How does it get warm? Heat pump or pellets?

Hello everyone,
after searching for a while among various prefabricated house providers using timber frame construction, we have now ended up with an architect who is planning our house with solid construction.
He is currently drawing and will have two proposals for us at the beginning of the new year – one with, one without a basement.
In the meantime, I wanted to start researching the heating topic and would appreciate your advice.

Most people I know have recently either chosen a heat pump or installed a gas tank in the garden. We don’t find the latter idea very appealing, so gas is out for us (also due to a lack of sustainability).

Heat pumps seem to work well, but somehow I thought that heating with electricity hasn’t exactly proven itself (I’m still thinking of grandma’s little house with night storage heaters...). If I understand correctly, it’s currently hardly financially worthwhile to operate the heat pump with solar panels.

I like the idea of pellets. I’m aware that they require extra storage space; if we have a basement, that probably won’t be a problem.

But otherwise?
Can anyone share any personal experiences?

Oh yes: We are building a house with two full floors, it will probably be around 200 m2.

We are planning a fireplace for the living/dining room.

I look forward to hearing from you!

The acquisition costs for a pellet heating system are already significantly higher than for a heat pump (factor 1.3??). More space is also required, for example for the bunker. For 200 sqm, the pellet heating system would be more worthwhile than for smaller houses. Since you are planning with a fireplace, I would opt for a heat pump and invest more in the fireplace. The house will also be warm with a heat pump. And if well planned, it will not consume that much electricity.

You can't go wrong with either. A heat pump requires good advance planning and some self-optimization. Pellets run more smoothly.

With a heat pump, definitely move the wood stove as planned. Without it, it's really bad because you can't respond to personal heat needs anymore. Without a wood stove, we would often be pretty annoyed :)

To my knowledge, it is also possible to design the pellet stove as a fireplace and integrate it into the heating system. That is how I would do it if I decided to go with pellets. Unfortunately, we lack the space for storing the pellets.

We have a pellet heating system (built in 2018, kfw55, 350 sqm), I can only recommend it! Additionally, a wood stove in the living room for when it should be cozy.

Thank you for all your feedback! Today I spoke with someone who has been a satisfied pellet heater user for over 10 years. However, I heard there that this type of heating takes quite a bit of work. Every three weeks they completely turn off the heating and have to dispose of the ash. Does this apply to all pellet heaters?