Suitable stove/insert for a Kiva-style fireplace?

[potentialburner]

My house has a kiva-style fireplace. It's full masonry and a massive beast, but has an unusual opening size and shape. It looks like all the inserts I see are designed for larger, square openings.

It has gas to it and currently is burning some gas logs that look great IMO. The ambiance of the fireplace as it is can't be beat and is the focal point of my house. I heat my house and run the fireplace using propane. Obviously the fireplace is mainly used as decoration now and isn't much of a heater.

As everyone probably knows propane has gotten out of control, plus I'm on 20 wooded acres with a good amount of fallen trees so naturally thoughts turn to the possibility of supplementing my heat with wood. But with several weeks of off and on googling I have not found a stove or insert that would work well and look good with this fireplace, so i wondered if there were any suggestions here.

Here's the fireplace:

The dimensions of the firebox opening are:
32" wide
22" deep (the firebrick part, including the masonry/stucco front it's 27" deep)
30" tall to the top of the rounded part (this seems short when looking at insert specs online). The straight sides are 18" tall before the curving starts. However behind the curved opening the firebox is square.

Gas and outside air inlet on the back left when looking at it.

Construction is all masonry (cinderblock/firebrick/chimney tile) except for the hearth which is a wooden box with the the tile on top and stucco applied to match.

The area to be heated is about 1500 sf... 1000 sf first floor plus 500 sf loft.

At this point it's just window shopping/fantasy but you never know if the right solution presents itself. Suggestions welcome!

 

[weatherguy]

I would probably leave the fireplace as is and put a free stander in another spot. You could also put a rear vent in front, something like the Woodstocks, there's probably others but can't think of them off the top of my head.

 

[Grisu]

Rear-vented stoves can be found from Jotul, Woodstock, some Lopis, some Morsos, Hearthstone. If you put it on the hearth you may have a little bit over 30" to work with which should be ok for most. You will need to extend the hearth, though. For 1500 sqft in NC a firebox of approx 2.5 cu ft would be good. How well is your home insulated?

 

[potentialburner]

The house is well insulated but has high ceilings. The great room where the fireplace is has a vaulted ceiling that peaks over 20 feet. The back half has an open loft and under that is the kitchen/dining room.

Wouldn't a standalone installation be more elaborate/expensive than an insert or putting a rear-venter in front of this FP?

 

[begreen]

The house is well insulated but has high ceilings. The great room where the fireplace is has a vaulted ceiling that peaks over 20 feet. The back half has an open loft and under that is the kitchen/dining room.

Wouldn't a standalone installation be more elaborate/expensive than an insert or putting a rear-venter in front of this FP?

Yes it would be. A freestander looks like the best bet. The 30" height will be your gating factor. For sure you will need ceiling fan(s) to de-stratify the heat that pockets up at the peak of the high ceilings.

 

[coldkiwi]

You could square off the front face ,giving you 30 inches in height all the way across.That would open it up for a lot more inserts.You could always put it back to original if you wanted to sell the house.
Very cool looking fireplace.

 

[Grisu]

If you want to go for an insert look at the Enviro 1700 Venice or Kodiak. They only require 27" width and 19.25" height for the fireplace opening. Check the height at 14" from the center. You may have chisel away just a tiny bit of that arch to fit it in. With a 2.5 cu ft firebox they have pretty much the ideal size for your needs.

For a freestander, I think a Jotul F500 would look great on that hearth; maybe in ivory or majolica brown. I hope it is deep enough to fit one in there.

 

[mass_burner]

all you need for a free standing stove is a hole in the roof and some SS liner through it. the fireplace/hearh you have there is fantastic. i certainly wouldn't go altering the opening. personally, i would get a few estimates on making it work with an insert. especially, what would need to be done to the existing structure. perhaps some custom metal work to fabricate the surround. bottom line, if I wasn't compelely satisfied that the outcome would be "true" to the original design, it wouldn't do it. i also wouldn't stick a stove in front of it. if all else fails find another place and install a freestander, leave the kiva for its intended design/function.