It’s the season to hunker down and never leave the house—at least for the brave cold-climate residents. Fittingly, the latest warm-weather essential design is a wood-burning stove, here to warm things up. This type of fireplace is more of a stand-alone fireplace than a typical wall-mounted setting with a range of both practical and aesthetic benefits.
“Wooden stoves heat more efficiently, emit less harmful emissions, and are generally less massive than conventional stoves,” explains Manhattan architect Drew Lang, who recently used three of them in Catskills, New York. “Stoves can overwhelm some spaces, and a wood-burning stove is a great alternative.”
Lange’s wood-burning stove of choice is Shaker Stove of Wittus, seen here on the furnished porch of the client’s Catskills getaway, New York.
Photography by Matthew WilliamsIn the project—the home of Bill Calio, co-founder of boutique real estate developer Brooklyn Home Company, and Noetzel LeFauve, interior designer—Lang placed a shaker-style steel stove against the large window wall in the great room, allowing guests to gather around the fire while still enjoying the view. . An added advantage is that “wood stoves are generally less expensive than stoves, which are often enclosed in mantles and clad with expensive materials such as stone,” Lang explains.
Cost-effective and time-saving? Can’t you love him? Lang’s go-to is the Danish brand Wittus’s Shaker Stove that features a built-in table or bench. These are designer Antonio Citterio on the classic American versions the Shakers made in the 19th and 20th centuries. “Stoves are easier to install, and can be placed anywhere in the building provided there is access to the piping and chimney system,” explains Wittus President Nils Wittus. Case in point: Starchitect Bjarke Ingels has a bulging fireplace suspended by Focus in his Copenhagen houseboat.
Lang placed the same wood-burning stove by Wittus in front of the large window wall in the great room of the Catskills house.
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