I can give you some suggestions, but I need more information such as:

• What‘s below the fireplace—Concrete slab? Wood joists over a crawl space or basement?
• Do you want modular masonry to look like your inspiration photo or factory-built?
• Is the fireplace going to be used only with gas logs or do you want a wood-burning fireplace plumbed with gas that can use gas logs or a gas log starter?

If strictly for gas, this is a great option: FireRock indoor b-vent masonry fireplace kit

Sammy - Great questions. Answers, to the best of my knowledge below.

• What‘s below the fireplace—Concrete slab
• Do you want modular masonry to look like your inspiration photo or factory-built? Assume this will be built on site to look like inspiration
• Is the fireplace going to be used only with gas logs or do you want a wood-burning fireplace plumbed with gas that can use gas logs or a gas log starter? Gas logs only is fine; also open to wood-burning that can be plumbed for gas if that gives me more options

Thanks!

One more comment: builder says some of these boxes can be flush, BUT the floor underneath has to be recessed to make that work. Since we've already poured the slab, that's not an option. Has to sit on top.

Btw, if you’re going for the traditional, open fireplace look (like in your picture), you won’t be happy with the model your contractor suggested, which has a permanently installed glass front.

Oh, hey! I didn’t realize whom I was answering. 😬

I, personally, really like the offerings from FireRock, and am considering replacing my pre-fab wood burning fireplace with one of theirs. They just look more authentic. Now, if you think there’s even the slightest possibility that you’d like to burn wood some day, then absolutely buy a wood-burning model. It’s easy to remove a gas log set; I’ve done it myself a couple times.

Thank you, Sammy! The FireRock looks great, but just asked my builder and it's out of budget unfortunately. Definitely don't want a permanent glass front. Hoping there's another solution that's less expensive. than the FireRock. While it would be nice to have the wood-burning option, it's certainly not necessary. Gas only would serve my needs just fine.

Bruce - Many thanks for the rec. I will look into the Mendota line!

My Montigo is flush to the floor.

Town and Country does it too and theirs is the best looking gas fireplace I've seen. However they have a price to match.

Photo courtesy of Gridley and Graves.

All vented gas fireplaces have the glass in front. Not an option to not have it.

And they can dig out for the fireplace. I know because they had to dig out my slab for my shower when they poured incorrectly.

Thank you, @cpartist. Do you know what model your Montigo is that's flush with the floor?

Look at Majestic-brand fireplaces, @mags_and, which is the brand I have. One of its wood burners (maybe the Biltmore?) has the flush hearth look. They also have gas-only units, I believe. And no, you’re not stuck with permanently installed glass if you choose a gas fireplace, @cpartist. The type of venting is what dictates whether glass must be installed permanently (see below). For example, the first fireplace I linked to, which uses the B-VENT method, doesn’t require glass (nor does a vent-free system, but I wouldn’t recommend that type); only DIRECT-VENT styles require the glass, which @Bruce in Northern Virginia eluded to in his comment. And of course a wood-burning fireplace doesn’t require the glass, with or without gas logs installed. If gas logs are installed, the only thing that’s required is that the damper always at least be partially open in order to prevent the buildup of carbon monoxide, which can happen with natural gas.

Bottom line: If you want to burn gas logs only, choose one that uses a B-vent system. If you want the ability to burn either gas logs OR wood, then you’d choose a wood burning unit. Either way, you’ll have a gas line entering the firebox.

You've now completed my Fireplaces 101 course—well, at least the first module. Fun, right? 😋

Direct-vent gas fireplaces have glass fronts. I'm not sure if the ones that are open with a single wall vent are still made for stand alone fireplaces but they might be for inserts in an existing masonry fireplace.

In order for factory-built fireplaces to pass the UL test when sitting on a wood floor, there's a built-in hollow space below the firebox. They can be placed in a recess in the floor as long as all materials that come within 2" of it are non-combustible.

Based on your comments, I think that to get the old-school fireplace look you want would require a wood-burning fireplace (open frame, no glass) with a vented (B vent) gas log insert.
- You want it flush to the floor, but are unable to modify the existing floor height.
- You do not have a premium budget.

Are you able to give us a rough idea of the price for the fireplace suggested by your contractor, and how much more you are willing to pay?

Every solution I can think of would require quite a lot of labor, so they would probably cost more than the increased cost of buying of a high end fireplace. For example, it is not easy to recess the floor after the slab is poured, but its not impossible. Your contractor would probably also question your sanity if you wanted this type of solution.

Bruce

We have the Majestic Biltmore that Sammy above mentioned. Ours is the 42" box. Ours is a woodburning fireplace but we have a gas log lighter installed to help get the fire going. Because there is a punch out to run the gas line into the fireplace for the log lighter, you can also use the firebox for gas logs. We have a raised hearth but the instructions state that it can be flush installed with the floor which is what our friends did with their Heatilator, which is almost identical to our Majestic Biltmore. We went with Majestic because the firebox was more cream/gray colored and the Heatilator is more mauve, imho.

If it's helpful, we have $7k budgeted for TWO fireplaces. I am willing to go *slightly* above that, but not too much. Based on my online research, it looks like Majestic Biltmore should fit well in that budget, but not sure what labor costs would be.

Hmm, we spent over $8K for our ONE fireplace. The Majestic Biltmore 42" firebox and pipe/accessories were around $2800 here in KY at a local store. The rest was our manufactured stone, installation, and general fireplace construction. I would get that nailed down with your builder before making final decisions because it was one of things we were shocked with when we got our final bill from the builder. He'd allowed us $6K for the fireplace so being $2K over without realizing it was a hard pill to swallow.

Thanks, Shead. The $7k in our budget is just the box itself plus install labor. Separate budget for surrounding material/fireplace construction.

Sorry I don't recall the model as I bought it several years ago. You can figure it out when you go to the site. I believe ours is a 36" size?

Quick update for the thread: turns out the Majestic FPs are way out of budget. Even though the boxes are under <$3k, the quote ended up being $8k+ with the chimney section and other parts.

So, we are now considering the Monessen Lo-Rider Ventless FP: https://www.monessenhearth.com/fireplaces/vent-free-fireboxes/lorider. I'm reading up on the Carbon Monoxide risks of vent-free and odor issue before making a final determination. I do love the look (almost flush to floor and no glass in front), and the price is right, but don't want something dangerous in my home!

Final update: After reading about the downsides of a ventless FP, we decided to go with two Heatilator wood burners, which can be converted to gas.

• Heatilator Birmingham 36": https://www.heatilator.com/products/birmingham-wood-fireplace (the viewing area is 38"x36" so quite large for a 36")
• Heatilator Icon 36": https://www.heatilator.com/products/icon-series-wood-fireplace

With installation, 1 set of gas logs, and 1 remote, pricing for both units came out to a little over $8k

Oh wow, I can't believe you were quoted so high on the Majestic. We paid $2800 for the 42" box PLUS the piping and all the kits to go through the attic and through the roof.

You'll like the Heatilator, though. DH's brother has the Icon 42". We almost went with it but frankly, I didn't like the salesperson at the nearest dealership that carried it and I like the inside of the Majestic box slightly better colorwise. However, that's really moot now that we've been having fire nightly for the last few weeks....lol.

@shead - Out of curiosity, what was the total cost for your Majestic with the piping and all the parts? That's apparently how the cost got up so high (the box itself was <$3k). Also, totally agree about the color of the Icon box! We are planning to paint it black. :)

Here’s my receipt. It was $2862 for the firebox, log lighter and all the piping and termination cap. Builder had to have something fabricated in stainless steel for up on the roof which was $300. I don’t know exactly what it was but was apparently needed.

WOW! That is so crazy how different my quote was. Do you mind sharing the name of the supplier you used?

I'm glad you did not go ventless. So dangerous.

@mags_and, mine was purchased through an appliance dealer about an hour from me. I found their info on Majestic’s website as the nearest one. Have you looked there to see if there may be multiple ones located near you? Then you could at least compare the one’s price to the other.