Why can we not have pretty stoves??? I don't get it. I can't say anything about the looks of a stove or else I am being "bitchy". I'm a girl and I like pretty things. I don't get this "let's make looks the least important part of a stove" mindset. Why? Why? Why? You stove people torment me, especially the rocket stove people. Here is one of the many examples: http://blog.dragonheaters.com/painting-flues/ *This is done in a light hearted and semi-serious tone*
Oh, I know. I am mostly playing. I did see that moss green and was left speechless. I have read numerous posts about the partners having a say in stoves so I thought I would create this post. I'm talking to a single guy now and I am cringing at what his rocket stove might look like. Is that shallow? Ha ha. Watch, it will be moss green.
I wouldn't call it pretty. I would call it a decent design. But several people have commented about the stove not being their cup of tea in terms of looks. For soapstone, the Progress is a great looking design. Some find the Fireview a too Victorian looking, but I like it. I think the Heritage line of stoves offer great looking designs. For cast iron, I love the visual design of VC stoves. The Quadrafire Isle Royal, Cumberland Gap, and Yosemite look great. The Pacific Energy Alderlea T4-T6 are good looking designs. When it comes to Steel stoves, I'm at a loss. There aren't any steel stoves that strike me. The 30 is ugly and is only saved be being surround by my huge fireplace. It looks great in that setting, but, the stove by itself is ugly. I really like the modern European designs that Jotul and Hearthstone offer, but the damm things are too small for me to get excited about.
Looks were important to us and that too was one of the reasons we bought the Fireview. For some reason it seems there are a lot of plain stoves and I've always thought that perhaps it is because most of those were lower cost stoves. Just read through a lot of threads of people wanting to get into wood burning. It seems the majority sort of want to start burning wood but they want to go as cheaply as possible. But then, some like second hand Fords while others want Cadilac's.
The Quadrafire Isle Royal was what my wife wanted originally until she saw the Fireview and that was that if we were going to get a stove it had to be the fireview. Everyones taste is different though.
I actually really like them, and they maybe don't come out of the box very fast.. but turn a couple wrenches and tweak the tune a tad and they go pretty well and are a LOT of fun to ride.
I will probably be purchasing one, but "pretty" would not be a term I would use. The Fireview is pretty.
I've never "liked" an entire thread before. Good comments. Good point. Good thread. Good bunch of people.
I've been told this not a few times this burning season. My wife and daughter want the Fireview back. Maybe I could get the Fireview back from my little brother and install my dad's old Buderus wood/coal boiler in the basement and tie it into my natural gas hot water furnace system. My wife's gonna kill me ...