Find your fireplace in Arapahoe County, Colorado.

For the vast majority of homes in Aurora, Centennial, Littleton, and Englewood, gas is the practical default—Xcel Energy's natural gas network reaches nearly every subdivision, and a gas insert or direct-vent fireplace gives you real heat output through a winter on par with Madison, Wisconsin without any fuel storage or daily tending. Electric fireplaces are a strong secondary or standalone option, especially in townhomes, condos, and newer construction where venting a gas line isn't straightforward. Wood and pellet stoves are genuinely rare in this county—winter inversions over the Denver-Aurora metro and HOA covenants in most newer developments have pushed both fuels to the margins. The exception is the rural eastern county around Byers and Deer Trail, where a small number of homeowners still burn ponderosa pine or aspen cut under Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest permits.

Yes, in nearly every case, though who issues it depends on where you live. Homes in Aurora, Centennial, Littleton, and Englewood go through those cities' own building departments, while unincorporated parts of the county—including much of the area toward Byers and Deer Trail—go through Arapahoe County's building division. Gas fireplace and insert installs require a licensed gas fitter and a gas-line permit in addition to the general building permit; electric fireplace installs usually only need a permit if you're adding a new dedicated circuit rather than plugging into an existing outlet. The retailers we match homeowners with in this county handle that paperwork as part of the install almost every time.

The Denver-Aurora metro area is a designated nonattainment area for ozone and winter fine-particulate pollution, and Arapahoe County's suburban core sits right in the path of the inversion pattern that traps that pollution near the ground on cold, still days. That's on top of HOA covenants—a large share of newer construction in Centennial, Aurora, and Littleton is built under associations that prohibit wood-burning appliances outright in favor of gas or electric. Combined, those two forces mean wood-burning fireplaces have largely disappeared from new installs across the county's dense core, even though the same appliances remain common just west in the mountain counties.

It's more realistic out there than anywhere else in Arapahoe County. Properties near Byers and Deer Trail tend to sit on larger lots without HOA restrictions, and Forest Service firewood permits through the Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forests keep fuel costs low for ponderosa pine, aspen, pinyon, or juniper. You'll still need an EPA 2020 NSPS-certified stove to get permitted through Arapahoe County's building division, and you're still technically inside the broader Denver-Aurora airshed, so it's worth checking current burn-restriction guidance before you commit—but a certified wood stove is a genuinely viable choice for a rural eastern-county property in a way it usually isn't in Aurora or Centennial.

Gas fireplace, insert, or stove installs typically run $4,500–$11,000 depending on whether you're extending a gas line from an existing Xcel Energy service or converting a wood-burning firebox to gas—that conversion work is common here given how many older Aurora and Littleton homes were originally built with wood fireplaces. Electric fireplaces are far less expensive: $200–$3,000 for the unit itself, plus $400–$1,200 in labor if you need a dedicated circuit run for a built-in model rather than a plug-and-play unit. The county + fuel pages above break these numbers down further by city.

Most established hearth retailers in this county run installation and service crews across several cities rather than sticking to one, since Aurora, Centennial, Littleton, and Englewood sit close enough together that a single dealer can reasonably cover all four. We match you with a retailer whose service area, fuel lineup, and permitting relationships actually fit your city and your project, rather than defaulting you to whichever dealer has the biggest ad budget.

It's a visit where a hearth professional measures your space, confirms the model you picked actually works in your home, and walks the specs—framing, gas line, venting, finish work—before anything is ordered. Some details you just can't know until you see the house. Never make a down payment without one; it's the single most-skipped step that burns buyers.

For an average home—covering the fireplace, the vent pipe, and basic installation—a budget between $3,900 and $5,500 gives you a lot of options across wood, gas, and pellet. By the time you add finish work, gas line, and electrical, the average complete installation lands between $5,000 and $12,000 all-in. In a remodel or new build, a good rule is to put about 2.5% of the total project cost toward the fireplace.

Yes—by creating a comfort zone. A furnace heats every square foot of the house just to warm the one room you're in; a gas fireplace on low burns roughly a sixth of the gas a typical furnace does. Set the furnace around 55–60 degrees as a baseline, then heat the rooms your family actually uses. Families who heat this way commonly save $20–$60 a month.

On average, a fireplace adds back to the home about the same amount you spent installing it. Add the monthly savings from heating the rooms you actually use instead of the whole house—often hundreds of dollars a year—and the value case is strong before you even count what a fire does for how your family uses the room.