Corner Fireplace from Sincerely Saturday

If you’re considering a gas fireplace insert for your wood-burning fireplace BUT you’ve got an“L” shaped corner fireplace (the kind with a front *and* side opening), let me save you HOURS of research: As of writing this (Dec 2021) no one makes inserts for this application. 😕 (If you have front-facing fireplace, you can skip this blog and hop over here.)

BUT DON’T LOSE HOPE! You have a couple of great options for your corner fireplace… you just need to decide if you want to keep your two-sided fire or would rather have a fire that provides heat!

1) Dress it up with doors!

First, you can still dress up a 2-sided corner fireplace with pretty glass doors and a gas-log set! If you’re going for the ease of being able to flip a switch and have a fire, this is a great solution. The main thing is that it just won’t put out the kind of heat that an insert would (remember, with traditional fireplaces, about 70% of the heat just leaks up the chimney! 😳).

Installing a set of fireplace doors is exactly the solution my hubby and I went with on our own project a few years back.

In this case, even though we plumbed it for a gas and intended to add a gas log set, we ended up just using it as a wood fireplace. My hubby really prefers a real-wood fire, and the wrap-around doors gave me exactly the finished look I wanted. 🔥

2) OR…Get an insert anyway! 😀 

Covering the fireplace with simple doors worked perfectly for us, but if you have your heart set on having all the heat an insert provides, then the folks at Hearthside and Home have another solution for you! It’ll mean closing off one side of the fireplace, but it doesn’t require any masonry or retiling or anything (unless that’s part of your design plan).

They make it work by using a special fireplace shroud (ie, cover) that turns your 2-sided fireplace into a 1-sided fireplace, covering the second (smaller) side with a cover panel. In this first example they included a panel detail on the side to add texture to the closed-off side of this pretty painted brick fireplace:

… while they kept it simple on this one:

Yes, you lose the view of the fire from the short side, but this way you get the heating benefits of the gas insert without completely remodeling your fireplace – yea!

Every solution has its pros and cons. For us, it meant more to keep the cool look of seeing our fire from *two* sides, especially since we had plenty of heat from other sources. But if you’ve got gas to your house and want to use it to heat your room, it’s great to know you have an option for that, too!

That said, if you *are* interested in this gas fireplace insert solution, be sure to read our other blog on what else you need to do to convert your wood-burning fireplace! And then when you’re ready for some help choosing the new paint colors, tile, mantle, and more for your fireplace update, schedule a Design Helpline! We’d be happy to help guide you through your list of design questions and set you on the road to having an even happier home! 😊

May your home always be happy!