My wife spotted a fake fireplace mantle in the store that comes with an electric "fire"/heater. I didn't like the electric heater because its expensive to run and no use in a power outage, so I started looking at all manner of "ventless" fireplaces. What a can of worms!

There are all kinds models that propane and nat. gas (but not both). There are also "gel fuel" units that burn what appear to be giant cans of sterno (reviewers comment that the fuel is expensive).

I'm inclined to go with propane because I have a large tank that runs only the stove at the moment. And no, I can't run the oven for heat because I stupidly bought a model that has a digitally controlled oven. I'm not sure its very safe to do so anyway.

A further complication is that my wife is only interested in the decorative aspect of the mantle.

Any experience/comments/suggestions/wisecracks?