Go for it!!!
We have had multifuel stoves in the last two houses of ours, the first had an open fire in the lounge and even when burning well it gave little heat, you had to be sat on it to feel anything, open fires draw a lot of air from the room that they are in which is replaced by cold air from outside so an open fire in the lounge actually makes the rest of the house colder, even when the open fire is not burning the flue is bleeding your house of warm air, our house was an ice box!!!
THEN! we fitted a multifuel stove in place of the open fire and overnight the house was very much warmer and the stove consumed less than half the fuel, as you came down the stairs you could feel the heat billowing out of the lounge door and that was with the vents virtually shut.
Multifuels are at least ten times more efficient than open fires because the closed doors control the draw of air to that which is needed to burn and the heat gets to the room rather than disappearing up the chimney.
If you are planning to burn wood, go for a wide model that will take longer logs, even if this means getting a higher output than you need, when we burn coal we just use half the grate as coal gives much more heat than wood, you can then load the other half of the stove as you go to bed and the fire will work it's way across overnight, another advantage of stoves over fires-they are safer as burning embers cannot fall out overnight.
I personally would not bother with the riddling grate that can be operated from outside, we ended up just opening the door and brushing the ash through, with our current stove the manufacturers recommend just letting the ash build up to the grate when burning wood (but NOT when burning coal).
Make sure the ash pan can easily be removed without having to lift the grate.
A register plate that seals the gap between the chimney flue and the pipe that leaves the stove is essential for correct burning and efficiency.
About ten years ago, before gas rose so much in cost, I calculated that, if you disregarded the labour involved, a multifuel stove burning at 70% efficiency gave slightly cheaper heat than mains gas and much cheaper than tanked gas or if you burn waste wood.
I do actually have a small Dunsley 3kw stove for sale, not much use for burning wood as the firebox is small but when burning coal it gives enough heat to make our 20'x13' lounge uncomfortably warm even when gagged back (air vents shut). It's relatively new, having been used in a holiday cottage for 3 years, we replaced it for a much larger stove that would burn the wood waste I generate from my building work.
Our current stove is a 13kw, made in china, les than
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