Is there such a thing as a stylish electric fire?

[Secretarchersaddict]

I'm looking for a fire for our sitting room which doesn't have a chimney-breast or fireplace. I'd originally wanted a wood burner but there isn't an ideal route to instal the flue. This, plus pollution concerns around wood-burners, means I'm now reluctantly looking at electric equivalents but still want the appearance of flames/'real' fire - does such a thing exist? Has anyone tried the Dimplex Opti-Myst / Opti-V fires - are they any good?

I have an electric woodburner. Up close it looks very plastic but from afar not so much.

I like that I can have it set to light (flames) only without the heater going.

The flames aren't enormously realistic and the fan makes a bit of noise even when the heater's not in use but it suits my needs. TV or music disguises it and the gentle white noise blots out my neighbours

It's handy for heating one room if I don't want to put the central heating on.

I bought this from Next a couple of years ago for about £600. Oak fireplace and fire.
Plug in.
It gave out plenty of heat, wouldnt really fool anyone into thinking it was real, but v decorative?
Can't see that they sell it anymore though, it was a dimplex fire.

@tomboytown
That's really nice. P

Thanks all - I've been doing some more googling and come across bio-ethanol fires - anyone tried these? Do they give off much heat?

Gazco do some lovely electric fires.

www.stovax.com/stove-fire/skope-electric-fires/