperature and letting the flame modulate to hold it. Shutting the fire off from bed instead of walking back downstairs. Checking from the driveway whether you left it on. None of it is essential — all of it is the kind of convenience that gets a fireplace used daily instead of only on holidays, which is the whole point of owning one.

The mountain caveat

Smart features live and die with your power and WiFi — worth saying plainly in a region that remembers Helene. The savviest setups we install pair app control for everyday convenience with battery-backup ignition, so the fireplace still lights when the router is dark. And if outage heat is your top priority, consider the opposite philosophy entirely: Valor's millivolt units carry no electronics to fail, ever.

See IntelliFire Touch running on live units at our Asheville showroom — bring your phone. Call (828) 545-0525.