Ortal: Front Facing FR 4070 Gas Fireplace

The Portrait-Format Statement

A fire that stands up instead of stretching out.

Who it’s for

Most gas fireplaces run wide and low, and some walls don’t have the width—a stair landing, an entry, the narrow wall between two windows. You need a fire that runs tall, not wide. If you want the flame to be the vertical line the room is built around, the Ortal Front Facing FR 4070 is that fireplace. Choose a standard linear instead and the fire is a ribbon along the floor; choose this one and it’s a column of flame at eye level.

Quick facts

• Viewing area: 16 7/8″ wide × 27 9/16″ tall—a portrait-format fire
• Fuel: natural gas; propane conversion available
• Controls: handheld remote with built-in thermostat, timer, and eco settings; wall switch and app control optional

What makes it special

There is no metal frame around the glass. Your tile, stone, or plaster runs right to the edge of the fire, so the flame reads as part of the wall rather than an appliance set into it—and in this size, the fire is taller than it is wide, which almost nothing else on the market is.

Ortal’s passive cool-wall design keeps the surface above the unit cool enough that a TV or artwork can hang right above the fireplace. And you live with it from the couch: set the remote to 70 and the fireplace holds the room there on its own, or put it on a timer for the evening and let it shut itself off.

Possible downsides

• Natural gas out of the box; running it on propane requires a conversion kit.
• Every media option is a log or branch set; there are no glass or stone interior options in the catalog.
• The double-glass version runs on household power, so it won’t operate during a power outage.

If you want the fire to be the vertical centerpiece of the wall, the FR 4070 is the right decision. The wall people used to walk past becomes the one they cross the room to stand in front of.

Media choices include five included log sets—standard, weathered driftwood, refractory clay, and short or long English logs—plus optional bonfire, campfire, aspen, and charred-branch sets and single accent branches in black, grey, or white, with a propane conversion available.