Fireplace design

I am rennovating my house at the moment and have retained an original fireplace in the middle of an open plan room, i.e between the living area and the kitchen. I was thinking of a fireplace that opened into both rooms, is this possible? what other modern alternatives are there to do something with this exisiting FP, I could just block up the exisiting fireplace and put an electric plasma style one on one side, but that would leave the kitchen side bare. Has anybody else designed such a fire place, I have often seen ones that open through to both rooms but they seem to be log fires and in big hotels etc. Looking for some ideas or contacts on fireplace design... Thanks

why don't you go to a fireplace maker, where u based??

have some nice ones..

and also galwaygas.ie had a nice pic in House magazine but their site is rubbish and I can't access the page that shows it!

We have enquired about double fireplaces. Apparently you need a very large chimney. So check if thats the case

You could get a double sided wood burning stove . ( Each side opening into a room )

Friends of mine (when I was a kid) had such a fireplace in their kitchen - the chimney was in the middle of the room and what they did was have an opening at both sides and lit the fire in the middle under the chimney. From memory it was a simple rectangular opening from both sides with a mantle on the living room side of the fire. Hope this makes sense!
Would imagine you would have to make sure that the chimney would "draw" the smoke etc properly up out of the room if it is open from both sides.