Lloyd Alter/CC BY 2.0
Rumford fireplaces have always scared me. Invented in 1796 by Benjamin Thompson, later Count Rumford, they are very tall and very shallow. They just look like more smoke is going to come into the house than up the chimney.
In fact the opposite is true. They were a revolution in fireplace design, burning wood far more efficiently and exhausting much more effectively. According to Wikipedia:
Renaissance Fireplaces/Screen capture
I was surprised to see a prefabricated Rumford fireplace at the Interior Design Show in Toronto. Manufactured by Renaissance Fireplaces in Quebec, it is much shallower than a regular zero clearance fireplace, and has a guillotine sliding glass door that drops down in front. It is also very clean and efficient.
Renaissance Fireplaces/Screen capture
Impressive. More at Renaissance Fireplaces; a quick search showed that Rumfords are not so obscure at all, but are made by a number of different companies. There is a lot of information at Buckley Rumford Fireplaces.
Here is a copy of a video of the fireplace in operation; see it at higher quality on Renaissance’s website.
