What is most important to you when you think about your new fireplace?

Playing with fire: crackling wood in the fireplace is a very special winter joy - behind glass you have even more of it. A relaxed approach to a hot topic.

Arent & Pyke elegantly capture the machine look of the fireplace cassette in a Sydney penthouse - with curved hood, travertine base and shimmering carpet (by Minotti). Felix Forest

It's the same every year: The days get shorter, the evenings darker and colder - and promptly an inner longing software played up ages ago switches from chilling by the lake to snuggling in front of the fireplace. The warming embers, the shared gaze into the flames: An open fire is an archaic promise of security. But nowadays it's not so easy to keep it. Anyone who wants a wood-burning fireplace in these times of immission control laws, fireplace and energy-saving regulations has to consider - and rightly so - a number of things.

Historic fireplace masks do not always get along with modern glass inserts. Original alternative: the mask becomes the frame for a fireplace. Wallpaper and wall paints from Little Greene.

"The first question is: What is most important to you when you think about your new fireplace?" says Christian Buchfellner, stove builder and owner of Chiemsee Stoves in Raubling, Upper Bavaria. Do you just want to look comfortably into the fire or do you also want to heat with the fireplace, i.e. should it store heat? If the latter is the case, a classic open fireplace is out of the question. This is because its efficiency is low and it is considered a purely "decorative fireplace". As such, it is not subject to any tests with regard to pollutant emissions, but it may only be operated occasionally. How often varies from region to region and is determined by the local chimney sweep. In addition, the supply of fresh air is not guaranteed in some new and retrofitted buildings; a problem that is exacerbated by the fume hood or a ventilation system, but can usually be remedied with the help of minor modifications. And last but not least, a crackling fireplace may calm the nerves, but the ecological conscience is sometimes less so, because the valuable resource wood is burned relatively inefficiently, releasing carbon dioxide and occasionally methane. Particularly in the case of improper selection or storage of the wood, fine dust can also get inside and outside.

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