What's everyone doing about stoves and fireplaces now?

[CaptainPigeon]

I'm definitely overthinking this, but: I'm about to move into a house that has a naff-looking old gas fire in the living room that I want to replace.

Our previous house had a woodburner. I liked it - cosy, pretty - but it started giving me a headache, and then I learned more about how polluting they are and now I don't want to put a new one in our new house.

I've never seen an electric fire that looks convincing. Gas fires look better, but they're still burning fossil fuels and polluting, and with gas boilers on the way out soonish, is a gas fire doomed too?

I sort of liked this dinky little electric stove but it's effectively just having an oven in the middle of your living room: www.everhot.co.uk/Everhot-Electric-Stove.aspx

What's the answer? Is there an option that looks stylish and cosy and is eco-friendly and that isn't just... a hole in the wall?

We just have a hole in the wall, but with a wooden mantle and old bricks as lining. It’s quite kind of cozy looking

I'm about to replace the woodburner in my new place (I have asthma, even though I love them - not a good idea) I'm going for an Everhot. I've done my research and I think it will be perfect for me.

Dimplex does realistic fire effects with steam instead of smoke.
www.dimplex.co.uk/optimyst

TheOnly What made you decide to go for one?

I guess it's hard for me to get my head around because they look like an oven, and are different to the traditional sort of fire where you can see flames... but I do like the idea of doing jacket potatoes in it...

We replaced old gas fire with this electric fire. It’s not 100% convincing but we’ve had a few compliments on it and I love it.

We have an electric fire that looks a lot like a wood burner and the ‘flame’is realistic. Many a visitor has been fooled! Ours is a Dimplex

Old electric fire with this electric fire .. not gas

I think I’d go for an electric one now, those Dimplex ones look good.

We stayed in a bleu cottage that had a gas fired log burner, it looked really realistic.

I'm having the same dilemma. Moved in to a new place and had the fireplace reinstated but now it's just a hole in the wall and I can't bring myself to put a log burner in.

Looking at bio ethanol stoves but worried about the smell

That everhot thing is super cute! I also like the idea of shoving a jacket potato in my heater!!

We just removed ours.
Central heating is warm enough and we have more options for furniture moves now.

Sorry I should proof read holiday cottage not bleu cottage!

I moved a couple of years ago and got rid of the log burners they had, mostly because they weren't flued in properly and that was going to cost £4K as it's a 4 story house. I replaced with a gas fire (which I don't use but looks pretty) and a dimplex electric one with steam which looks pretty and we do use. And the other fireplace I knocked out and put a range cooker in!

Watching with interest. We have an inoffensive but totally pointless gas fire with pebbles which was installed by the previous owners. It’s on a flat wall in a 90s house and has just been shoved there because people expect a fireplace in a sitting room, not because it is useful or attractive.

Ive got a dimplex one with the stream

Its actually very effective, its obviously not real but most people think it is when they first see it ( not when they’ve looked for a little while obviously)

We love it

Bioethanol could be a good solution. They burn clean and you can get ones that look like a wood burner. The fire is a bit different to a log fire but is still real.

We have got an Everhot stove and I love it! It doesn't belt out heat but gently warms (you can get more accurate measurements from Everhot!) but it looks great snd so brilliant to have a bit of extra oven space too. I'm so pleased we went with that option!

Are the Evershott stoves expensive to run?

Evershott = Everhot

As @Linguaphile has said, a good option is a Bioethanol. Imagin fires have a great range www.imaginfires.co.uk/

They can heat a room, produce a real flame and more environmentally friendly.

I would live with it "as is" for a while to see if you use the fire or not. If the room is warm enough with just the radiators then you can purely focus on improving the aesthetic rather than the hassle/expense of a whole new fire system?

We wanted to modernise our old fashioned gas fire so we recently did this. Pic attached

Sprayed the brass fire black (£9) and then built a new surround (£30)

It's modernised it enough for us, as we didn't want to spend £4k on installing a whole new system . be that a decent electric or open fire etc

And we hardly use it, so didnt feel the need to replace the gas aspect

We've got a Gazco Huntington 40 proper cast iorn stove but with electric interior

Lot more expensive than a dimplex

We had a gas one put in. It’s been terrible, failed repeatedly and the maintenance was expensive - as was the initial outlay. We’ve now disconnected it altogether.

We’re now renovating again and removing fireplaces and chimney breasts and stacks. The space we’re gaining is significant, it opens up great possibilities for layouts, and I don’t want the carbon emissions and pollution.

@NCkitchen

I would live with it "as is" for a while to see if you use the fire or not. If the room is warm enough with just the radiators then you can purely focus on improving the aesthetic rather than the hassle/expense of a whole new fire system?

We wanted to modernise our old fashioned gas fire so we recently did this. Pic attached

Sprayed the brass fire black (£9) and then built a new surround (£30)

It's modernised it enough for us, as we didn't want to spend £4k on installing a whole new system . be that a decent electric or open fire etc

And we hardly use it, so didnt feel the need to replace the gas aspect

What did you use to spray the fire black? I guess it needs not to be flammable. I’d like to do something similar to ours. Rather than replace the surround we painted it for now (it was cheap oak effect).