Fireplace or Gas Stove?

Lately, I have been toiling over what to do about heating this place.

Move in day--it was cold, cold, cold and the gas stove heater did not work. The heating guy spent hours trying to fix the stove...the pilot would go on but wouldn't catch. It turns out the valve or something was frozen in position and couldn't be regulated. After replacing lots of parts and a lot of money...it was on...for about 24 hours. It was sucking gas like crazy and then, when we turned down the heat--that was it. He said it would cost more money to fix it than to replace it.

Fast forward to now...its July, its warm, harvest starts in less than a month which means I don't get a day off until Thanksgiving...which means I'd better figure this thing out so I can get it done before it turns cold.

So, here are my options....
1. I can replace the gas stove for 2000$...I also would want to update the poorly cut fake brick behind the stove (note the void in the picture where it enters the wall)...with what I don't know.

2. I can opt for doing a gas fireplace. It would require a carpenter to build in the hearth. But it would give me the option of making built ins on each side of the fireplace and make it more "craftsman like". The difficulty in this task--Either the flu ducting would need to be moved to the right or part of the ceiling would need to be redone....there is a beam in the center of the great room that is in the way of making built-ins to the right of the fireplace.

Yikes....I'm just not ready to commit to such an expensive design element yet and I have to make a decision soon!!!!