Gas, Wood or Electric: Which Indoor Fireplace Suits Your Living Room

Picking a fireplace is one of those decisions that shapes how a room feels for years to come, not just how it looks in the brochure. Gas, wood and electric each bring something different to the table, and the right call comes down to your home, your lifestyle and how hands-on you want to be with the upkeep.

Do you want the instant convenience of a switch-on flame, the deep crackling warmth of a real wood fire, or the flexibility of an electric unit that fits almost anywhere?

At Jetmaster Heat & Glo, we’ve spent over 45 years helping Australian homeowners choose the right indoor fireplace. Below,  we’ve put together a straightforward breakdown of what each option offers, where it shines and what it asks of you in return.

Choosing the Right Fireplace Starts with How You Live

A fireplace fits your lifestyle, not the other way around. The layout of your home, what can be installed, how often you would be in your home to enjoy the fireplace, all help determine what kind of fireplace will suit you. If you’re an inner-city apartment dweller, then a gas or electric would be what suits. If you have an older home in the suburbs, then a wood-fired vibe could work for you.

Before we get into detail, here’s a quick look at the three kinds of fireplace options you could have:

Wood-Burning Fireplaces

• Best for: Traditional homes and people who love the smell and sound of real wood.
• Pros: Gives off the most natural heat; creates a classic cabin feel.
• Cons: Needs a dedicated chimney; requires chopping and storing wood; messy ash cleanup.

Gas Fireplaces

• Best for: Busy families who want quick heat with no mess.
• Pros: Turns on with a switch or remote or through wifi and an app on your phone; looks very real; heats a room fast.
• Cons: Needs a gas line and a vent or chimney; professional setup is required.

Electric Fireplaces

• Best for: Apartments, renters, or rooms with no chimney.
• Pros: Plugs into a normal wall outlet; safe to touch; can run with or without heat.
• Cons: Does not heat a large space as well; flame look is fake.

Wood Fireplaces: Classic Warmth and Atmosphere

A wood fire is a classic mood setter. The sound of crackling wood, the smell of wood smoke, and it’s a traditional focal point of any room. Indoor wood fireplaces suit large living spaces well, but they need an active chimney and a ready supply of fuel to keep burning.

Wood burning fires have a high heat output and can warm a room quite quickly. However, that space can be quite small without some assistance. Cracking a window somewhere else in the house so cold air is sucked out, promoting the warmer air to circulate through the house, is a good idea.

One great advantage of a wood fireplace is that you can have a roaring fire even when the power is out. Imagine a storm blowing outside and the lights go out, you can still sit in front of your fire for warmth, and some cozy mood lighting.

The fuel for your fireplace is also renewable. You can always grow more trees for wood.

Gas Fireplaces: Convenience Without Compromise

A gas fireplace gives you quick, almost instant heat with effortless operation. It is a popular choice for modern homes. You can dial up the heat if you want, and you can have a realistic looking flame at the push of a button, without the ash and smoke that comes from burning wood.

Modern gas fireplaces have remotes, even app controls on your mobile phone, for absolute convenience. This allows for temperature control and setting the heater up before you even come home.

Gas fireplaces are clean. With a wood-burning fireplace you need to clean ash from around the hearth, and clean the chimney regularly. Gas fireplaces pull air from outside and vent exhaust safely back outside.

Gas fireplaces are also very stylish. There is virtually a look that can match any interior design style you have, and you can get double-sided fireplaces so more people can gather around and enjoy the warmth, a real feature in a living space.

Our gas fireplace range covers Richmond, Lilydale and Bendigo, with styles to match any interior.

Electric Fireplaces: Style, Flexibility and Easy Installation

Modern electric fireplaces offer very flexible installation options. A simple plug into the wall and you’re ready to heat a room, without needing a chimney or a gas line. They are fully adjustable for the level of heat, can have a realistic looking flame effect, and some models can even have glass that is cool to the touch, for a very safe environment.

Stylistically you can have an electric heater as a wall-mounted unit. This can save valuable floorspace if you’re living in a small, inner-city apartment. Or you can have free-standing units, often with a classic cast-iron look that is easy to move, giving you the ability to warm sections when you want.

There is no venting required, so no chimneys, flues or gas pipes. The convenience of ‘plug-and-play’ is amazing. Any standard wall socket in the living area can power your electric heater, no special installation needed there.

Comparing Heat Output, Running Costs and Maintenance

Let’s look at the three heating options at a glance.

	Electric	Gas	Wood
Heat Output	Low to moderate. Best for small rooms or single-zone heating.	High heat output. Warms up large spaces quickly.	Very high heat output. Open designs lose warmth up the chimney.
Running Costs	Cheapest per hour to run on standard tariffs.	Moderate to high running costs depending on gas from the street or bottled gas.	Depends on the price of wood. Seasoned wood bundles are more expensive than a cheap source of firewood
Maintenance	Pretty much zero maintenance. Clean, now and then.	Low maintenance. A yearly check by a licensed professional.	High maintenance. Ash removal, soot clean up, log stacking, yearly chimney sweeps and more.

Double-Sided and Statement Fireplaces for Open-Plan Living

An option you might consider is a double-sided wood fireplace, a real statement in open-plan living situations. They can divide up a space with warmth and visibility. Alternatively, set into a wall, they can connect two disparate living areas through the one, iconic, centrepiece.

Why Choose a Double-Sided Fireplace

• Zoning without walls: Define separate functional spaces while maintaining open sightlines.
• Dual impact: Enjoy the flickering flames and heat from two rooms at the same time.
• Architectural flow: Act as a central transparent pillar or partial partition in modern layouts.

Popular Fuel Choices

• Gas: Clean-burning, highly controllable via remote or switch, ideal for sleek lowline joinery.
• Wood: Offers traditional crackle, high heat output, and heavy thermal mass via refractory bricks.
• Electric: Highly flexible, great for media walls or spaces where a flue is not structurally possible. Double-sided electric fireplaces are not too common. We would use two single-sided units together to give this effect. It adds great depth to a living space.

Making the Right Choice for Your Space

There’s no single best fireplace, only the best fit for your home and how you live in it. Wood gives you that unbeatable crackle and independence from the power grid, gas offers convenience without the mess, and electric gives you flame and warmth in almost any room with the simplest installation of the three.

Your home type plays a big part in narrowing things down. Apartments generally do best with gas or electric, since neither needs a chimney and both work within the constraints of shared walls. If you’re planning a new build, wood and gas fireplaces fit naturally into the design, with direct vent systems built straight into the walls and roof from the start. And if you’re renovating an existing space, electric is the easiest option to add in without cutting into your roofline. An electric insert can even slide into an old brick fireplace for an instant refresh.

Whatever direction you’re leaning, our team at Jetmaster Heat & Glo can talk you through the details, from heat output and running costs to which style will suit your space best. Get in touch or visit our Richmond showroom to see the range in person.