Stove into a cast iron fireplace?

[mro]

I'm looking for advice about putting in a multifuel stove into our house. At the moment we have a gas fire in a cast iron fireplace. It is practically useless when it gets any bit cold. So before the winter sets in we want to get something that give us more heat. I could easily go back to an open fire but obviously that isnt the most energy efficient.

We have a old inner city 2 up 2 down terrace house. The plan is to put the stove into the main living room which is open plan with the small front room, kitchen and stairs up to a tiny landing. So it is a bigish area.

Is there any way we can put in a stove and keep the cast irion fireplace as that would be the least work (i think) . Is this worth doing? Otherwise the options are as far as i can see are
* inset (which we dont particularily like the look of )
* Multifuel stove which might require knocking out the fire place to make a big enough space.

So the first question is, Can we put a stove in front of the already existing cast iron fireplace (will it look ridiculous?)
If not are the only other options what i outlined above, Inset or fully exposed stove (the one that isnt hidden in the wall and radiates heat(sorry sure there is a name for this type but dont know it))

Thanks for your help
mro

 

[Peter C]

You need the hearth to extend 250mm passed the front of the stove so if you fit the stove on the existing hearth you will need another hearth in front of it for safety reasons and to comply with the building regs. Take care with the inset stoves they are ok in new builds where they are designed in but not easy or cheap to install in an existing fire ope. Inner City is a smokeless zone so you need to choose any stove very carefully, cheaper ones ar ok if you can get dried logs but if using coal the grate must be able to withstand the high temperatures of smokeless coal. Installing can cost more than the stove especially in older houses as you may need to get the chimney lined.