We started talking about gas fireplace inserts. Given our fireplace has the gas vent from the hot water heater and the HVAC, we could tap into them to vent a gas insert, so the only question is finding one that is an appropriate size and deciding it is worth the $1200.
This one actually has pretty good dimensions, doesn't need to vent, and can be installed as a zero-clearance fireplace. I don't know what that means. It needs 15" behind it though, and we don't have that, so I guess we would be looking at somehow building out our fireplace for it.
I'm a bit more inclined to go with something that would actually just go in front of the fireplace if we have to build out anyway. This guy is much cheaper and the right height, plus we wouldn't have to build a mantle. At 13" deep, it would only creep out about a foot, so not significantly more than our existing fireplace cover, which we could get rid of. I can't decide if it would look cheesy though, since we did see a few houses with something similar and it did look odd.
There are also electric options. They are cheaper, safer, and easier to install. However, they are not real fireplaces, they are well decorated space heaters. I kind of like the idea of something big like this:
Have you ever seen a standalone fireplace design you liked? Where can we get an 8" deep insert for our fireplace?
