Mid-century modern fireplaces have been back in style for a while now and it’s no surprise. You can find electric, gas, and woodburning MCM fireplaces for both indoor and outdoor use in a variety of colors – from sleek black or bright white to fiery red or avocado green.
Well-known cone fireplace manufacturers like Malm, Preway, and Majestic can still be found in amazing condition if you just know where to look!
Read on to find tips & tricks for finding a mid-century modern fireplace below – whether you’re searching for brand new Malm or you’re willing to hunt for a vintage fireplace.
Buy it new
High cost, low effort
If you’re looking for a pristine MCM fireplace and would rather pay full price than spend time searching – there are plenty of places to buy new mid-century style fireplaces, including directly from Malm!
Malm Fireplaces
Digs Showroom
digsshowroom.com | @digshowroom
Fireplace Doors Online
fireplacedoorsonline.com | @fireplacedoorsonline
Search specialty sellers
Medium cost, medium effort
There are many vintage stores or shops that specialize in mid-century finds, including fireplaces, and you can find anything from mint-condition vintage Malms, Preways, and Majestics or lesser-known brands to beat-up cone fireplaces that might just need a fresh coat of paint.
The west coast, especially California, has more vintage fireplaces in good condition than you’ll find on the east coast – both from less extreme weather and because MCM was more popular – but you can still find this style of fireplace everywhere across the country.
It’s generally recommended to find a fireplace that has its porcelain enamel finish in good condition and is the color you want instead of trying to paint over an existing finish. There are also many fireplaces that have a matte black paint finish – these are mostly woodburning fireplaces and are meant to be touched up with high-heat stove paint over time.
While I’ve seen some examples of people powdercoating their MCM fireplaces – how a new finish will hold up it really depends on the use. Powdercoating an electric fireplace or gas fireplace would probably hold up a new finish better than one used for burning wood.
Local Vintage Shops
If you have any local vintage shops, especially if they focus on mid-century modern furniture, make sure you check them out! You might find that they occasionally get fireplaces – even if they don’t specialize in them specifically.
Check out my list of the best spots for vintage furniture in Philadelphia for some Philly-area shops – I even found my vintage cone fireplace at Discount MCM – one of the stores in the list!
Red Eye Vintage
Red Eye Vintage specializes in vintage fireplaces in the best condition possible with the original porcelain enamel finish intact. She also will deliver fireplaces around the country – sometimes driving them to their new homes herself!
Urban Americana
Urban Americana has mid-century style fireplaces in a variety of conditions. They get new finds in all the time so keep a close eye on their instagram!
urbanamericana.com | @urbanamericana | @theretroburn
Etsy
There are many other sellers on Etsy outside of Red Eye Vintage who range from MCM specialty shops to individual sellers.
Ebay
Like Etsy, there are many single-product sellers on Ebay and you might find the exact MCM fireplace you’ve been looking for here.
Searching the #malmfireplace tag or similar tags like #prewayfireplace will turn up all sorts of sellers – some might even be near you!
https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/malmfireplace/
Hunt for deals
Low cost, high effort
Last but certainly not least, search for an amazing deal. The biggest difference is how patient you are and how you search.
Keywords like midcentury modern fireplace, malm fireplace, preway fireplace, or majestic fireplace will usually bring you to sellers who know what they have, and have a good idea of what their MCM fireplace is worth. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing – if you have something specific in mind you might be happy to pay a little bit more to get exactly what you want.
Using keywords like cone fireplace, freestanding fireplace, wood stove, steel chiminea or modifiers like funky, groovy, 60s, 70s, swedish, or even ugly might bring you to a seller who doesn’t know what they have and probably just wants to get rid of it.
You might even comb through anything that matches fire place, fireplace, or wood stove. You probably won’t find what you’re looking for right away, but if you setup alerts for common keywords and take the time to regularly check – you might find a great deal on your dream fireplace.
Facebook Market
Check Facebook Market regularly for fireplaces near you – or even outside of your area (as long as you’re willing to drive to pick it up)!
Offerup
Make sure you set up alerts so that you see new listings quickly. You can even filter for items in a specific vicinity from your location.
Craigslist
Just like Offerup, set up alerts for your area and any surrounding areas where you’re willing to travel. I’d also recommend adding an image filter so you can quickly weed out spam.
