We have a woodburning Fireplace Xtrordinair 44 Elite in our new home and are really pleased with it. Our home is over 4000 sf, and the temperature in the Master Bedroom upstairs is the same as right next to the fireplace downstairs. The "posi-pressure" system works just as advertised. We were disappointed initially that we couldn't have a masonry fireplace and were afraid our fireplace wouldn't look "real," but we're very happy with it now. We bought the optional black metal screen, but find we actually prefer using the glass doors. You can hear the crackle even with the doors closed so it's very soothing for the soul. :-) It's also great to be able to just walk away from the fire and go to bed without worrying about safety. One thing we're especially happy we did is that we put our blower in the basement, directly below the family room, and you can hardly hear anything, even when the blower is set on "high." The only downside to our fireplace is that creosote does build up some on the glass, even with the air wash system, but it comes off quite easily with the fireplace glass cleaner we bought. I've heard that happens on all wood-burning fireplaces with glass doors. Because these fireplaces qualify as a furnace, they do have strict requirements for how close the mantel can be, so we ended up having our builder make our mantel, but we're very pleased with how it turned out. In our Master Bedroom we have a Fireplace Xtrordinair gas fireplace, but it's mostly for ambiance, so we made sure to get a model that we can adjust for a very low BTU. To avoid the "fake" look, we got a built-in screen, andirons, and a model with the most realistic fake logs and embers. It's also got a fun, optional light behind the logs that's surprisingly nice. Great for summer!

I'm a compulsive shopper. I way way way way way overthink any purchase of more than $100, and I live in terror of not getting the best deal possible. I have been known to waste $5 in gas to save $1 in groceries. So when, like many homeowners, I was caught last Winter with my pants down and heating oil $4/gallon, I started wishing I had something else. We don't have a good spot for a stove, which would have been my 1st choice, but we did have a wonderful masonary fireplace/air conditioner so we decided to go that route. So I started to do my homework to pick the "best" insert for my fireplace. I wanted ease of install, plain black w/ no frills, STEEL FIREBOX, the most glass. I narrowed it down to two: PE Summit and Lopi Freedom (I found the Regency dealer too late). After figuring the demensions and installation constraints I realized the Summit wasn't going to fit easily, and that I'd have to do som major demo to get it to fit. I wanted the biggest firebox I could get. I also wanted the option to completely flush mount the unit, and that was something the Lopi would allow me to do. I went with the Freedom,(not the bay I swear those things look so gawdy in the pictures). It was more when factored on a price/cubic ft of firebox but I really wanted the largest firebox I could get. Larger firebox=more heat right? Well, yes and no. You can get more heat but you may not want it. My insert is in a room about 300sqft, and at a perpetual 80 degrees. The rest of the main floor of the home fluctuates between 65 and 72, depending on how long I'm burning hot and how many fans I have blowing. I expected this. I think I could've easily gone with a smaller insert, because save for 1 overnight burn I'm tending the fire every 2 hours anyway, so I could just as easily toss in more wood at that time. Also, I did the survey/install myself. An experienced dealer may have known from experience whether a larger Regency (in hindsight my fist pic) or PE Summit would have fit, but I was hung up on flush-mounting the stove into the hearth. I love the stove. Its a quality/lifetime item. The large glass is great, and I don't miss the hearth at all. It stays clean with dry wood, and if I choke it down and it gets dirty I run it hot the next morning and it burns right off. I'm buring my own wood from my land. If you have to buy wood I'd suggest you get a pellet stove. This being said, to do it again I'd get the mid-size Regency or PE. Afte all the concern of wanting to flush-mount the insert (little ones) we mounted it forward, so we could have a stovetop. It was the right decision, and when the power went out for 7 days it was a really really good decision. I can't move all the heat this stove puts out, and the other ones are just as good and cheaper. The regency is close to the same insert, and the blower is standard on their unit. My friend has the mid-size Regency, and he saved $500 over what I paid, which is like getting free installation. DO NOT BOTHER WITH AN INSERT IF YOU DON'T GET THE BLOWER. Trust me, you'll be disappointed and you're wasting your money.

island - I don't miss those fireplace doors at all! :) We'll try and sell them on Craigs List but wonder if anyone will want them. LOL. Yes, we did replace the entire firebox. We purchased a Heat & Glo direct vent gas fireplace and had to pull out the old firebox and reframe for the direct vent unit. There are many styles of doors they offer, and the prices vary. We liked the fancy arched ones, but not for $999! We went with the Folio, clean face front which was no charge. Figured we would put the "savings" toward the flooring. We can always get a nice fireplace folding screen if we want. Check out the Heat & Glo website for more information. www.heatnglo.com. We went with the CLX 6000 model which comes with a remote, nice embers and log set, and a blower. Let me know if you have questions! tinan - Yes, the smell was awful! I wondered the same thing about the noxious coatings. Ugh! At least the smell is gone now. Enjoy your new furnace!

An interesting thread but also a frustrating one. Of course it follows that if all people know are traditional wood burning fireplaces and gas fireplaces, that debate will be restricted to these two options, omitting any mention of Finnish, German, Russian style Masonry Heaters. I don't like the way they look in a room (unless it is a basement or "play" room), it literally roasts me in the living room but doesn't heat the rest of the house, and I no longer want the work of dealing with wood. However, I love a real fire -- the sound, the smell, the look, the feel -- and have had to weigh the labor issue against that. . . . .. . I'm really looking for the best of all worlds. :) High efficiency (don't want to burn through the propane); convenience; aesthetically pleasing; comfort. Of course a wood stove is going to create those extremes, you're burning wood inside a metal box, heating up the metal to high temperature, that's going to create a drastic temperature swing. Look at this photo. http://mainewoodheat.com/cms/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/tigheheaterweb.jpg There is literally tons of mass there to soak up the heat of the fire and this heat is released into the home over a period of time, so no drastic roasting effect. These fireplaces are placed into the center of a room so that their heat can radiate into many rooms unlike fireplaces placed on outside walls so that the heat can be radiated to warm the outdoors. High efficiency, Check. These units burn at such a high temperature that there is little smoke and ash. Far higher efficiency than American style fireplaces and wood stoves. Convenience. Check. Can you bake bread or a pizza with your gas-fired unit? Probably not. Have a nice fire in one of these, more roaring than you see in a traditional unit, and then use the residual heat to make yourself a pizza snack. How more convenient can you get? Aesthetically pleasing. Check. You have a lot more latitude in design than you do with traditional fireplaces. The principal drawback is expense. You're putting tons of rocks into your house. Someone has to build that fireplace for you, it needs its own foundation support. Your house design has to be able to accommodate a central location for the fireplace instead of a peripheral add-on location. Off setting the expense is that with one, or two, firings a day, you can heat your house through the winter. Also, that feeling of laying on a warm beach or sun-warmed rock and letting the heat radiate into you body is quite nice to have in your own home, sitting on a built-in bench and letting the heat radiate deep into your muscles is a fantastic feeling after a work-out or coming in from the slopes.