FirePlace Insert or Wood stove using FirePl Chimney?

[meanwhile]

Which is best? Using a wood stove hooked to a fire place chimney - lining the chimney with the stainless liner?

Or a Fire Place Insert? Which would have a stainless liner too but seems like they look a lot different from a wood stove?

I like a wood stove and I wanted to be able to cook on top of it. And, I like the look of my Fire Place and I did not want to cover it up all the way. A wood stove could sit out on the Hearth and just use the chimney?

What is best?? Brands to suggest?

[TheMartianChick]

I have an Avalon fireplace insert for many years now. Though we love it compared to a regular masonry fireplace, we don't get the same amount of heat that you would get from a wood stove. If you think about... a fireplace insert can only kick out heat through the exposed parts and with the (electric) blower. The rest of the heat is stifled by the brick of the fireplace that it was stuffed into.

For us, it means going through a lot more firewood than most folks with a wood stove. We don't really mind because it was a vast improvement over what we had and a wood stove wasn't really an option here. The cost of natural gas heating is through the roof because there is no competition. We do know that in our future home, we'd like to have an actual wood stove so that we can get utilize the heat that radiates off the sides and bottom of the unit.

By the way, there are some inserts that have a protruding lip that you can cook on. I remember seeing them when we were shopping for ours. I thought that they were kind of funny looking and (at the time) I wasn't really concerned about having an alternate way to cook.

[foxtrapper]

If you want to cook on it, you can't have it in the fireplace. Venting through the existing chimney isn't a problem, and is pretty commonly done. Only caviat is the chimney be in good shape and sized appropriately. Thimble it above the fireplace damper.