Our house is not huge...1200 ft main floor, 650 ish upstairs, and the floorplan is kinda in the middle, not bad, but not completely "open" either (typical center staircase cape cod) we can heat with the stove in the living room fireplace, but it doesn't do the upstairs real well, especially since that's where the insulation is the weakest. (for now) And the biggest issue with using the stove full time is heating the kids bedrooms with the doors closed, which closing the door(s) is a must since they are often sleeping while we are up and about...so the forced air furnace works out real well! And having it in the basement helps warm the floors too...plus, I just installed a HPWH (heat pump water heater) so that is able to capture some of the radiant "waste" heat from the furnace to make hot water...which has to make it even a bit more efficient.
I've often thought putting a hpwh in the stove room would make it pretty efficient. Thought about preheating my water in an uninsulated talk next to the stove also...
I have the optional DHW coil for my Kuuma...but now with the HPWH I will probably never use the coil.
