Why Builders Choose Heat & Glo: A Look Inside Gonyea Custom Homes

For a custom home builder, every design decision needs to earn its place. So when design-build firm Gonyea Custom Homes specified three different Heat & Glo fireplaces throughout their model featured in the Minnesota Artisan Home Tour, it wasn't by default—it was by design. In a walkthrough of the home, president Jon Connolly broke down the thinking behind it: why a fireplace, why Heat & Glo, and why these specific gas fireplaces. It's a clear window into why builders keep coming back to the family of fireplace brands manufactured by Hearth & Home Technologies.

Why a Fireplace

A fireplace is one of the most important design features a builder can reach for—and not just in the obvious places. It can help a space feel cozy and inviting, and while you most often see fireplaces anchoring gathering spaces like a family room or great room, their real value shows up in how flexibly they can shape a home.

That philosophy is on full display in this project, where fireplaces appear in three distinct rooms—each one doing different work. In the great room, the fireplace is the commanding focal point. In the sunroom, it helps separate and define the space. Downstairs, it sets an entirely different mood with a more sleek, modern look. The throughline is intentionality: a fireplace isn't decoration, it's a tool for shaping how a room feels and functions.

“The fireplace conversation starts very early in the design process—often during the initial space planning and architectural discussions. A fireplace can have a huge impact on a room, so we don’t want to treat it as an afterthought.

We look at the fireplace as both a functional element and an architectural focal point. Its location can influence furniture placement, sightlines, ceiling details, windows, built-ins, and even the overall proportions of the room. Once we know where the fireplace is going and the role we want it to play, the rest of the space can begin to develop around it.

For us, the most successful fireplaces feel like they were always meant to be part of the architecture. They shouldn’t just be something added to a wall at the end of the process—they should help define the room from the beginning.”

— Lauren Wynia, Gonyea Custom Homes Designer

Why Heat & Glo

In homebuilding, the right partners matter most. Gonyea positions itself as the "trusted guide" for its clients through design, architecture, and construction—and to deliver on that promise, they need partners they can trust in turn. Heat & Glo fireplaces, along with their local Minnesota partner Fireside Hearth & Home, fills that role, giving the Gonyea team a deep, dependable catalog of fireplaces and finishes to work with at every stage of the build.

That partnership is what lets a builder be playful and precise at the same time, matching the right fireplace to the right space, with confidence that the product, the support, and the performance will all hold up. For builders, that reliability is the difference between a feature that impresses and a callback that doesn't come.

Why These Units

The home's primary gathering space is anchored by the Heat & Glo 8K, the larger size of our best-selling 6K/8K series and the perfect scale for an open great room. It delivers a remarkable balance of flame, glow, and ambiance, pairing the look of a traditional fire with modern voice control and heat management. That heat management matters here: it's what allows the framed television to sit safely above the fireplace, just mere inches above. Wrapped in a full-height natural stacked-stone surround in creams and golds, flanked by floating wood shelves and brass sconces, the 8K is the room's undisputed focal point.

The Sunroom — Heat & Glo 6K

In the sunroom, fit is the deciding factor. As a four-season porch, the space called for something scaled to match, and the 6K delivers. A slightly smaller unit than the one in the great room, it brings the same expansive view and refined flame without overwhelming the room. Connolly and team often use the 6K in many of their projects, calling it an adaptable fireplace that can flex to a lot of spaces, thanks to its design options. Set into a floor-to-ceiling stone surround with a simple round mirror and taper candles, it grounds the bright, airy retreat with quiet warmth.

“With three fireplaces in one home, we wanted each one to have its own personality while still feeling connected to the overall design. Rather than using completely different materials for each fireplace, we repeated some of the same materials throughout the home but used them in different ways.

The repetition creates a sense of cohesion, while the variations in application, scale, detailing, and surrounding millwork allow each fireplace to feel unique to its space. The materials may be familiar from one room to the next, but they aren’t necessarily used in the same combination or in the same way.

I think that balance is what keeps a home from feeling either too matchy-matchy or disconnected. Repeating materials helps create a consistent design thread throughout the home, while using them differently gives each space its own personality.”

— Lauren Wynia, Gonyea Custom Homes Designer

The Lower Level — Heat & Glo Cosmo

Downstairs, the design shifts to a soft contemporary feel, layered with different textures—and the Heat & Glo Cosmo linear fireplace sets the tone. Its long ribbon flame and clean linear lines suit the modern space and the 16:9 proportions of the mounted TV above it, with heat management that allows the screen to sit just inches over the firebox. Tucked into a crisp white surround with a chunky stone hearth shelf and flanked by custom stained-oak built-ins, the Cosmo shows yet another way a single brand's lineup can flex to fit a completely different mood.

A Partnership Built Around the Fire

Three rooms, three fireplaces, one trusted partner. From the commanding 8K in the great room, to the perfectly scaled 6K in the sunroom, to the sleek Cosmo downstairs, this stunner by Gonyea Custom Homes shows how the right fireplace—backed by the right partner—can define a home one room at a time.

The Artisan model is featured in the Artisan Home Tour by Gonyea Custom Homes (home #6) in the Hollydale neighborhood, Plymouth, Minnesota.