We have always wanted a fireplace for the living room, but the house is old and we could not retrofit a wood burning or gas fireplace without an extreme amount of expense. I looked into these fireplaces just to get a little flame and a "centerpiece" in the living room.
The Good:
This was dead simple to install and it is portable - so I can take it with me if wanted. We ended up putting this on the floor on a slab of granite and it looks great. Could easily build this into a larger fireplace if we wanted, but not necessary. We have a TV mounted right above it and bookcases to the left and right - no issues with heat or anything. Gets a good flame going and looks wonderful.
More good - there is real heat coming out of this fireplace; however, do NOT believe the square footages they give you. We have about a 14x18 living room and this maybe raises the temp a degree or two for that room only.
The Bad:
The fuel is expensive and goes QUICK. A bottle might last about an hour or two if you are lucky. The tray only takes 2 bottles - so this is not an all day kind of fire; only a little at a time. I guess bigger models might take more, smaller less fuel.
More bad - there is definitely a little bit of a smell. It gets better the more you use it, but the first few times it can almost knock you out. Smelled kinda fishy for the first 4 or 5 times. That may be the metal coating burning off; not sure.
More bad - if you keep the tray fully open, the flame gets REALLY big; big enough to come out of the box and it will almost certainly set off your smoke alarm. Ours is 2 rooms away and at full blast this always sets it off. I have found that keeping the tray cover half-open works best - keeps the flame lower, plenty big, no smoke alarm and the fuel lasts a little longer.
Conclusion:
This was the best we could get if we wanted real fire in our living room. Looks-wise it is great, and eventually it isn't so smelly. Fuel is NOT cheap so this ends up being an occasional nice thing for special days. I will say that the company was very helpful - they delivered nicely, and the product works as advertised. For much, much less than trying to get a "real" fireplace this gave us something better to look at than a blank wall!
