Ortal: Wilderness Front Facing 44" Gas Fireplace

The Wood Fire Without the Wood

The gas fire that passes for a wood fire.

Who it’s for

Most gas fireplaces announce themselves: a ribbon of flame over glass media, and everyone in the room knows it’s an appliance. You want the fire to look like burning logs, without hauling wood, sweeping ash, or tending anything. You need a gas fire that reads as a wood fire. If you’re building or remodeling a wall around a wide, log-filled fire you can run from the couch, the Ortal Wilderness Front 44 is the one. Choose a standard linear unit instead and you’ll get clean flame over pebbles; choose this one and people will ask when you started burning wood.

Quick facts

• Viewing area: 43 5/8″ wide, in three glass heights (15 3/4″, 21 5/8″, or 29 1/2″)
• Fuel: natural gas or propane
• Controls: handheld remote with thermostat modes; app and wall switch optional
• Fan: none

What makes it special

The Wilderness burner was built around ceramic log technology that lets the flame move through and around the logs the way a wood fire actually burns. From across the room it reads as logs on a bed of coals, not flame over media—and you pick the wood: Driftwood, Valley Oak, or Birch.

It also comes in three glass heights, from a wide, linear proportion to a fire nearly 30 inches tall that owns the wall. The two taller versions include interior lighting, so the logs stay lit as a display even when the flame is off.

This is a zero-clearance unit: it builds into a framed wall in new construction or a remodel and finishes with your tile or stone, so plan the wall and the fireplace together.

Possible downsides

• Double-glass versions need household power for their barrier fans, so they won’t operate during an outage.
• The tallest 29 1/2″ glass comes only in double glass; there is no protective-screen option at that height.
• Brick interior panels are only offered on the Traditional models; if you want a herringbone-brick firebox, look at the Wilderness Traditional.

If you want the look of a wood fire at the push of a remote, the Wilderness Front 44 is the right decision. The wall you’re planning becomes the room the whole house ends up in.

The Wilderness Front 44 comes with your choice of Driftwood, Valley Oak, or Birch ceramic log sets, a protective screen or double-glass barrier, and three glass heights, so the fire fits the wall you have in mind.