Stoves

Buying guide

Every stove does the same job, a contained fire you can sit and watch, but they get there in very different ways. A log burner needs a chimney or flue and a supply of dry wood; an electric stove needs a socket. Choose the fuel first, then the size, then the look.

Which kind of stove suits your home?

The table sets out what each type needs before it can be fitted, roughly how much heat it gives and who installs it. Outputs are the range across the stoves we list.

If you are not sure what flue you have, look at the roof. A brick stack with a pot is usually a traditional chimney, a metal cowl with no stack is a prefabricated flue, and a raised ridge vent with no chimney breast is often a shallow pre-cast flue that only suits slimline gas fires. Our guide to chimney and flue options explains each one.

Types of stove

Real wood heat

Wood burning stoves

The classic log burner. Wood-only stoves burn on a bed of ash and suit anyone with a chimney and space to store logs.

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Wood or smokeless fuel

Multi-fuel stoves

A grate and ash pan let air reach smokeless fuel from below, so you can switch between logs and approved fuel.

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Heats the radiators

Boiler stoves

A water jacket sends heat to your central heating or hot water, with the rest warming the room.

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Flame at a button

Gas stoves

A log effect fuel bed on mains gas, lit and turned up or down by control, with no logs to carry.

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No flue, no fuss

Electric stoves

An LED flame and fan heater in a stove-shaped body. Plug it in anywhere, including flats and bedrooms.

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Real flame, no flue

Bioethanol stoves

Burns liquid bioethanol with a real flame and no chimney, in a room large enough for the burner.

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How much heat do you need?

For a stove that will be the main heat in a room, allow about 1kW of output for every 14 cubic metres of room volume as a starting point. Measure length, width and ceiling height in metres, multiply them, and divide by 14. A 5m x 4m room with a 2.4m ceiling comes out at about 3.4kW.

That figure tells you a lot about which fuel will work:

• Wood and multi-fuel stoves start at 4kW in our range (the FDC4 Eco), so they comfortably heat a typical living room. Stay at 5kW or under in an older home and you normally avoid a dedicated air vent. See small log burners.
• Gas stoves range from the flueless Ekofires 6010 at 1.5kW to 3.1kW to the conventional flue Opus Trio Scala at 4.3kW to 6.9kW.
• Electric stoves give up to about 1.8kW, plenty for a bedroom or snug, or as a top-up where central heating already does the work.
• Bioethanol stoves give up to 3kW from a 1.5 litre burner, but they also need the room to be above a minimum size, so they suit medium and large rooms as extra warmth.

Older houses with solid walls and high ceilings need more heat than the rule suggests; new, well insulated rooms need less. Our guide to what size stove you need has a full table.

Chimney, flue or neither

With a chimney. You can fit almost any stove. For wood and multi-fuel stoves, most installers line an old chimney with a stainless steel liner sized to the stove outlet, which is 125mm or 150mm on most of ours. A gas stove such as the Opus Trio Scala needs a flue its manual approves; it has a 125mm top outlet.

Without a chimney. A log burner can still go in with a twin wall insulated flue, either up through the house and roof or out through a wall and up the outside. It is more work, but it is how most stoves in new builds and extensions are fitted. Read installing a wood burner without a chimney.

No flue at all. A flueless gas stove cleans its combustion products with a catalytic converter, but needs a minimum room size (35 cubic metres for the Ekofires 6010) and a permanent vent. Electric stoves need no flue or vent. Bioethanol stoves need no flue but do need a well ventilated room above the maker's minimum size.

Living with each type

Running a stove is part of the appeal for some people and a chore for others, so be honest about which you are.

• Wood. You need dry logs under 20% moisture, somewhere to store them, a few minutes to light and feed the fire, and ash to take out. The chimney should be swept quarterly while you use it regularly. In return you get the most heat and the best fire. See our firewood guide.
• Multi-fuel. The same as wood, plus riddling the grate and emptying the ash pan more often when you burn smokeless fuel.
• Gas. Turn it on, turn it off. Have it serviced and safety checked by a Gas Safe engineer every year.
• Electric. Nothing to store, sweep or service. Many people run the flame on its own in milder weather.
• Bioethanol. Refill the burner by hand, only when it is out and cold, and store the fuel safely away from the stove.

Traditional or contemporary?

Once the fuel and size are settled, the look is yours to choose. Cast iron stoves with enamel finishes, such as the Carron ECO 5kW in red, cream, sage green or ash grey, suit period rooms and cottages. Tall cylindrical and box stoves with big glass doors, such as the Opus Melody and Harmony, suit open plan and modern spaces, and models with a log store underneath keep a few days of wood on show. Gas and electric stoves borrow the traditional stove shape so they sit naturally in a fireplace recess. Whatever you choose, a hearth that suits the stove, in granite, glass or stone, finishes the look; see our hearths.

The rules in brief

The paperwork depends on the fuel.

• Solid fuel. Installing a wood or multi-fuel stove is building work. In England and Wales, a HETAS registered installer can self-certify it; otherwise building control must be notified before work starts. In Scotland and Northern Ireland, your council's building standards or building control rules apply.
• Gas. By law, a gas stove must be installed by a Gas Safe registered engineer.
• Carbon monoxide alarm. In England, a new or replacement solid fuel or gas stove needs a CO alarm in the same room. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own rules, and an alarm is a sensible precaution with any stove.
• Smoke control areas. In a smoke control area (many towns and cities across the UK have them; your council can confirm), you can burn wood only in a stove exempt for smoke control areas. See smoke control approved stoves.
• Ecodesign. Wood and multi-fuel stoves sold new in Great Britain since 1 January 2022 must meet Ecodesign emissions and efficiency limits. See Ecodesign stoves.

Wood burners are not being banned; you can still buy, fit and use one. Our explainer on the current rules in England covers what is proposed for the future.

Our picks across the range

If you want a starting point in each fuel, these are the stoves we suggest people look at first. The Carron ECO 5kW is a cast iron log burner rated at 78.6% efficiency and approved for smoke control areas. The Opus Trio Scala gives a ceramic log effect on natural gas with remote control. The Adam Woodhouse is a freestanding electric stove giving 0.9kW or 1.8kW, and the OKO S1 burns bioethanol behind a glass door with no flue.

If you are torn between two fuels, think about the next ten winters rather than the next one. A log burner rewards people who enjoy the ritual and have space for logs; gas suits busy households who want warmth at the turn of a control; electric suits anyone without a flue or who rents. There is no wrong answer, only the one that fits how you live.

For a bigger room or open plan space, the Carron ECO Revolution 8kW and Opus Harmony LS are worth a look; for whole-house heat, the Woodfire boiler stoves.