I know this is an old thread, but it seems to have spurred some interest over the last few years. I, too, wanted to know if these grate heaters worked and came across this thread, but wasn't really convinced one way or the other from peoples' responses. On a whim, I decided to buy one, so I figured I could contribute if there are others like me who are curious. First of all, I went with the Cozy Grate Heater from woodlanddirect.com, and I've owned it for about 2 months (November and December). Granted these aren't the coldest months in New England where I live, but I felt I had enough experience with the unit so far to give my two cents. Here goes: - Does the unit put off heat? In short, yes. I keep my thermostat set on 60-62 degrees. Within a couple hours of lighting a fire, my living room (where the fireplace is) is up to 70-72 degrees. It's an approximately 10x20' room and it gets plenty toasty. Some of that heat does go into the rest of the house, but primarily it heats the space where the fireplace is located. - Will this unit provide heating for your whole house? Not really. I do notice the thermostat climb a few of degrees in other parts of the house, but again, primarily it seems to heat the fireplace room. I would say these units are best suited as supplemental heat for your existing heating system. - Do these heaters provide comparable heating to a fireplace insert or wood stove? Not really. My in-laws have an insert and my mom has a wood stove, so I can make a fair comparison. From my experience, the grate heater burns wood quicker than wood stoves & inserts and doesn't put out the same amount of heat. My guess is this has to do with air control - inserts and wood stoves are airtight and you have complete control over the amount of combustion air. A fireplace door (even with a damper feature) is not completely airtight. My mom's wood stove can burn a few logs all day long. I could burn though the same amount of wood in just a few hours. Again, the unit does a great job providing supplemental heat to your fireplace room, and a little bit for the rest of the house, but they aren't going to be a whole-home heating solution. One last consideration that isn't mentioned anywhere online: The unit I purchased (Cozy Grate Heater) is designed to operate most efficiently with the fireplace doors CLOSED. It says so in the instructions. However, I discovered that most fireplace doors are made of tempered glass and are NOT recommended to be closed while a fire is burning. Tempered glass can only withstand temperatures of about 500 degrees. They do make glass doors from a special type of glass called ceramic glass which is INCREDIBLY expensive - this is the same glass found in inserts and wood stoves. Before I bought the unit, I wanted to also purchase new fireplace doors. After discovering this, I decided to keep my existing doors just in case the glass on the new doors ended up cracking. I did call the company that makes the cozy grate heater and asked about this. A nice woman I spoke to told me she's never had a customer call and complain that their glass doors cracked. So far (again, 2 months in), I haven't had an issue - I don't build raging fires and I keep the burning logs at least 6 inches from the glass. Just be aware of this if you're considering buying a grate heater. All in all, I'm very satisfied with my grate heater. I wasn't expecting it to perform as well as an insert, but rather wanted it for supplemental heating of my living room. I love having a fire, but hated the smoke and lack of heating efficiency. This unit has certainly met my expectations. Sorry for the long-winded response, but I'm hoping this will help others out there who are in the same situation I was two months ago!

Hi, prairiemoon2 - I'm a first time poster on this forum but frequent lurker! We are just starting our home and have used Ikea judiciously, mainly because we need to stretch our dollar as far as it will go right now. At Ikea, we found solid walnut storage chests, purchased unfinished and disassembled, in a grid design, that we use in a bedroom. We bought a solid pine stool, again unfinished and disassembled, that we stained red and use our kitchen. We have a *lot* of their rough pine storage units, yet again unfinished and disassembled, in our basement. All of these pieces are solid and now well-built (by my husband). We used Ikea cabinets in our kitchen - particleboard and veneer, but much better quality than anything else that fit in our budget. Our books and files are housed in a large veneer/ particleboard office unit. These particleboard/ veneer units will probably only make it 15 years or so, but the kitchen cabs may last longer. I'm pretty impressed with them. You always get what you pay for, but if you shop very carefully at Ikea, you can find some nice value. Also, your own assembly skills dictate a lot of the outcome - thank goodness my husband is handy. Personally, I wouldn't buy upholstered furniture or furniture that will be heavily used from them (yet, I got kitchen cabs there - so I'm not always consistent). Our next project that I'll be returning to Ikea for is a basement playroom. We do the secondhand shop/ save-and-invest approach too, but personally, I don't think that's necessary for every corner of our house. Cheers - LM

"Can you elaborate on this suggestion that Corian is too thin for TopZero seamless flush mount sink installation?" As a Certified Corian Fabricator and Installer for 30 years and as an authorized TZ installer, I can assure you that the thickness of Corian is irrelevant to its use with a TopZero sink. You'd simply build up the inside of the edge of the cutout with Corian. In addition, I'd use a tinted Integra Component Bonder between the Corian and the TZ vertical flange which will provide a more flexible and therefore stronger and more permanent and waterproof bond. Furthermore, I'd strap the TZ in place, thereby removing the job of supporting the sink from the adhesive to the cabinet sides. Follow these steps and the sink will provide years of maintenence-free service in Corian or any other solid surface. Or you could install a Karran 540; a spectacular sink, particularly if you don't want any silicone joint or reveal, just a smooth transition from stainless steel to countertop:

I wish I had read this before I bought a Yardzen package. I am in the review/feedback stage of our draft design now, and am so disappointed. Others above have exactly captured my feedback so far: the time it took me to gather everything required for me to submit the design request feels wasted at this point, because the draft feels nothing like what I requested or envisioned…almost the opposite. My disappointment is deep. I will painstakingly input all of my and my husband’s feedback tomorrow (on our laptop since their process doesn’t allow mobile) and see how they do the second time. From the simple fact that they show us replacing features I specifically said are staying (like existing fencing), to the fact that the exterior design shows the wrong roof, window and gutter colors (that we paid good money for!)…I’m not happy. Hoping the second draft is a major improvement.