I am currently building a new addition to my house and need a premanufactured fireplace. I can either go with woodburning or gas, but my biggest requirement is that the fireplace looks authentic..

I have looked at the Heatilator Icon Series, but was not impressed. The "firebrick" looked cheap and very fake.

Like I said, this fireplace is for ambience, not heating. Certainly if there was a direct vent model that looks authentic, I would consider it. But at this point, it looks like my best bet is to go with a premanufactured woodburning fireplace.

So which one is the most authentic looking?

Thanks.

I am most familiar with the Lennox brand. Here's my take:

Woodburning:
LA41- True masonry look with no exposed metal or grilles and has tradional and and herringbone brick options.
Estate 48 and Colonial 36 - Clean face design ( no grilles) large fireboxes with limited. Both have 29" tall glass door openings.

Direct Vent Gas:
Montebello 40 and 45. No grilles and four fiber brick options. Great looking but is rated at 60K BTU's. You'll get heat from it. The 45 has 34" tall glass opening. Very nice!

B-Vent Gas:
LBV43 and LBV38. Both have tradional or herringbone refractory, clean face (no grilles)and operable glass doors like the above mentioned wood burning units. Good for bedroom applications where the heat from a direct vent can be over powering.

In your case, if local codes allow you to install a wood burning unit and you don't want the "radiator look" that most EPA clean burning units give you then I'd go with one of the wood burners mentioned above. If you go that route, you can always add a gas log set to them. If you choose a direct vent or B-vent gas only unit then your stuck burning gas with no wood burning option.

Here is the lennox website. www.lennoxhearthproducts.com. Once there, you can download the spec's and other important information.

Thanks for taking the time to give me such valuable information.

I took a look at the Lennox website, and the options look good. Of course, I will have to go and check them out in person.

I do like the Montebello direct vent aesthetically. I also like the idea of producing heat with it. However, your point is well taken concerning the possibility of throwing off too much heat in a bedroom.

A question regarding this - in cases where I don't want as much heat, could I simply run it with the glass doors open?

Thanks again.

My contractor has recommended to me a pre-built masonry fireplace from a company in Arizona. Supposedly, it is the next best thing to a masonry fireplace as far as authenticity goes. It can be used for either woodburning or gas logs.

I think this could be good. Combine this with the Eiklor logs could be a real winner.

I don't know the cost yet, but it is supposed to be way cheaper than an onsite built masonry fireplace.

But can someone please deescribe what would be 'authentic-looking' and what would not? I can see how an electric fire's flame is not generally authentic-looking, but wouldn't a gas flame's authenticity be more about the logs than the fireplace? Or am I missing something totally?

When I started this thread, my question was about the fireplace itself, not the flame. I really want the fireplace to look as much like a masonry fireplace as possible. In general, I find that the pre-manufactured fireplaces (you know, the ones that are made out of sheet metal and have the fake brick panels) look horrible. So, I was asking if someone knew of a pre-ma ufactured fireplace that looked as close to a real mansonry fireplace as possible.

Hope that helps.