That has to be the ideal spot. You see some on an outside wall...

That has to be the ideal spot.
You see some on an outside wall with the flue going straight out through the wall from the rear outlet. It might look neat with no flue but what a waste of heat.

At one of the wood heater shops they had a water heat exchanger built into a length of SS flue to pick up the heat from bottom section that really gets hot. I hadn't seen it used there before and thought it was a good idea because it's easily replaced and should be very efficient.