As much as I love modern, I think using ageless materials ie: stone is the way to go. You can use stone in so many different styles.

I voted other because I have two very different fire place fantasies. One, a tiny wood stove like the Sardine from Marine Stoves. ( http://www.marinestove.com/sardineinfo.htm ) in a gypsy caravan, or an adobe bread/pizza style oven in a cob house.

@Ruth Timmons . . . you might also like the Mini Franklin stove, which is a gas cottage heater that fits in about the same space as the one you mention, but has a window so you can watch the flames. It does not cook.

I plan to have one of those in my bedroom and a soapstone wood stove in my living room in the next house. There will probably be a stone surround eventually.

I have had many types of surrounds before, but my vote is for stone for a regular fireplace.

Though I could scarcely resist voting for the timeless allure and natural feel of stone, I ended up voting for the glass/ceramic fireplace. I am just such a sucker for glass and love the color in that photo, not to mention how well it blended with the other happy elements in that room.

We are lucky enough to have 3 fireplaces in our current home. One is a two sided fireplace that divides the living room from the kitchen. On the living room side we went with cut field stone and the kitchen side is un-cut natural field stone that has a reclaimed wood mantel. The mantel was originally a log that we pulled out of a local river that once was used for moving logs out of the woods to a railroad yard and then the logs were shipped down the Great Lakes to Detroit for use in the manufacturing of the old "woodie" Ford automobiles. Henry Ford had two homes here in our local area. Our family room fireplace is traditional red brick with an arched opening where we have a freestanding black gas fireplace (kind of like a Franklin stove) that produces a lot of heat and looks like an old fashioned wood stove recessed under the arched brick. We live in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (above Wisconsin and below Lake Superior) so fireplaces are almost a necessity here. It's actually unusual to find a house without at least one fireplace in this area. We love all 3 of ours! I must say that I loved the copper one you showed and although that would not fit the style of our current home a girl can always dream!

I'm going to build a cottage this summer and I'm having a tough time deciding on the material to use. Love stone. That's my fave but budget will have to determine.

Love, Love, Love a stone fireplace! Unfortunately my home is without one, but I vision a project for the kitchen one day...

I love to add sparkle with glass tile because you already have the rustic element...fire

@kathykramer08, A cottage...how lovely.

We don't have a fireplace, but a stone one has always caught my attention. Looking at the picture a copper fireplace looks interesting, but I would have to see it in person. Definitely the fireplace would have to be one where my family and I can cuddle up to read some good books. My girls love it when we read together.

I was just thinking I should but a fireplace in my basement.

I would like slate; the darkest possible or with mauve tones

I had a floor to vaulted ceiling brick fireplace for 29 years so I'm tired of it but it is timeless. I changed the mantle from raw cedar to white colonial casing with dental molding. It's a timeless look. The brick fireplace in the bedroom here is pretty. My parents' house had a stone fireplace of Valley Forge stone, matching the exterior of their house so I'm partial to
stone, gray or brown. I like the poured concrete one here too.

Stone! But leave the TV's off it! And make sure you pick a neutral color that will go with future color schemes.

Replaced an ugly builder grade grey porcelain tile 8" square with lovely travertine 3x9" in a herringbone pattern. Went from boring to dramatic. Included a 42" TV hidden behind a framed two-way mirror with all the wireless equipment such as blue ray, stereo etc behind the mirror. This is a corner fireplace now 6' wide running all the way to the vaulted ceiling.

We just replaced our old wood burning store....repositioned to different spot and got rid of all the brick....replace with stone, actually flagstone right from quarry but turned on side and cut like stone...turned out beautiful but I love copper, so we did lots of copper accents and even had the door to our wood burning stove trimmed in copper

Love the idea of seeing the fireplace from all angles and other rooms.

We have a brick fireplace in our home in Georgia, but now live in a townhouse in Arizona. We have no fireplace here and our home is all electric. I have my eye on a media cabinet with an electric fireplace. The cabinets come in several styles and finishes and the flame can be adjusted. Just perfect for a small space and holds the TV on top and all the electronic media pieces in the cabinet.

I chose the slab because it has a clean, contemporary look. Though I like stone, my house is too small to consider it. We have the usual red brick fireplace that has a row of single bricks as a mantle in our living room. Been here 39 years & just have never found the right mantle. I have wanted to change the look of our fireplace for a long time but very undecided what to do. I would like to make it a gas fireplace since we lose too much heat & the reason why we never use it anymore. My ideal would be to install an electric small fireplace in our large family room for aesthetics or a two sided one for the family room and dining room. It would just be like an insert I've been seeing that would not need a flue.

Stone is such a natural product with fantastic shapes and wonderful colors. Choosing the right stone can create a warmth and a back to nature environment that suits even an urban environment .. gets my vote every time.

I am very attracted to the slab fireplace in the first picture. Two years ago, we moved into an older home (a Georgian Revival, I believe?) because of the location, not the style; the existing fireplace is pretty traditional, but has some beautiful black/white marble around the opening. It's pretty, so we won't change it, although it isn't my 1st choice. In the basement, the red brick fireplace will eventually be changed to a gray ledge stone...for the man cave!

Thanks for all the "thumbs ups" for my River Rock fireplace everyone!

I love natural stone, for the warmth and beauty it imparts to interiors. The two story fireplace below is one of my all time favorites!

Fire and Water....

http://www.luxewaterwalls.com

I already voted, other, RMH (Rocket Mass Heater) but. Ruth Timmons and others, if you are interested in cob especially, you should look into this incredibly efficient and easy to build heater/heating system.

http://www.richsoil.com/rocket-stove-mass-heater.jsp About halfways down is the plans I bought and built from. (8" and for installing over hardwood, though I installed on a concrete pier/pad)

http://www.rocketstoves.com/resources.htm The second book down on the left, not the one showing the bare blue barrel, I purchased in PDF. Well worth the $ and the read. I have been warned about the 4 dvd set, it is 'keep your money' for that one. You can get a lot of that info and podcasts off the richsoil.com site.

http://www.naturalbuildingblog.com/earthbag-pit-greenhouse-plans/ earthbag jumpoff, if you re considering rammed earth/cob building, look at this alternative.

I am really loving my thermal mass bench installation; I can fire it for a few hours and it is toasty for quite some time after. You have a myriad of finishing choices to go with your décor; and. While it is on a burn it is not draining the heat out of your house. When we had a blizzard and 2 days of power out end of 2007 we had to rely on the fireplace that's in here, and I slept next to the fireplace and spent my time feeding the fire or scrounging wood. And things were cold. I am a lot warmer and happier; I like the idea creosote won't build up and it has the thermal mass to share the heat back out to where I want it! It does have the drawback I have to split down my wood farther, but it will take dried out drops off my cottonwood without an issue. Ash issues are also minimal, it's a very clean burn.

You can put one of these together for under $50 if you are very lucky, $200-300 is not untypical and you'd be pressed to push it to a thousand to afford one! I ran close to that because I had to buy NEW firebrick; a new unpainted stainless barrel, and dig, rebar, and pour a concrete mount slab and bring it from ground through crawlspace and through the floor.

The second one has been made to be cooked on as well. The behind area is the exhaust mass bench, where the exhaust transfers the heat to mass to be released more slowly.

I have a painted brick fireplace. It looks much better than the water stained brick that was here when we bought this house built in 1954.

I voted slab but the stone is really not far behind. My fire place is standard red brick that I painted white.

My moms house went through 2 fires these past couple years, and I picked the stone because it's beautiful and very comforting. She would love this and I'm sure our family would feel a lot safer!

Although it would have to match the style of the house, I like stone, bricks and all the traditional stuff

I really love the reflective yet warm presentation of the copper facade

A plain tall slab, but with the firebox like this, out of one of the dramatic granites.

Ledgestone, it has a traditional but also modern feel to it. Would suit traditional, classical furniture but also modern. Would suit my eclectic gatherings!

I love traditional fireplaces.There is nothing like one to set the mood on a cold evening!
I would love a Spanish Colonial style fireplace in my own (Spanish style) home.I have an unusual fireplace which presently has a style conflict. It has traditional wood moldings on top and a modern marble treatment on the lower half.

The glass and ceramic tile! All the way to the top of my vaulted ceiling!

We have a free standing slow combustion fire

Sadly my fireplace is an old gas heater from the 50's (that we currently use as a TV stand). Hoping I can sell a lot of furniture this year so I can convert it to a gas fireplace!

The fireplace is a great way to create that "wow" factor in a home!!! always a fabulous before and after!

here's one more!

I love my fieldstone fireplace with a wood beam mantle.

Have brick but love the texture of ledge stone.

We have a brick fireplace and I absolutely love it!

Good looking fireplaces. Chose the one (brick) in the room I could live with the most, but there were a few close seconds.

Dressed stone.

We have a red brick fp.

I really miss the rock fireplace I had two homes ago. It matched the rock on the exterior of the house, and had a matching planter at the entry door and a cantilevered hearth. I see people hating these fireplaces from the 60s all the time, and tearing them out, but I love them!

I love the ledgestone fireplace. The contemporary - natural/ rustic combination of materials is outstanding

I know I'm a bit late but had to show my new fireplace. I got the idea from this site. I transformed a brick fireplace in a 1953 ranch to a modern style. It's my favorite part of the renovation!

CONGRATULATIONS to @diannewierenga for winning her pair of Houzz slippers! If you missed out on this one, you still have time to get your comments into our Remodeling poll!
https://www.houzz.com/discussions/poll-remodeling-must-dos-dsvw-vd~820401

Our fireplace is basically fine but blah. Then I saw the picture of the copper fireplace and knew that was my answer!!! That change would tie all my social living areas together making a spectacular flow and a makeover. My husband surprised me with the copper table for Christmas. I love it, but as you can see, your copper fireplace is perfect for us. Please consider my need for this copper fireplace.

Stone - love the stone look!