Hearth building for noobs

[Wildwoods]

I decided on a HT2000 for my 2000sq three level house. I'm going to be building the hearth on the main floor in the sun room/ kitchen area.
I'd love to make this the center piece of my house and budgeted as such. That said I'm open to ideas as this is a work in progress. I was going with a raised hearth with porcelain tile and premade slate panels on the wall behind. Any advice on the material or composites to use for the construction would be appreciated. What is the best material if cost wasn't an issue. Thanks for your help, stay healthy and safe!

 

[Geoff C]

I built a frame out of 16ga steel studs screwed together with tek screws. Screwed it to the floor. The walls I framed with cheap Home Depot 22ga studs. Double layer of durok over everything. Then tile with whatever you want. If I had to do it again I would probably use 18ga studs. The 16 could have supported an elephant

 

[64IMPALA]

My stove is in the basement. I built my hearth using 2 layers of cement board, using construction adheasive to attache the first layer to the cement. 2nd layer was attached to the 1st layer using cement board screws. I then topped the whole works off with slate tile. All of it purchased from Home depot. I made the hearth larger than I needed, because I wanted extra clearance between the stove and wall. Finished it off with cherry. It looks dark in this picture as I just got done wiping the grout lines.