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Chilli Penguin Woody Stove Review | Maiden Lighting

If you've been reading my blog posts, you'll know that we've been sort of renovating our lounge (more by accident than design) in order to enable us to install a log burner for the winter.


The 1960's bungalow that we finally purchased in May 2017 doesn't benefit from central heating (just individual electric heaters), and there is no mains gas to the property. While we've been making decisions on the best route forward for a central heating system, we thought we'd crack on an install a log burner to give us a source of heat, and also because a fireplace with log burner is sympathetic to the house, the style we are looking to go for and it's stunning country village surroundings.

We were fortunate that there was already a chimney and constructional hearth in place, so it was a case of getting rid of the original decorative fireplace and opening up the original fireplace to accommodate a burner. 

The original decorative fireplace - for a small electric heater
We decided to do the labour ourselves to significantly bring the cost down (which we did by around £2k)...I say we...Rich really has been amazing on this project, learning new things and doing an amazing job. 

As with all DIY jobs, it's never as simple as it first seems, and we did hit a few complications along the way. We were really keen to accommodate the larger stove (The Chilli Penguin Woody) rather than the Chilli Penguin Short Penguin as we just preferred the overall look and size of viewing window - this did cause a few headaches with regards to opening up the fireplace sufficiently! We also had to add in a concrete lintel and think about how to accommodate the oak beam that we had set our hearts on installing (we were fortunate to be able to source this from a local friend who is also a joiner).

The Chilli Penguin Woody shown on the right vs the Chilli Penguin Short Penguin on the left
Our last task before the fire was installed was the creation of the decorative hearth, and in true Simkiss style we were doing this at 11pm the night before the installers were due! We sourced some welsh slate tiles from a reclamation yard in Bicester (which were a really reasonable price) in order to achieve the look we were going for. 

Then came the day of the installation...and of course we were dying to light it, but not only was it recommended by the installers to leave it for a few days, we also had a new oak beam that needed to dry out and freshly plastered walls would benefit from drying out so we patiently waited for 3 weeks!!!

Then along came the first frost! Monday 30th October was cold....waking up to around 12-13 degrees is not pleasant....and certainly doesn't make a house feel like a home...and so the decision was made that we would finally light the fire! We weren't disappointed....the viewing window on this burner is great...! 

Molly enjoying the fire
We went for this burner because it was meant to be a runner up to the Clearview stoves with regards to it's ability to keep it's viewing clear - so far we have had to clean the window a few times (which is easy to do when the stove is cold) and it probably does get blacker more quickly than we had expected, but this could be down to slight dampness in the logs (we've now got a device to test how dry the logs are). It's also worth noting that as the fire gets hotter the glass it self clearing too.

We've also purchased a stove fan to help circulate some of the heat in to the room which has worked really well. 

Overall we're really delighted with the Chilli Penguin Woody Stove, it's easy to control for the style our our house looks great! We were after a burner that was a nice mix of traditional and modern, being that this house doesn't have character features such as beams and nooks, a traditional Clearview stove wouldn't have worked for us, but we are trying to give the house a touch of the traditional, country feel so this stove was spot on!

We've also located a log store right by our back door which is handy!
The lounge really is far from finished - as you'll see in the top photo we haven't yet painted the walls (there is a very light base coat on) the ceiling still needs plastering, we have the underfloor heating to install and a flooring to choose and put down, skirtings and coving to go on as well as curtains and all the finishing touches but we do now have a heat source which was the point of this project.


Buying Local - Oxfordshire and The Cotswolds suppliers

Our stove was purchased from and installed by http://ironandwood.co.uk/

Our first delivery of logs came from https://www.redhorsevale.co.uk/

And our log basket came from Garden Trading https://www.gardentrading.co.uk/ 
....we actually went to their new showroom in Carteron Oxfordshire which is lovely! 

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