I used to always think that fireplace fireplace gas logs were pretty tacky. You see, I am a big believer in form following function. If you are having a fire in the fireplace, that is fine. Fireplace logs look the way they do because that is what they are. If you're going to use a gas burning fireplace, why make it look like it is filled with real logs? It doesn't make sense. Using a fireplace gas log is just a form of nostalgia, you see. If you want a real wood burning fire, have one. Otherwise don't.
Nonetheless, when I was over at my cousins house – a cousin who has fireplace gas logs – I was really impressed with the realism. The fireplace gas logs looked very close to the original. I had been burning fires in my fireplace for years. I grew up with a free standing fireplace in the middle of the room. Although my parents had installed internal heating, we still had the old wood burning stove that we could use to heat the house. It was great! Not only was it cozy, but it was practical as well. It really offered a cheap way to heat the entire house.
The fireplace gas logs looked so realistic. The style of the fireplace was remarkably like the one that I'd grown up with, and each fireplace gas log looked like it had been hand split and thrown on the wood pile. I had to admit that, for someone who grown up burning real fire place logs, it provided a tempting simulation. I wondered we would happen if you grew up in a house that burns fireplace gas logs? Would a real fireplace burning real wood look like an attempt to simulate the cozy fire that you had grown up with? Would you never become attached to fire in the same way that people who grew up burning wood were? It really is hard to know!
Although I like my cousin's direct vent fireplace, I still like having a real wood burning fireplace a little bit better. The fireplace gas logs are great. They are much better than I would have thought. Nevertheless, nothing beats the real thing if you ask me! If you can't see the wood spark, can't stir the fire with a poker, and can't smell the smell of burning timber, it is not a real fireplace no matter how good it looks. Maybe it is better than nothing, but it is still not quite authentic.
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