A gas fireplace...or a wood burning fireplace...what is your choice??

I live in Michigan too. I would want a wood burning one because now you are heating your room for free. It's weird. Our house has a chimney but no fireplace.

I have to go for the wood burning my self. My folks have a gas fire place and it is just missing something. I think it might be the smell and that glow that the embers give that ceramic logs just don't put off.
Though it is nice not to have to chop wood or clean up the ashes, then again it's good exercise and the ashes make great fertilizer...lol

I was raised in MI and lived in the mountains out west! I've both, it's really a matter of choice, the gas fireplaces are usually in efficient and don't throw out a lot of heat, once it's there you have what you have so if it's really really cold your screwd! The natural wood stoves are the best, but a fireplace is good also if it has a good damper! The smell gets old and in to everything but people get used to it! I got lots of free firewood but it is a chore all winter long! tdemex

i grew up with wood burning fireplace and wood stoves and i had a gas fireplace where i lived once and the gas is so much better it is not any work to that and lot cleaner.

I like gas because it is fast, efficient and cleaner. However, I miss the snap, crackle and pop of the wood burning fireplace as well. Firewood is fairly expensive here and a lot of work, but I still like the heat they throw off compared to their gas counterparts.

It is a tough decision to make, but really depends on where you live, extreme temperatures, cost of wood/gas, and how lazy you are

hi bookreadermom08 I love a real wood burning fireplace as the
odor of burning wood is so great and the room gets all warm
and comfy. we had a house with a real wood burning fireplace and'we really enjoyed it. back in Tempe Arizona we had only a gas one as they had strict rules about what you could burn in your'fireplace and what you could not. a lot of redtape. you could not just burn ordinary wood. so when we came to Ca we had a real fireplace that burned real wood.

We currently have a gas fireplace but I grew up with a wood fireplace. I actually perfer the wood stove ovr gas. I find it heats the house better and stays warmer. But the wood stove is more dangerous and a lot more bylaws to follow in the long run it costs more. Whereas the gas stove cost less but it takes longer to heat up especially when its - 50C.

Well, I would prefer the wood one, because I've heard creepy story about gas fireplace. I know the wood might be more complicated to be set up, but I somehow will go for it. My friend told me about another friend of his, that dealing with gas is full of unexpectation, such as (basically) the leak of gas. And I must admit that it is pretty dangerous, but however that story can happen in real life wherever it is. And also, the price of the gas is not very very cheap, although it is relatively cheap. But if we can get the cheaper one, why not?=)

I personally prefer wood, but I think it depends on one's priorities. Wood warms a house better and smells good and I think it looks better. It's cheaper if you have wood on your property or can get a good price for it, but it can be as expensive as gas if you have to buy every stick you put in it. Gas doesn't take any work to get it going or to adjust the heat. Really, that's about all the difference I can think of.

I think that burning logs on a fire, this is very attractive to look at and it's quite romantic too I think! I visited the Lake District once on holiday and I remember renting a wooden cabin for the week up there. Anyway, it had a huge log fire and it was wonderful and it kept the place so warm. I did travel at the height of winter then so it was very cold. I don't know how to explain it but there's something very nice about having a wood fire, it has strong relations to the countryside and I would choose the countryside over the city anytime! I'm thinking that a gas fire could prove to be very expensive. I don't like the idea of a gas fire at all. Andrew