Testimonials

Jason and Jo

We absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE our Cheminees Philippe fireplace!!  Not only does it look amazing but it heats amazing!  It’s a beautiful feature in our Great Room, taking pride of place, and the first thing guests see when they walk in.  After planning our owner-build home 2 1/2 years ago with this fireplace in mind as the major feature of the Great Room, its fantastic to see it all come together. The unique style of the fireplace sets it apart to any other, with its tall ridged flue and large glass door.  The icing on the cake was the canter-lever door to enjoy an open fire. It has brought a new dynamic to family with us all enjoying evenings together in front of the fireplace, and we look forward to many more winters to come!

Andrew

We have used our CP for three winters in our cold Macedon ranges climate. It beautifully heats our 10m x 10m  living area and flows through to other areas of the house. With the air flow right down it will run overnight. This causes a bit of clouding of the glass but a bit of daily discipline keeps the glass clean.

Kris Leahy

We purchased a Chiminees Philippe double-sided fireplace from Wignells in Melbourne back in March this year for our new house which we moved into in July. We have had the fire going almost every day since we moved in. The fireplace has become the main feature of the room and puts out more than enough heat to keep most of the 38sq house warm. I have attached a couple of photos of our newly installed fireplace.

PB of NorthEast Victoria

The Radiante 1000 with doors closed not only draws spectacularly but also heats our large open plan room. Doors open and we have a 1m wide open fire. What more could we want?

Stuart

This stunning installation of a Cheminees Philippe Radiante 846 3V features an iron façade with three independent pieces swinging from loops.

The fire place has become the focus of our winter when indoors. It looks great and produces a lovely natural heat, making it cozy and comfortable when inside the house.

Tom

In 2010 we had a Cheminees Philippe installed at our residence in Healesville.

We would like you to know that the heater is working perfectly and that the installation work conducted by All Fireplaces Great and Small was first class. The installation involved the removal of an old fireplace and the commissioning of the new heater. The task was undertook and completed with great professionalism.

We are enjoying the fireplace and it works well – given the state of the weather it is a most welcome addition to the house. Moreover all who see the room comment favourably on it.

Robert Stygall

I’ve been really pleased with our fireplace – unique combination of elegance and efficiency.

Fireplace has seen a lot of duty this year – back to old style winters-we have a good local supplier of Redgum and fireplace when shut down will stay alight overnight until morning – much appreciated – makes it a lot easier to keep the home fires burning!

When we built the house I added water coils into the concrete slab – so I can add ground source heating later – but happy to say that we could happily live with the fireplace alone if we have to.

Chris & Els Weir, Darnum

Our Cheminees Philippe fireplace is 10 years old and we are very pleased with it.

Dave

Our Radiante 846 3V is our ‘wow’ factor in our architectually designed house. The three sided glass firebox serves not only as efficient heat source, but also is a room divider and extra seating along the hearth. It is a perfect example of both ‘form and function’ coming together as one.

This outcome would not of been possible without the expert advice from Wignells, who gave us ongoing advice on placement, proportion to brickwork and other matters regarding the design. Wignells advised on our drafted drawings and happily provided feedback on the final working drawings to ensure the perfect outcome.

Oriana

Rick recommended a Cheminees Philippe for our family room.
We all love our fireplace. Easy to use, easy to clean and a great looking unit.
We love the big glass door. Watching a fire soothes the soul. It has helped our house to feel like a home. We now love winter; there is no better heat than a Cheminees Philippe fireplace.

Robyn & Geoff

Some years ago, we were lucky enough to be introduced to the Cheminees Philippe fireplace. A friend had installed one in her large open plan extension and was thrilled with its comfort, efficiency and beauty. She was so enthusiastic that when we had the opportunity to renovate an old warehouse, (large area with 4½ metre ceilings) we headed straight to Wignells to explore the possibilities.

We finally decided on a large, double-sided model, which was duly installed in the centre of our open plan living/dining/kitchen area.

It’s fantastic. Extremely effective (remember – extensive area, very high ceilings), very efficient, easy to clean (yes, it’s important!) and of course, versatile, as we enjoy it either as an open fire, or as a slow combustion heater. We’ve had no problems with it at all. The only change has been to (very recently) replace the grates, which support the burning logs – not bad after 13 years of solid use. And the fact that the Cheminees Philippe is a striking feature in the space may not be its most important quality – but hey – it doesn’t do any harm either.

All in all, we couldn’t be happier with our “CP” and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it very highly indeed.

ps. the glass is easy to clean – spray on straight ammonia leave for a few seconds, and then polish with crumpled newspaper.

Hans & Robyn Brandstetter

We just wanted to tell you how happy we are with our Cheminees Philippe Fireplace. We installed it in our home when we built, nearly 11 years ago now. It’s been completely trouble-free and the heat which it gives out is incredible. We live in Flowerdale (near Yea, northern Victoria) and we have extremely cold winters up here. As we are working outside most of the days, we usually don’t light it until about 4 pm in the winter – but within about 15 mins, you can already feel the heat radiating out of it. The last log is put on at about 11 pm and the residual heat in the firebox keeps our home warm all night – the other morning we got up and it was still 21deg.C inside (and 1deg.C outside!).

Depending on the type of wood which we use, some nights it is so warm that we end up having to open the terrace doors slightly.

It’s the best investment we ever made and when we build our next home, we are definitely putting in another Cheminees Philippe Fireplace.

Thank you Wignells, we’ll see you when we build our next place.

Jason Grech, Hernes Oak Victoria

I have attached a few photos of the Radiante 846 that we purchased from you this time last year.

We have had the heater going now for approx 7 – 8 weeks and are very happy with it. Our house is approx 29 squares (Living), the heater is located between our lounge and family rooms and has no worries at all heating this size house. I installed 2 in line fan kits, one on each side of the fire place. The fan which is located in the family room has the longest run, it heats the kids bedrooms along with the kids bathroom and study.We have this fan going for approx 45 minutes and the rooms are very cosy. The other fan kit goes to the master bedroom and ensuite, this fan so far is not used as it get the rooms too hot.

As I said earlier, we are very happy with the Radiante 846, you will notice in the photos that we have wood boxes on each side of the fire place. This is very handy as you can load wood from both sides when one side is empty. The wood boxes hold approx 48 hrs of wood.

We have a lot of comments of how nice the heater looks, its very much a feature in our house and l cant believe the heat it kicks out!

Once again we are very happy with our purchase and look forward to many warm winters!

Vivienne & Johnny

My husband and I both love building and renovating and when it comes to making decisions on what sort of fireplace to install it is always a Cheminees Philippe.

We love every aspect about it. From the helpful and courteous customer service when purchasing from Wignells of Melbourne through to the experience and enjoyment you get when using it. No house should be without one. The simplicity of the design lends itself to all decors and the glass door means you don’t have to worry about leaving the fire on when you go to sleep or leave the house. The heat that is generated from it is so inviting and comfortable I look forward to cold weekends just so that we can have the fire place going.

Thank you Cheminees Philippe for making winter so much easier to stay warm and cosy.

Michael Lynch

Here’s a photo of our installation. We are very happy with it.
Also most impressed with the cleaner for the glass.

Ron 2009

Cheminees Philippe freestanding fireplace featured against a gorgeous stone hearth.

Lily

I chose a Cheminees Philippe fireplace as I knew that the design would not only be a feature but would suit my needs in warmth and also provide a wall between the family and dining areas of the house. Having such an open space it was the perfect feature not only for winter but it has also been a great decorative area where I display different height candles in the firebox with the doors up. It is so nice to be able to enjoy it wherever you are in the room.

Stuart Mckenzie

Just a quick note to let you know that I couldn’t be happier with my Cheminees Phillipe Radiante 846 3v firebox. It has soon become a focus for the cafe interior and the ambience it creates has made it a real point of difference. The customers have loved having the wood burning all of this cold Melbourne winter and now I am saving to buy one for home.

South of Johnston
46 Oxford street,
Collingwood 3065

Jo & Manny

Our fireplace is the centrepiece of our lounge room. We live in a warehouse conversion with exposed metal beams, and the uncovered fireplace fits in really well without needing to be hidden in a built-in chimney.

As well as being beautiful, it’s functional too! It’s been solidly built to last a lifetime. On a cold winter’s day there’s nothing better than gathering your friends around a real fire.

Simon Pockley

We have a Cheminees Philippe that we installed 20 years ago as the sole source of heating in our house in Northcote. It is a two way model and serves to divide a large room.

We love it and it has worked perfectly all these years.

Only maintenance has been to replace the firedogs and once we broke the glass by accident.

I would recommend it to anyone.

Dennis & Robyn Savage

My name is Dennis Savage; I am retired business man who lives in the rural area of North Victoria.

I have owned a Cheminees Philippe Radiante 1000 fireplace for the past four years. Our property is not serviced by natural gas and the electricity supply is inadequate and often unreliable to enable the use of suitable reverse cycle system. Our house is two stories with the main bedroom in the upstairs area. The total area we heat is approximately 45 squares of living and service area.

When we installed the fireplace we opted for the ducting kit which ducts heated air via insulated ducting and in line fans to two bedrooms at the opposite end of the downstairs area of the house. We allowed natural convection to occur through the stairwell to heat the upstairs area.

At the time of installation we were in some doubt as to whether the system could handle such a large area.

We installed the system in mid winter and lit the fire as soon as the surrounding brickwork and insulation had set. We found after a very short time that we only had to initially run the fire box at about 50% as it was so effective. Once the house is warmed to a comfortable level the system is capable of being run at 10%.

Previous means of heating was by way of the largest commercially available slow combustion free standing fireplace, which had difficulty heating only the downstairs living area.

We have found the Radiante 1000 to be everything we had hoped for and more. It not only does the job but it is more efficient in terms of wood consumption and clean burning than any other wood burning heater we have seen or used.

I commend the Cheminees Philippe system to any prospective buyer and thank Wignells of Melbourne for their outstanding, ongoing service and support.