going from wood burning fireplace to zero clearance??

[Gwar]

hi I'm new to the forum and was hoping to get some advice...I have a relatively small home ~1200 square feet (one level), the room the fireplace is in is approximately 400-500 square feet. The plan is to box in the fireplace with cement board and steel studs and stone the surface up to the ceiling and have a mantel....great...but

Most fireplace people i have talked to have recommended putting in a gas insert. which i understand with the chimney which is the easier approach...

however...the zero clearance have a nicer (bigger) viewing area...but take up more room (having to be built out of wall much more (18+ inches)...and the venting would not likely use the chimney but some other point..either threw side of the chimney or wall or roof...

So....has anyone done this or it more work than its worth...and just put in a insert..

also...the primary objective is for this to have a really nice flame and a center piece of the room...if i have an insert...and the flame is up and the fireplace looks great...am i likely going to have the windows open on account of it heating the house so well...to the point where its never really on for any length of time...

as awful as this sounds is there a more inefficient way to do it so i can have a beautiful fireplace running that doesn't cook me out of the house...i know there is the log set route...but i was hoping there was another option...I read somewhere that town and country fireplaces have this and create a beautiful fireplace without being a blast furnace.

I've attached a picture...

 

[DAKSY]

I've done it - for customers. It's gonna cost ya. The easiest way to do this type of install
is to get a DV fireplace that is approved for use with co-linear venting kit. Not too many are.
Regency comes to mind, but their venting criteria may have changed over the years.
One other thing to investigate is the availability of a gas fireplace with a heat dump.
The older (10+ years) H&G 6000TRX-I series had this feature. It would allow for full flame
viewing without blowing you out of the room on warmer days.
HTH