Fireplaces are a touch to any home and can be of various uses. If it’s nighttime and cold, you may have a fire and huddle around it for warmth. If it’s warm outside, you can sit around an outdoor fireplace or fire pit and roast marshmallows. Either way, having a fireplace is an in demand amenity that can liven up your home.  For the purpose of this blog post, we are going to focus on the differences between indoor gas, wood, and electric fireplaces.

Wood Fireplaces
Wood fireplaces are charming and traditional. It’s the oldest option for fireplaces and is typically what people think of when it comes to fireplaces. A wood-burning fireplace has the appeal look, sound, and smell that the other options don’t have. However, they are also more maintenance. The pros and cons are listed below.

Pros

• Excellent ambiance
• It provides heat and light should electricity go out
• You can choose what type of fire is burned

Cons

• Can be quite expensive to install
• High maintenance (you need to buy and/or chop your own wood)
• Can spit out burning embers – (screens are encouraged for safety reasons)
• May lose more heat than what they produce

Gas Fireplaces
Gas fireplaces are becoming increasingly more popular in recent years.  This option doesn’t contain a lot of maintenance compared to wood fireplaces. They are an excellent choice for those that live more fast paced lives, as it’s quick to start up a fire (just a touch of a button!)  

Pros

• You can almost instantly start a fire
• Maintenance is minimal
• You can use your gas fireplace to keep warm even if the electricity goes out
• They don’t require chimneys
• The flame is behind glass

Cons

• Installing gas fireplaces can be expensive
• Ceramic logs are generally used and the ambiance, sound, and look isn’t as good as with a wood fireplace

Electric Fireplaces
Electric fireplaces emerged as a result of our world becoming more digitalized. An electric fireplace is an image of a fire being displayed. It’s the safest option, but while it still gives off heat, it’s the only option that shows a fake fire.

Pros

• The least expensive of the three
• Easy to install and use (just plug it in!)
• Portable
• Ideal for tight spaces

Cons

• The fire isn’t real
• They won’t work during a power outage
• Style options are limited
• Essentially a space heater with slightly more ambiance

Having a fireplace is a great amenity to have that adds style to any home. Each style – wood, gas, or electric – has pros and cons depending upon what you are exactly looking for. This amenity is great to have on cool nights and can provide more value to your home.