While the cold weather persists, it may be hard to stay cozy. Our fireplace expert Jennifer Deuel from Cricket on the Hearth in East Rochester has some advice for staying warm throughout the winter.
According to Deuel, there are three different ways you can heat your home: wood, gas, or electric.
If you want to go the classic route by heating with wood, Deuel recommends adding a woodburning insert into your masonry fireplace for an efficient burn of the wood with a sealed glass door. If you don’t have the luxury of an existing masonry fireplace, a freestanding stove can be added to a room with the same benefit. The use of a fan on both inserts and stoves ensures the circulation of hot air to heat in the room evenly. Any open burn situation will result in a circle of radiant heat which will turn around and go up your chimney with all the heat from the furnace, so sealing the fire chamber will stop heat loss and control the speed of the burn.
If you are looking for efficiency, Deuel suggests a gas stove insert. This option is more convenient than a traditional fireplace because it works at the touch of a remote. The gas stove inserts have customizable designs and remote-controllable features for flame height, fan speed, and accent lights. Deuel says this option is very popular because of its variety of features.
“You can also zone heat your house, which means you turn the whole house furnace down, and you become cozy in the room you use the most,” says Deuel.
She recommends an electric stove insert for spaces you would like to keep cozy without having to monitor. Electric units will only produce 5,000 btus of heat from a standard outlet versus 40,000 btus for a gas unit. This option is typically to enhance atmosphere in a room that can’t have another appliance due to building codes.
“It’s a great thing for maybe a basement or where kids are unattended all the time, because you can’t burn yourself or get into it,” she says.
From traditional freestanding stoves, to fireplaces and gas inserts there are many ways to get you feeling the hygge vibe this winter.
This article originally appeared in the January/February 2026 issue of (585).
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