We’ve written in previous articles about the key design components of a traditional home sauna including different woods, lighting and heaters. Many people’s experiences of traditional saunas have been in commercial facilities such as gyms and hotel spas. Typically, these designs are pleasant but ultimately focused toward function over aesthetic. As a result, many people have only seen either basic wall or floor mounted sauna heaters. For a long while, the home sauna market followed this trend of basic wall mounted sauna heaters, often surrounded with a wooden trim but generally rather unimaginative.
Fast forward to today and there are some fantastic yet still affordable designer sauna heaters to make a powerful impact within your sauna design. In this feature we showcase 5 of the best.
Huum Drop
A Reddot Design Award winner, the Huum drop sauna heater is inspired by the simple water drop. The soft lines and shape are further enhanced by the visible rounded sauna stones which not only have aesthetic appeal but distribute the sauna heat very efficiently. The stainless steel construction is as functional as it is elegant and certainly built to last. This sauna heater works well both in softening straight architectural lines within your sauna or as a compliment to curved benches or wall sections for an overarching organic look.
Harvia Globe
The Harvia Globe is a truly distinct sauna heater design and we could almost have given it two places. Its versatility in being either suspended, wall mounted or floor standing provide fairly distinct but equally impressive aesthetics. Our designers particularly love the chain suspended look in a dark wood sauna. The globe shape is a fitting design to come out of one of the global powerhouses of the sauna industry so you can be assured of the highest quality for years of trouble free service.
Helo Himalaya
Another heater that has varied installation possibilities and a regular favourite for Aegean’s design team is the Himalaya heater by Helo. Available in silver or black, this tower heater adds a striking centrepiece to your sauna whilst taking up a small footprint making it ideal for smaller sauna cabins. More popular is a recessed installation where our designers will build steps to a raised floor platform and fit a glass heater collar to give a completely integrated sauna heater visual. The light floor, dark wall and black heater combo is one of our favourites!
Huum Cliff
The only brand to make two heaters on our list is Estonian sauna design superstar Huum. We absolutely love the simple elegance of this design and Huum’s rounded sauna stones become the star bringing an intensely natural look to your sauna interior. Why not consider bringing in some grey to your sauna to compliment the stones. Taika panels by Helo are a great option to achieve this contemporary sauna interior aesthetic. Like the Helo Himalaya sauna heater, this exceptionally well-designed tower sauna heater is perfect for small cabins. The Cliff requires only 6cm gap from tower to surrounding walls or benches for smaller heater sizes.
Tulikivi Huurre
Now to move ever further away from traditional sauna heaters constructed with visible steel. Novel contemporary finishes are available from a Finnish company with a specialism in stone processing. Our pick of the Tulikivi electric sauna heater range is the Huurre with an undulating surface of matt cast stone. This heater is the perfect choice for a sauna design with a less wood heavy sauna interior. The light or dark options offer flexibility to blend into existing surrounding interiors. Consider stone sauna walls with wooden interior elements only extending to the benches and backrests.
I hope our 5 of the best will inspire you when consulting with your Aegean sauna design specialist. For a free sauna design consultation, please call us on 020 8959 1529.