My husband and I have (finally) found our soon to be first home. Our only disappointment is there is no fireplace. We have a wood burning fireplace in our townhome now, and LOVE it. We would very much like to stick with a wood burning.

I have read a lot of bad things about wood burning fireplaces. While we like the natural heat (though I think our pets do more haha) - we do not really use it for that. We love the sound and smell of the fire, so gas wouldn't really replicate that.

I suppose it boils down to - are wood burning really that bad? I read about pre-fab fireplaces not being good for big constant fires, is a masonry fireplace the only one good for that (I read those cost a small fortune to have installed/built)?

While we love fireplaces, we don't want to burn our house down (using a fire too long/big etc. in a prefab).. We probably would just go with electric if the wood burning are that bad, gas just seems a small waste of money if you aren't using it for heat, because you don't get the effect you do with a wood fire :(.

Sorry if I sound a bit discombobulated, have been trying to research this for a week and have only managed to get information overload ;). Thanks in advance for any help/advice!!!