Are they a pain in the a**? fireplaces.?

we want to put in a stone fireplace..we see all the neighbors with the wood stacked and men doing chimney repairs..my parents did not have one built on the house cuz in the 50s they thought it was old fashioned..our grandparents summer house had a huge fireplace with large stones..i used to love to throw plastic cartons in the fire and watch them melt..my mom says ok with the idea..were thinking 30.000 thousand...that's a lot for ambiance but...winter roasted chestnuts and fire place popcorn sounds cool.a neighbor said its a pain for repairs..soot..cleaning and too much work for pretty...is it worth it? we thought about a franklin stove or something of that nature but want to fiddle with the logs and see the flames..