We are planning to build in 2022; the planning begins

If you only want it for looks, just get one of those ethanol stoves. Or my evergreen recommendation: Netflix 4k fire. Surely available on YouTube too. At least you won’t die of overheating.

And then wonderfully on an 85-inch with surround sound system.

Actually, a YouTube video or something like that would have been enough for me. But now we already have the fireplace for 10k, so this solution no longer makes sense. Just another 10k for crackling and flickering is something else compared to an additional 2-3k for crackling and flickering. You can also justify the 13k with a touch of independence in case the power supply fails… You can't do that with Netflix…

A YouTube video or something like that would have actually been enough for me. But now we already have the fireplace for 10k, so this solution no longer makes sense. Just another 10k for crackling and flickering is something different than an additional 2-3k for crackling and flickering. The 13k can also be sugar-coated with a touch of independence in case the power supply should fail... That doesn't work with Netflix...

The placebo effect says otherwise. If you really convince yourself, it could get warmer through Netflix too.

Placebo effect says something different. If you really convince yourself, it could get warmer through Netflix too

I follow the fireplace discussion rather amusedly, I do like it, but it wouldn't be worth the effort for me and probably after 2 years it would hardly be used anymore because nobody feels like making firewood, fetching wood, cleaning the fireplace. And either I have a "cheap" one that gives full power, then it gets too hot anyway, or an expensive one that "stores" and releases heat little by little. That would be too expensive for my personal taste.

But to stay in the placebo wordplay, no, strictly speaking that is not correct , placebo would be you sitting in front of a Netflix fireplace and not knowing it's a TV, but thinking it's a real fireplace and therefore feeling warm.

Your approach is more like homeopathy (Yes, that is not quite accurate either :P)

There are also Swedish stoves that really look stylish. We only wanted a fireplace for the eye and the feeling of warmth - not for energy reasons. At the time, we received an offer of 13k+ built-in fireplace, but that was too expensive for us. In the end, we managed to get a Swedish stove bargain for under 1000€ and the thing is really wonderful. As with almost all cheap fireplaces, you have to be careful not to put on too much wood, so that you don’t get steamed in the living room even at the lowest air supply setting, but you still have to put on enough so that the wood burns properly and cleanly. You get a feel for it after lighting a few times, but at the beginning it’s a bit tricky. In my opinion, for the eye and the nice fireplace feeling in winter, these things are no less suitable than a 10k+ built-in fireplace if you know how much wood to put on.

Are you really sure about the fireplaces? The small fireplaces often exceed the heating needs of an entire house. And the place is in one room. Sitting sweating in your underwear by the window in winter at 40 degrees, I somehow don't imagine that to be very cozy. I also know people who complain about the thing and now no longer turn it on.