Help & suggestions needed

[chadw]

1st post~ I just purchased a house that has a double fireplace. One side is in the dining room the other in the living room, separated with brick, 2 flues. I want to put a pellet stove or pellet insert in the living room. The size of the opening is 6' wide by 38" high, 19" depth at the bottom and 15" depth at the top as the back wall slants. SO, this is a huge opening but very shallow. On top of this I currently only have a bricks length of extra hearth before I hit the floor and it is not raised at all. I would love to put a free standing unit in there and leave the wideness of the opening to put some pellet containers or whatever. It just seems like my height will not work since everything I have seen so far is a top loader, unless I bring the stove out and build the hearth out a bit. I think regardless I will have to build the hearth out somewhat. With an insert I would need a big panel of sorts or to again build the brick inward and probably add some height as well. Any creative thoughts and suggestions or design ideas to make this work. Maybe there is a stove I have not seen yet that will work better dimension wise. I attached a pic. Thanks!

 

[Ambient]

The set back from the wood floor is chancy. I lost a good friend years back with a wild windstorm that caused a blow back knocking the screen over and embers onto the beautiful wide plank floor. I assume this was built before code enforcement? Anyways, here's my initial thought:

I would think filling the fireplace opening with rock wool for insulation, a matte black metal panel or a decorative matching tile border with your new Harman XXV on a pad would look great. It wouldn't give you the storage that you wanted, but it would be safer and more energy efficient.