Hole in the wall fireplace Vs fireplace with mantel

[ComfortFoodCorner]

What are your thoughts on it? Are there any added benefits of having a polished stone surrounding mantel other than its spectacular looks? By going for a "hole in the wall" fireplace, we found that we are saving few hundred pounds. The guy from the fireplace factory said that, with the hearth the heat comes inside the room rather than all get sucked inside the wall. Not sure if that's true, and it's just a selling trick adopted by him to sell us the fireplace with the granite/quartz hearth. They looked lovely though. If it's really true that we get better heat output with the surrounding then we can spend the extra money. But it it's just for the looks, then I would prefer having the extra space, than having the mantel and watching over family members not crowding the mantel top with posts and papers.

What are your thoughts on it...

Fire place factory?

We have a woodburner set into the chimney breast so effectively a hole in the wall. Our living room is small and we wanted the extra floor space. We've mocked up a narrow mantle with a piece of oak that sits on the edge of the hole but isnt a full width so you cant put anything on it.

We didn't get told anything about differences in heat output between the two options when getting quotes.

We have a hole in the wall gas fire. We didn’t choose that, it was in the house when we bought it. I miss having a mantel, there’s less space for photos/ Christmas decorations/ candles etc
But the biggest issue is that the fire doesn’t really heat the room - and we have a small living room. I definitely need to change it for something better.

Our current woodburner is set into the wall. It takes longer to heat the room up than the one in our old house which was freestanding. It may also be becuase it is on an external rather than internal wall. It is also harder to light for some reason.

I took out a fire with a mantel and hearth and replaced it with a hole in the wall fire. I hate it.

I miss the mantelpiece and the output from the new fire is pathetic. I'll be replacing it again soon, and going back to what I had.

The mantle and surrounding don't help with the heat output. But an enclosed fire is far more efficient than an open one, at least as far as a real flame is concerned.
I have a large victorian house and the marble surrounds were long gone. I put wood burners in which belt out hear, but wish I had at least put a mantle back - it looks incomplete as it is.

We have a gazco fire ..not cheap ,@£2500 but it's the best thing we installed during our extension ...it throws out SO much heat ..it's on a remote as well so very easy to control ...in our front room we have a grate and mantel gas fire installed and were told that most of the heat goes up the chimney and they were really for effect ...we will change it one day

You can get the same fire with a surround and mantel and they look fab !

Hi everybody, really thanks for all the responses. Our home gets really cold very quickly. So effective heat output is our priority. Don't really wish for mantel, as my living area is very small. But I was ok to go for it if the heat output is really good.

I'm interested to know what was the heat output for your fireplaces in kw? The hole in the wall we are looking now is 4.03kw. Not sure how effectively it heats up as in the place we went, none of the gas fireplaces were turned on. So we couldn't judge.

@jigster01, thank you for the picture. Is that Valor Inspire 800? That's the exact one we looked initially, and were so close to pay the deposit.. It's not hole in the wall like yours, but full hearth with granite/quartz finish. It's heat output is 4.6kw. glad to know that yours throws good heat. Could you share the details of your fireplace please? What brand it is etc ....

Gazco studio 2 model no : 123-012