Space heaters don't have a great rap: They're hot to the touch and tip over easily, causing an average of 1,700 fires per year, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Not to mention, they don't actually heat spaces very efficiently.

So one startup has set out to reimagine the space heater, designing a sleek, energy-efficient electric model called the Kelvin that looks like a flat-screen TV and heats your rooms like the heat lamps you see at outdoor bars.

"Traditional space heaters looked ugly, were made with cheap materials, and broke down after months of use," said Madi Ablyazov, who founded the smart home brand that makes the Kelvin, called Boldr. He told The Cool Down that he and the Boldr team "wanted to see something different in our own homes and out in the world."

With the backing of engineers from SpaceX and Tesla, the startup set out to marry energy-efficiency tech with intelligent smart home technology "to solve a lot of problems for homeowners." The team has created a solution for people who don't want to drop thousands of dollars on a full mini-split heat pump that has to be installed as part of your HVAC system — but who want a better, more efficient, and sleeker option than your traditional space heater.

The result? A new-age space heater that gets a top rating from Business Insider for energy-efficiency and a positive writeup from one of Wirecutter's editors, who independently reviewed the product and used it to heat a cold bedroom that doesn't get enough heat from the central HVAC system.

"As skeptical as I was, this heater still won me over in the end," Wirecutter editor Thom Dunn wrote in an extensive review of the product.

The Cool Down spoke to Ablyazov to learn more about the Kelvin (named after the measure of temperature) and how this futuristic device can save homeowners money on their monthly energy bills. 

How the space heater of the future looks — and works 

The first thing you might notice about the Kelvin is that it doesn't look like your grandmother's space heater. Instead, it's a thin, flat glass device that comes in either white or black and mounts on your wall like a mirror, painting, or flat-screen TV, depending on the orientation you choose.

"Most people's homes have white walls, so if you want something to blend into your home seamlessly, then you need to go for a white option, and if you're looking for more of a contrast, in a 'man cave' or garage, then you can go for a black," Ablyazov explained.

While it doesn't take up floor space, it does require a fair amount of wall space, measuring about 3 feet wide and 1.5 feet tall. It weighs about 20 pounds and mounts with four screws, similar to how you'd hang a painting on your wall. According to Boldr's website, installation can take as little as five minutes, although some buyers may want help from a local installer.

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While traditional space heaters operate using convection heat, the Kelvin works on infrared heat — similar to those outdoor dining heat lamps. It also uses a lot less energy: only about 450 watts, according to the company, which is about 30-60% less than the 750-1,500 watts used by a traditional space heater, all while running silently instead of the usual whirr of a floor heater.

On that energy-efficiency note, that translates to cost savings as well as less pollution, making it a great environmental choice compared to a lot of the competition in the space for anywhere that can't benefit from a heat pump — but more on that in a minute.

How to get the most bang for your buck 

The Kelvin's glass front isn't just a design feature. It also helps disperse the heat evenly throughout the room, which is why the team recommends mounting it facing where people will be spending time (i.e., facing your dining room table and chairs instead of pointing away from them).

The first step to automate your home climate and optimize your energy use is to set your desired room temperature in the Kelvin app. The actual space heating device comes with a small temperature sensor that mounts somewhere else in the room and measures temperature and humidity, which helps the app keep you comfortable.

"For accuracy, you want to put it [the sensor] away from the Kelvin heater, away from space heaters," Ablyazov explained. "That's another thing that [traditional] space heaters get wrong —  they put the temperature sensor inside the space heater where it's always hotter, warmer, so the temperature is completely out of whack. It's just a gimmick more than anything."

Once the Kelvin reaches your desired temperature, it switches off to conserve energy instead of running incessantly. "It will never overheat your property or your space. It will always switch off once it reaches that [desired] temperature," Ablyazov told us.

That also means that if your home is already warm and toasty thanks to your existing heating system, then the Kelvin isn't going to continue outputting heat and taking additional energy. "The Kelvin is seriously great at maintaining a comfortable temperature," Dunn wrote for Wirecutter. "It keeps you comfortable while using less energy."

Using less energy means spending less money on your energy bill. Among their space heater tests, Business Insider called the Kelvin "most energy-efficient heater by far," saying that it used about half as much electricity as the other units they tested. "While this has a higher upfront cost ($399), you'll save on energy costs in the long term."

It can also integrate with your existing HVAC system or with other units in other rooms. "It's energy-saving, it's efficient, it's sleek, and it's modular, meaning you can heat one room, or you can set up zones. Everything communicates well inside the app," Ablyazov said.

What about safety and customer service?

Safety is always a concern with space heaters, so how does Boldr, the startup that makes the Kelvin, address that?

Like most space heaters, the Kelvin is still super hot if you touch it, but Ablyazov said the "difference between ours and a traditional space heater is that you can mount ours further away from children and the elderly and safely away from their reach without affecting the efficiency of the heater."

The Kelvin also has overheating protection and has been certified by the ETL, which is a widely known safety certification in the United States. It meets all U.S. and European safety standards.

That being said, Boldr is a global startup without a long-standing reputation in the market, so Ablyazov said the company is doubling down on customer service and support. "We now have live support, both chat and phone call … and we typically respond within 30 seconds over the phone or our chatbot, but as much as two minutes," he said.

That line is open between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. Eastern, and the team is working to make it available on weekends too. "I don't think any single competitor out there … will be able to pick up the phone in 30 seconds. I think that's a record for the industry as a whole," he continued.

Boldr hopes to become the "Apple of home energy," with its products already in about 20,000 homes, including the Kelvin and a smart thermostat for ductless systems called Klima.

"Some of the earliest investors in our company were the former head of manufacturing at Tesla, KC McCreery, and the previous head of engineering at SpaceX, Lewis Hong," Ablyazov said, as a sign that industry experts have put their own money behind a belief in the engineering behind the company's products. The company also recently announced a $3.2 million funding round to accelerate their mission to "turn homes into residential power plants."

Bottom line: Should you consider the Kelvin?

At $399, the Kelvin is definitely more expensive than a traditional space heater, but Ablyazov said that's "because it's going to live longer. It's going to be more a part of your home. You won't have to discard it after one season." Plus, "It's not going to break down or burn your house down."

It's also a lot less than what you might spend on a full mini-split heat pump system, a more comprehensive (and expensive) HVAC system that's often used to heat individual homes efficiently.

"It's a perfect middle ground," Ablyazov said. "If you don't have $15,000 to $20,000 to invest in a heat pump … or you're a renter, or for some reason you just don't want to invest into rebuilding your home system, Kelvin's a fantastic way to go electric."

It's also a good solution for rooms that are always cold. "If you have certain rooms that are just not getting the right amount of heat, or if you just don't have zonal heating and you want to unlock that for a fraction of a price of what you would need for mini-split systems, Kelvin is your guy," he said.

And as a bonus, Airbnb owners will benefit in particular, given that utility bills are a big piece of their costs.

For example, "if you have renters heating the room up to the max and then opening up windows and having all that energy and money evaporate into space, instead they have full control over their home climate in one platform," Ablyazov said. Plus, you're not risking a renter leaving a space heater plugged in, which can result in disaster, and it will look more sleek and modern than that space heater from 1992.

"It's a Porsche of space heaters," he said. "The Kelvin is there to change people's minds around space heating."

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