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A Creative FireSpace™ · 11 September 2026
The Enviro Cube & S50 — A Fire That Stands on Its Own
Two freestanding gas stoves, built in Saanichton, British Columbia: the square Cube on its table, and the slim upright S50 in black or white. 30,000 BTU each, no wood, a remote in your hand.
Not every room has a wall to give up. The older house with a chimney already spoken for, the cabin with a window on every side, the loft where the fire ought to sit in the middle of the floor rather than at the edge of it — these are the rooms that want a stove, a fire that stands on its own feet and asks nothing of the wall but a place to vent. For most of the households we work with, that stove no longer burns wood. It burns gas, lights from a remote, holds a thermostat, and needs no woodpile, no sweeping and no registration under anybody’s bylaw.
Enviro builds two of them, in Saanichton, British Columbia — the same plant as the gas inserts and the Urbana outdoor fires we have written about — and they could hardly be more different in shape. Both are rated at 30,000 BTU, both vent from the top or the rear so they can stand against a wall or out in the room, both take a thermostat or a remote, and both are sealed direct-vent stoves that draw their air from outside and give nothing to the room but heat.
The Cube is what its name says: a square painted-black firebox, two feet across, with a high-definition log set on a ceramic fluted liner behind a window nearly 19 inches wide. It does not stand on legs. It sits on a table — a plain black plinth the width of the box — or on a long table, 44 inches end to end, that carries the fire on one side and a rack of logs on the other, and reverses so the logs can go left or right. Enviro rates it for 1,700 square feet, with an IPI valve that lights only when asked, a stainless steel burner, and a 150 CFM fan for the room that wants the warmth moved. Panel kits in Cypress Green, Bordeaux Red or Sage Green dress the sides for a house that does not want black.
It is, in other words, a wood stove’s presence without a wood stove’s manners: the box of fire, the logs beside it, the low plinth to gather around, and a remote on the table.
The S50 is the other answer. Where the Cube is low and wide, the S50 is a column: 20 inches across and 46 inches tall, a rounded upright stove with a curved glass door 18 inches wide and 15 high, on a slim pole pedestal in black or white or a wood pedestal in black. It comes in painted metallic black or powder-coated Carrara white, and the door can wear a cover in white, red or green, so the same stove reads as a black iron column in a cabin, a white one in a bright room, or a red one for a house that wants a little colour. Enviro rates it for 1,500 square feet at 68 percent P4 efficiency, with a black glass or fluted liner behind a traditional or birch log set, or river rock with twigs, or black diamond glass. A remote and a 70 CFM fan are options.
A stove’s presence, without a stove’s chores.
A freestanding stove is decided by where it stands and where it breathes. Because it vents from the top or the rear, it can go up through the roof or straight out through the wall behind it, and which one is right depends on the room, the floor above and what the outside of the house can carry; the clearances around it, smaller on a gas stove than a wood one, decide how close it can sit to the sofa and the wall. Then there is the gas line to wherever the stove will stand, the power for the fan, and the hearth or the floor beneath it. That is the work Maxwell Fireplace does in-house: choosing between the Cube and the S50 with you, and the table, the pedestal and the colour; planning the vent run and the gas; pulling the permits; and installing the stove with our own crew. Show us the corner, or the middle of the floor, and we will tell you which one belongs there.
Questions people tend to ask
Will it heat the room, or is it for looking at?
It heats. Enviro rates both stoves at 30,000 BTU, the Cube for up to 1,700 square feet and the S50 for 1,500 at 68 percent efficiency, and both take a thermostat, so the stove holds the room at a temperature rather than simply burning. A fan is an option on each — 150 CFM on the Cube, 70 on the S50 — for the room that wants the warmth pushed rather than radiated.
Which one is right for my room?
The Cube is low and wide, a box of fire on a plinth that suits a living room or a large open floor, especially on its long table with the logs beside it. The S50 is tall and slim, 20 inches across, for the corner, the cabin and the room where floor space is precious. Both come in black; the S50 also comes in white, and both take a little colour if the house wants it.
Does it work in a power outage?
The fan does not, but the fire is designed so that it can be lit when the power is out, and the stove needs no electricity to burn. Tell us if that matters in your house and we will set the ignition up accordingly.
Can I have a real wood stove instead?
Yes, and we would be glad to talk you through it — we wrote about Morsø’s cast-iron stoves separately. The honest difference is chores and paperwork: a wood stove wants wood, sweeping and a registration under Metro Vancouver’s bylaw; a gas stove wants none of them and lights from the sofa. Most of the households we work with who use the stove every evening choose gas.
Where are they made, and where can I see one in Vancouver?
Both are built in Saanichton, British Columbia, by Sherwood Industries, the company behind Enviro and Urbana. Come to Maxwell Fireplace in North Vancouver and we will show you the two shapes, the tables and pedestals, the liners and the colours, and talk through where in your room a stove could stand and vent. We serve the North Shore, Vancouver and the Sea to Sky corridor.