Guide · Choosing
Wood burning, multi-fuel or electric: which fire is right for you?
Choose a woodburner for real flame and serious heat, multi-fuel if you want smokeless fuel in reserve, and electric where a flue is impossible or you want the look with zero upkeep. The honest test: if the fire is your heat, burn wood; if the fire is your focal point, electric may be all you need.
Updated 11 July 2026
What each one actually is
A wood burning stove burns logs in a firebox designed purely for wood, which is why it burns them so cleanly. A multi-fuel stove adds a grate and ash pan so it can also burn approved smokeless fuels. An electric fire is an LED flame picture with a heater attached, no flue, no fuel, no combustion at all.
That last difference drives everything else: the woodburners are heating appliances that need a flue and an annual service; the electric fire is an electrical appliance that needs a socket.
Heat, honestly compared
A stove is real heating: 4 to 9kW into the room, warmth that survives a power cut, and an economy that improves if you have access to good wood. An electric fire warms rather than heats, typically 1.5 to 2kW, the same as a plug-in heater, because that is what the heater half of it is.
So the sizing question flips: stoves are chosen to match the room so they do not overpower it; electric fires are chosen by wall size and looks, with the heat as a bonus.
Installation and upkeep, honestly compared
The stove needs a flue, a hearth and certification, which is real building work: typically £1,800 to £4,500 depending on the chimney, then a yearly sweep and service. The electric fire needs a recess and a fused spur: a media wall build at most, an afternoon at least, then effectively zero maintenance.
Multi-fuel sits with wood on installation and adds one habit: emptying the ash pan, and riddling the grate when burning smokeless fuel.
Which homes suit which fire
Woodburner: you have a chimney or a good flue route, you like the ritual, and you want heat that means it. Multi-fuel: the same, plus a rural or off-grid situation where smokeless fuel in reserve makes sense. Electric: flats and homes where a flue is impractical, chimney breasts in bedrooms and second rooms, media walls in modern family rooms, and holiday lets where zero-maintenance matters.
Plenty of homes sensibly run both: a woodburner in the sitting room and an electric fire upstairs. We quote whichever combination the house asks for.
Common questions
Is an electric fire cheaper to run than a wood burner?
It depends on your electricity rate and your wood source. Electric heat is metered at your unit rate; wood heat depends entirely on what you pay for logs, and can beat it comfortably if you have cheap or free seasoned wood. The flame-only mode on an electric fire costs pennies.
Can I burn coal on a multi-fuel stove?
Traditional house coal is no longer the fuel for modern stoves; multi-fuel means approved smokeless fuels such as anthracite alongside your logs. We explain the approved options at handover.
Do electric fires look convincing now?
The good ones, genuinely yes. The British Fires ranges we fit use hand-finished log beds cast from real timber, and in a finished media wall most guests take them for real. The cheap ones look cheap, which is why we fit the good ones.
I have no chimney. Does that decide it for me?
No. A twin-wall insulated flue gives you a real woodburner with no chimney at all, from around £3,500 for the system. It becomes a genuine choice between real flame with building work and electric with almost none, and we quote both.
Which is best for a holiday let?
Electric wins on practicality: nothing to sweep, nothing for guests to get wrong, no fuel to manage. But a real woodburner photographs better and books cottages, so coastal owners often accept the servicing rhythm. We fit both ways and will be straight about the trade.
Thinking about a stove?
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