Winter is coming: Is it time to invest in a stove for your space

1. COLOURFUL ECO BOILER

A stove is a smart heating investment but fashionable homes want more colour and texture than the traditional Henry Ford offer of any colour as long as it's black. Pictured is the Stratford EB12, an eco boiler wood-burning stove from Arada, that offers a choice of colours as well as a larger glass-fronted door, a glass panel of 49.5cm by 35.5cm, that lets you watch the flames on a cold winter's night. It comes in seven powder-coated steel options; standard black and also sand, red, Atlantic blue, pictured, chocolate brown, slate and pale grey and costs from €1,695, ex fitting from O'Dowd's Fireplaces in Carrick-on-Shannon. For about another €150 there is wider choice of colour options available and you can see swatches of the steel in store to get a better idea of the shade it be. You can run up to 12 radiators off the boiler. If buying a stove it should be fitted by professionals who will first conduct a chimney survey to determine what kind works best in your home. This is a cost factored into its installation and will prevent potentially fatal C02 emissions. aradastoves.com; odowdscarrick.com

2. SANDSTONE SIDES AND TOP

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Maestro 75XTU eco-Wave from Dru

With stone and marble materials being used on floors, walls, kitchen counters and throughout bathrooms it makes sense that stove manufacturers start to think more about the way stone conducts heats and ways to incorporate it into their design. The Contura 5205 is a wood-burning stove with sandstone sides and a top to radiate heat back out into the room. Its warm veined tones also work with contemporary interiors and the model is available with a cast iron door in either black or grey. Its large glass area frames the roaring fire within. You can also add accessories such as a turntable and hotplate. It costs €3,518, from Fenton Fires, ex fitting and delivery. contura.eu; fentonfires.ie

3. DOUBLE BURN MECHANISM

Boru Stoves manufacture 30 different solid fuel stove types at its state-of-the-art factory in Thurles, Co. Tipperary and has designed a double burn mechanism into its stoves to dissolve the nitrous oxide emissions within the box, before it is emitted into the atmosphere. This changes the look of the flames within, explains its MD Dermot Fitzgerald who likens it to almost Holy Spirit-like secondary flame that will be visible atop the main body of the fire. "The scientific process maintains combustion in the firebox while slowing down the gas going up the chimney. We then use super pre-heated air, which is sent into the fire chamber, air so hot it re-ignites the gas which would otherwise be sent into the atmosphere thus reducing the particle matter (PM) emitted. PM gases are reduced between 50 and 80 per cent. These new designs are in line with the Ecodesign directives coming into law in 2022." Pictured is the 400e the first in the family of the E range stoves and is on sale now with an recommended retail price of €1,050, ex fitting. borustoves.com

4. INTEGRATED BENCH

This Shaker-style Skantherm stove, pictured in a really smartly decorated home by London-based Tollgard, run by husband and wife team Staffan and Monique Tollgard, a London-based firm that won an International Design & Architecture Award this year for a Danish summer house. This property is in Beaconsfield, England and the stove is notable because of its unorthodox shape and the fact that it comes with an integrated bench. Designed by Antonio Citterio with Toan Nguyen it allows people to congregate around the fire, just as we've done since the beginning of time. The bench size pictured, 184cm long, works really well in an open plan setting and offers additional seating to guests. You could also consider tiling the flue wall to help radiate heat back into the room. It will also add decorative texture and colour. You can order the stove through Tollgard. Tollgard.com; skantherm.de;

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5. PERIOD FIREPLACE

Offering traditional proportions in a more compact profile, the Morsø 3112 suits a range of properties but really works with a statement period fireplace. Equipped with riddling grate and ash pan, removing ash and cleaning the stove is simple and convenient to achieve. The 3112, popularly known as the "Badger", has a firebox that can burn not only wood, but also briquettes and a variety of smokeless fuels. Perfect for those that don't want to be limited to just wood. Designed with the latest combustion principles, it exceeds the most stringent environmental requirements with minimum smoke emissions and has the capacity to heat a space that is up to 75sq metres in size – very large open plan. It costs from €985 at TJ O'Mahony and the HPC Group and comes in a gunmetal grey rather than jet black. Hpc-group.ie; tjomahony.ie; morsoe.com/en/

6. STYLISH OPTION

If you have gas heating then the Stanley Argon I500 is a stylish option. The clear glass-fronted design is just over one metre long and has a neat depth of just over 32cm that lets you view the flames from three sides so it works really well in a long, rectangular room as pictured or in a broken plan set-up. It has an eco flame option that allows you increase the flame without increased consumption and has a recommended retail price of €3,599. waterfordstanley.com

7. PANELLING THE WALL

The rooms showing comfortable linen-clad sofas by The White Company housed within pale timber-lined walls that open up the room thanks to the vertical lines of the tongue and groove panelling and the vaulted ceiling. If installing a stove you could steal this style by panelling the wall the stove will be on in a porcelain timber-look tile and it will radiate heat back into the room. Right Price Tiles, Tilestyle, the Italian Tile & Stone Studio and Tilemerchant are amongst the firms that sell variations on this theme. thewhitecompany.com

8 . ROOM DIVIDER

If you do all your living in an open plan space and your heating is gas then this Maestro 75XTU eco-Wave from Dru can be used to act as a room divider to create a more zoned areas within it, broken-plan as it is known. With fire views from three sides of the brutalist design it will allow family members to soak up its atmosphere without all being in each other’s space. You can also operate it from a smartphone or tablet so the home fire can be burning as you turn the key or fob in the door. It costs from €5,763, ex fitting from Barry’s Fireplaces.

[ balrathdesigns.ie ]