Are There Gas Inserts For See-Through Fireplaces?

Q: We have a two-sided fireplace between the den and the kitchen; that is, you can see the fire from both sides, or look through the fireplace from one room to the other. Do you carry any gas fireplace inserts with glass doors on two sides?

  Unfortunately, I'm afraid there's no such beastie. The distance across the fireplace floor, opening to opening, is different in every see-through fireplace, and there's no way an insert manufacturer could offer the thousands of resulting depths.

If your goal is to heat the rooms, the solutions available include installing two inserts, back-to-back, or installing one insert facing the most-used room and putting glass doors or curtain mesh on the unused side to hide the rear view of the insert.

If you're just looking for aesthetics, you could install a two-sided set of gas logs and put glass doors on both sides.

P.S. The same rules apply to L-shaped fireplaces (open in front and on one side). The solution is to install the insert facing the front opening and close off the side opening with curtain mesh, masonry or metal.