I purchased this product to safely burn cuttings and branches from the woods on the property. To do this efficiently and safely, one needs to be able to remove the top to feed in the cuttings to the fire. It can be dangerous to open the side door because embers and buring logs can roll out of the fireplace. When this happens, one can get in the situation where you can't get the door closed back with burning material in the way.
I purchased this unit to replace a similar model from a different company that I had used successfully for years. It just rusted out over time.
For this Uniflame unit, the problem with feeding from the top is that the top is designed to bolt down to the wire-framed side walls. In fact, the top holds the frame walls in place. The side frame is far to flimsy without the top in place. One has to provide additional bracing to hold the side frames togther.
As such, the unit is a big disappointment to me and I would not buy this brand again. There are other fireplaces of this general size and appearance on the market where the top can be removed for safer burning.