Bold and industrial, prominent metals in interior design are more often seen in large commercial spaces – but how do they translate to the home? Fans of the luster and shine of steel, aluminum and copper can bring the modern minimalism of these metals into living rooms, kitchens and entire indoor spaces with these 12 metallic interior design ideas, from striking details like fireplaces and water fountains to larger applications like walls and ceilings.

Ribbed Metal Ceiling

(image via: contemporist)

Cost-effective and totally unexpected, the ribbed metal ceiling in this Coconut Grove, Florida home by Mateu Architecture echoes metallic elements used in the kitchen and outside the house.

Stainless Steel Mosaic Wall Tiles

(images via: memois)

Stainless steel tiles aren’t unusual in bathrooms or as back splashes in modern kitchens, but it’s their use here to cover an entire living room wall that puts them in a whole new light. Shimmering and textural, this tile application creates an eye-catching accent wall.

Japanese Aluminum Modular Kitchen

(image via: blue star aluminum)

Shiny metal is much more than just an accent in this modular kitchen. Calling to mind commercial kitchens in which every surface must be easily sanitized, but on a smaller scale, the minimalist result is clutter-free and contrasts nicely with a natural wood floor.

Penny Tile Floors

(images via: studiogblog)

At about $2.50 per square foot, paving your floor with money is not as extravagant as it sounds. Though they’re now made mostly of zinc, pennies still give off a beautiful copper sheen, and their natural patina lends a variegated result that is rich and subtly shiny.

Ultramodern Steel Sofa

(image via: modern chair design)

Looking like it was carved from one solid block of metal, this curving sofa in a shape reminiscent of a sea shell is definitely a bold way to bring metals into your living room.

B3 Monoblock Kitchen

(image via: design awards)

Seemingly seamless, the B3 Monoblock by Bulthaup so strongly resembles a solid block of metal that it causes people to wonder whether you hauled it up to your apartment with a crane. Custom-made of high-grade stainless steel, these lustrous kitchen islands are totally lust-worthy.

Steel Stairs

(images via: weburbanist)

Since stairs are often located in the heart of a home, they provide another opportunity to stun with steel. These three creative sets of metal stairs in unusual designs certainly stand out.

Aluminum Walls

(image via: dezeen)

For this prefabricated home in Kanazawa, Japan, architecture firm Atelier Tekuto formed the interior spaces using molded aluminum rings, left unfinished so that the wall and ceiling surfaces of the home are entirely metallic. The architects cut energy costs by 80% by putting the reflective qualities of aluminum to good use, installing small LED lights directly into the ceilings and walls.

Contemporary Steel Fireplace

(image via: tktdw)

A column of steel stretching from floor to ceiling makes the living room fireplace an even bigger draw. These three examples include minimalist matte cold-rolled steel, a more artistic reflective stainless steel surround and a  free-standing modern fireplace that even includes storage space.

Copper Water Wall

(image via: indoor fountains online, best home gallery)

Water fountains are perhaps one of the easiest ways to bring metallics into your home in a big, bold way – in many cases, you simply hang the fountain on wall brackets and plug it in. Other installations can be more complex, like built-in water walls. The reflective qualities of the metal give the falling water even more sparkle.

Industrial Metal Apartment

(images via: dornob)

Taking the whole ‘metallic interior’ theme to an intense extreme, this apartment design in Moscow by designer Peter Kostelov is startlingly industrial – some might even say prison-like. But even if you consider this much  metal to be overkill, you can’t say that the space isn’t visually engaging with its patchwork of textures, visible welds and exposed rivets.

Void Masonry: Entire Home Made of Steel

(images via: dornob)

Atelier Tekuto’s beautiful all-metal house may be even more extreme than the metal apartment interior, but at least it’s light-filled with a grid of glass openings in the steel sheath. The steel boxes in the metal walls aren’t just visually striking and convenient for storage; they’re load-bearing, and also designed to regulate indoor temperatures as the seasons change.

A fireplace … that is a box against the wall, connected to a chimney, which gives off smoke and can burn your house down, right? These examples defy that conventional understanding in all kinds of ways – some burn alternative fuels (including water!) while others hang from the ceiling, fit in a car or can be taken with you for fires-on-the-go.

From Sikken, this fireplace is like a high-grade modular Ikea wonder – the metal fireplace-and-firewood two-in-one (with a convent drawer drawer for fireplace accessories in between) can be added to in all kinds of creative ways with additional shelves, drawers and surface spaces to store all kinds of peripherals and fill up the wall you have reserved for a fireplace.

Anne Colombo has taken fireplace styling to new heights, toying with modern materials and postmodern shapes to capture, diffuse, reflect and transform firelight from burning fires in all kinds of creative and novel ways. This is just a sampling of her creative fireplace design work.

Perfect for showing off in the middle of winter, this built-in Hummer fireplace is the ultimate in unnecessary American luxury. The snow-sports-and-Santa-themed Hummer also comes complete with a color-matched snowmobile, storage for your winter ski-and-snowboard gear, but alas not the lovely lady shown in the images above.

It has been said that in contemporary culture the role of the fireplace – as being the central focus in family gatherings – has been slowly replaced by the television. Well, these fireplaces are fighting fire with fire so to speak, competing aesthetically with the modern iconic television-style box.

Not everyone has an interior design configured to accommodate the introduction of a wall hanging, mounted or even wall-adjacent fireplace. Others might simply enjoy the style of a space-ship-like fireplace platform or luminous orb dangling gracefully from their ceiling above.

Something old, something new, something burning and metal too. Taking the iconic form of the primitive fire – two sticks crossed and burning – this reinvented classic fireplace configuration is nonetheless completely cutting edge in the execution of its form and style.

With all of our modern technology, is it any wonder that someone has figured out a way to make fire from water? Yes, you read that right, the Aqueon fireplace by Heat & Glo actually transforms ordinary tap water into burning fire right before your eyes. The system separates hydrogen from oxygen and burns them both – the former for fuel and the latter for color and brightness. Of course, using water to make fire has the fringe benefit of reducing harmful emissions and negating the need for any kind of flue, hood or other fire venting system.

Fireplaces do not have to be the static, central and fixed furnishing they once were. In fact, some fireplaces can hide in plain sight as low-lying dressers/tables or can even be moved around like an old LP player for use indoors and out – such as the ones by Schulte shown here.

For people who prefer to still keep their fireplace as a middle-of-the-house meeting place, these lovely metal fireplace designs make a subtle but remarkable statement against many backdrops – but may also take over the aesthetic of a room. Though this one is their headline-making fireplace design, there are other creative-but-elegant ones from Arkiane as well.

One of many wall-mounted fireplace designs from Saffreti, this particular creation elegantly slots into any space made available on one’s wall. Because it burns clean fuel directly poured into its housing, it does not require any special hookups, venting or other treatments.

For fans of hi-tech gadgets there are also a number of creative fireplace designs to choose from – though some enjoy only limited production runs as they simply cost too much or target too small of a market. Above are just a few examples of fireplaces integrated with everything from televisions with full music systems to outdoor-enabled fireplace designs with iPod ports.

A fireplace is the historical absolute center of any home – the place the supplies light, heat and a focus for family or community even in the darkest and coldest of winter days. From portable suitcase fireplaces and rotating remote-control ones to coffee table, bookcase and other multifunctional designs, here are thirty incredible fireplaces fit for the heart of any modern home.

Need fire on the go? The Travelmate Fireplace Suitcase slices, it dices … OK, it does neither of those but it does provide the potential for romance on-the-go, weighing just 55 pounds and powered by eco-friendly bio-ethanol. The flame will last up to 3 hours and the slick black case is weather-resistant, working just as well outdoors as indoors.

Can’t take it with you? Th rotating Diva fireplace spins on an axis at your command – and even comes with an (optional) remote control so you can twirl it from afar. Leave it to German engineers to make a sleek, directional modern fireplace design that you can smoothly adjust to face you for extra light and warmth.

And if you really like getting up close and personal with your family room fireplace you may be interested in a Planika design – many of which are integrated with everything from glass side tables to granite, wood or steel coffee tables. While these may seem dubious in terms of their safety they are also compellingly central.

Greed for Quiet is a brilliantly simple concept with a remarkably elegant execution – connect people directly to the hearth of a home by connecting their chairs to the fireplace. The seats rotate around the central fire, allowing for various conversational configurations, while simultaneously all pointing toward the center.

EcoSmartFire has an extensive line of clean-burning fireplaces that require no fuel hookup and burn cleanly without a flue. They are open, stylish and versatile in a way few fireplaces have ever been before.

Why support a vase on a wall table or cover your coffee table with books or a fish tank when you can have your own ever-changing open flame to gaze at (the books can always go below)? These designs play with reflectivity, simplicity of materials and are easy to locate and relocate as needed as a small part of the larger collection of designs by Radius.

Not every brilliant fireplace design has to be highly central in your home. These elegant metal-and-glass various by Vauni are portable, beautiful and as adjustable as they need to be to serve their purpose. They can be put on the floor or elevated and are suited to most residential or even office spaces.

Elegant and cutting-edge also do not have to mean modern when it comes to fireplace designs. While fueled behind-the-scenes with modern and sustainable sources and fed through angular metal, the facades of these wonderful wall-mounted fireplaces are aesthetically anything but contemporary

It isn’t just a fireplace design that makes for a wonderful fire – the fire itself can be designed to twist and burn in different ways like the cyclonic fires shown above that spin and rise with internal air differentials. At thousands of dollars a pop these might be more fad than function, however.

Need to justify the expense of a fancy fireplace with additional functionality? These clever bookcase fireplaces double as handy storage while also providing a spacial center to and divider within a living room. They also come in a variety of finishes, from wood laminate to shiny metallic ones. For more multifunctional book strorage check out this creative modern and transforming bookcases and bookshelves.