Why, yes, I'd love a glass of port!

I've only ever had traditional fireplaces, so I cannot comment on any comparison. And we didn't ever choose the type of fireplace in our homes (all that we've owned together) - they were chosen by the builder because the homes are all (gasp!) tract homes.

You're first cab off the rank Lindsey so, I'll raise a glass to your good health.

Any more experiences please and, on with the show!

We have four working fireplaces in our house. The house is very old and all the fireplaces needed to be lined and capped, so we spent time thinking about the use of each room. We planned to use the back parlor as our family room and have remote controlled gas logs there We bought the more expensive logs for this fireplace. In the adjoining front parlor, we have gas logs, but only used a manual control. In the library, we have a gas starter and wood burning fireplace. The crowning glory of this house is the kitchen fireplace, five feet wide and four feet tall with its original cooking crane. I do cook in the fireplace! We set fires here often, sipping morning coffee or eating supper by firelight. Each fireplace has unique uses and I love the qualities of each. The remote control means we don’t have to plan to stay in the room a long time or stack wood and clean out ashes. The gas lighter in the library assures an easy start to real firewood in the room where we watch football. The rhythm and aroma of an earlier time is measured by the starting of the kitchen fire, the feeding of it, and the feeding of our family. And my wine glass sparkles in the firelight....

We have 3 wood burning fireplaces in our home. These are all within or exceed EPA standards, air tight and actually heat the home. Wood burning means work, chopping, stacking carrying it in and cleaning up. But we wouldn’t trade it for anything. Love the ambiance and warmth it provides. We just cooked steaks in our large fireplace, did it the exact same way we would if camping.

There really is nothing as nice and cozy as an open fire. I love the look of a real wood fireplace. Depending on where you live it would be nice to have. Here in Montana it's really nice. Arizona not so much. But my only experience was in my old home that was built in 1959. We rarely used it. Bad drafting filed the room with smoke if you didn't start it right. We did put doors on it and that helped. But I never built a fire, I left that to my husband. I Didn't like the smell of some wood. And it was dirty. Our new home has a pellet stove. I love it. Push a button and you have a fire (or not). Because it is still burning a wood product we still have a nice, natural looking flame. We have used it this year as our main heat source for our home. Chilly? you just stand in front of it.

What’s your personal experience living with, using a fireplace? Are you romanticizing? I have always had fireplaces and woodstoves(I assume slow burner equals wood stove)

We heated by wood stove with a backup furnace only for 12 years.

Yes it’s relaxing to look into flickering flames. But in the real world it is work to maintain a fire.

To properly lay a fire, so that it lights is something you must learn, and you need kindling. If you live on property you collect kindling before it is all covered in feet of snow and you have a dry place to keep it. This place will often also become a home to critters, so don’t be shy. You will also need wood, which you will fell, cut, split, stack, and dry . Or you will pay for all this to be done for you. If you do it yourself you will have great core strength cause splitting wood with a maul is a great workout. FYI in my experience woodpiles are where snakes go to shed.

It is work to a kindle a fire, if you argue with your spouse about how to stack the DW, how to lay a proper file will be new fodder for dialog.

You will need to remove ash from your fire, you may need a place to allow hot ash to cool, you need to dispose of cool ash. if you dump hot ash you can start a forest fire. If you improperly store hot ash while it is cooling to dump you can burn your house down.

Do not romanticize fire. Fire is a beast, it needs to be fed, managed, and controlled. An open fireplace offers the least control, a wood stove provides more containment, but both require work.

Based on what you wrote, you might consider this.... We are planning one.

http://renaissancefireplaces.com/en/rumford-1000-woodburning-fireplace

We have 2 traditional fireplaces in our current home. One was retrofitted with gas logs and the other with a Buck insert w/catalytic burner. I love a fire but the amount of wood burned in a single night would last almost 2 days in an insert. We use the gas logs to "take the chill off" and then turn them off.

This is the first winter in the last 40 that I've not had a fire in my insert. We're trying to cut down on dust and wood can be very messy.

I have a traditional wood-burning fireplace in my 1948 house, but several years ago, we did go to gas logs. It was cleaner than dragging in dirty firewood and we used it more often as it could simply be turned "off" when we were ready to go to bed or leave the house.

Enclosed burners are quite different and don't have the same ambience as even a nice gas fire does. I like to see those flames!

And yes, I'd also like a glass of that port but can provide my own spaniel on my lap!

It seems the the most objections to a fireplace include having to cut wood, the cleaning every now and then and, its inferior efficiency compared to other types of fireplaces.

But I like doing all this stuff (cutting wood, cleaning and so on)!

So, if I can afford it, I'll give the old-style fireplace a go and see what happens.

I particularly liked ryingtounderstand's comments, because I'd like to cook on it on a night when the electricity supply drops out during a storm on a cold winter's night (brrrrrr).

Thanks to everyone for some really interesting comments.

And now, back to that port!

@fredgassit, if you enjoy burning wood then by all means go for it. I understand. For 40+ years I cut, split, stacked and hauled wood as it was out primary heating source. It didn't have to be. I just enjoyed the work and looked at it as my gym membership. Then, a SLAP tear surgery prevented me from splitting wood and a few years later a couple of degenerative discs in my lower back slowed the cutting and hauling.

Nothing has happened yet to slow my enjoyment of vintage Port!