I would look at the Valor fireplaces. Not only are the costs lower, but it is probably the only fireplace made that has a continuously variable flame all the way from a flicker to a ranging inferno, All Done by remote control.
You can even set the remote to keep the room at a certain temp as it will adjust the flame up/down as needed.
We bought one 3 years ago, and it heats the entire first floor of our 2650 sqft home. I would recommend you get the optional fan kit too.
You don't say what part of Calif you are in, We are close to Disneyland and we bought our fireplace and had it installed by "Red Hot Fireplaces" of Orange Calif.
They charged $600 to install it, in a custom entertainment center that I had designed for the fireplace and the 52 inch LCD TV.
We luv the fireplace.

Gary

Gary,

Thanks for the great tip! I probably should have made clear that I am a transplanted CA girl, living in the snowy upper Midwest.

We really thought we were looking for a decorative fireplace, not a room heater, since this is a for a master bedroom suite, but now that we've been visiting dealers, we loved that Valor Ventana! We may end up going with it because we liked it so much and think it could actually allow us to only heat our own bedroom and bath in the evenings when we become empty nesters in 2.5 years.

I've also found the T&C retail pricelist from last fall and can see that our local shop bid is for higher than the Fall 2009 MSRP on every item. Now we really don't feel like buying anything from that shop. Struck by zip coding once again, it seems.

We would still love to hear from other owners of louverless, clean face fireplaces. Anybody else?

Frozen californiagirl