inset or free standing stove

The living kitchen and dining are all open plan, so its a big enough area.

Had initially planned to put in an raised open fireplace into the corner of living room

Now having an standard opening which is 1ft (300mm) heigher than norm we have changed our mind and are going with a stove


Is a inset/insert stove good enough or shoud we have a freestanding stove (which will obviously require more space)

what about kids and safety options
space should not be a problem as you have open plan ..........

While the quality of insert stoves is getting better it is hard to beat a free standing stove with enough space to allow the air to circulate around it rising as it heats pulling more of the cooler air to circulate around the stove rising as it heats etc etc.