As far as how much the stoves can go down in the "off-season" depends on many factors. If there is a discontinued model, it will go cheaper. On others, it just depends on how motivated the dealer is or maybe there is a stove in a particular color that they want to clear out. Mostly, the off-season is best for scheduling the installation and ordering any parts. That's probably where you will save the most money. Maybe they can even throw in installation for free if they don't discount the stove. There is more bargaining room on everything when they have more time. As far as the motor and boards on the Harman, I only ever replaced one board, but I am convinced the owner of the stove messed it up (there were other issues with this guy). I never replaced a motor or even a blower, even on my own stove. There is fan noise with all pellet stoves and I would always recommend to people that it not be put in the TV room. It seems to bother some people more than others. If you are sensitive to sounds it will bother you. It is kind of like a range hood fan on low all the time.

Great inspiration photo! (Looks like something from my favorite British decorating magazine, The English Home.) The wood stove looks very similar to a small wood stove made by a Danish company called Morso - they make both modern and traditional looking stoves. I fell in love with an even smaller wood stove they make while shopping for a gas fireplace insert a year ago. They are very efficient wood stoves and can be used even during a burn ban (if you live in an area with air quality issues). Maybe their website can provide you with the clearance requirements around the stove - I would be concerned about whether the white/cream paint could withstand the heat of the wood stove, but perhaps heat resistant paints are available in colors other than black. :-)

Thanks for your reply Chelone. So you burn hot in the morning and afternoon, but also add some wood between the hot burns to keep the stove between 300 and 400? What do you do at night before going to bed? Just add enough to have some coals in the morning, or burn it hot again? As I understand it, we're not supposed to do a "smolder" burn in this stove (as we did with our Lopi), but I find that even cranked way down, our wood burns beautifully, and completely, so I'm getting more comfortable with tossing in a piece here and there and damping way down to keep it going. Like you, we really love the fact that we can be in the same vicinity as the stove without being baked. I'm finding we're burning about as much wood as we did previously, but of course, we're now heating nearly 1700sf where before, we were in a 1400sf home. Overall, we're really happy with our stove, and it's such a beautiful piece to look at as well. Thanks again, Geordie

I know the name Quadra-Fire (and have looked, but did not buy yet, fire place inserts) and think it is go good quality/design. That said, if you can trust the dealer and you like the Country Legacy, I'd go for it. By trust, I mean if you ask him important question can/will he give you accurate answers. For example: how heavy is the metal, what is it steel cast iron, is the stove lined with quality fire birck... these are questions that occur to me. Then you compare them with what Q-Fire offers. Oh yes, efficiency. Q-Fire pushes how efficent it is, gets more heat into the room. Given you are burning wood to heat, and you don't get the wood for free, efficiency is an important parameter.