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!

Hello... I apologize for not responding sooner. Here it is October 5th already...geez...don't you hate that! Sorry. Well...jyyanks...thanks for sharing your experiences. Sounds like nothing went right for you with your Ikea experience. When I was there, we were looking for a recliner and really weren't expecting to see one at Ikea, but they did have one and so we sat in it. OMG it was awful. It was so uncomfortable. But really I felt you could tell just by looking at their upholstered furniture that it was not only uncomfortable but not well made. So I just crossed that type of purchase off the list of what I would consider getting at that store. I'm sure I learned the same lesson you learned at IKEA, at some other similar store earlier. I also ruled out a lot of the textiles because they are so modernistic and I am not at all. I am more country/traditional, so you can imagine most of their stuff would be a leap for me. I did find their cabinetry did appear to have some features that I found appealing and innovative. But then I realized that all of their tall wardrobes are 93" tall and none of them would fit in our house...lol. So, I guess that isn't leaving a lot for me to find there. lnmca....I am going to read the link you provided and keep reading about what others experiences have been with them. I do like to know the facts and not just go with my first impressions. One last thing though...I found that what appealed to me about the company was what seemed like their attempt to try to go 'green', what with their eco friendly 'green roof' on their building and the attempt to use renewable resources to make their products, and I still do find that to be applauded, but...after seeing the menu in the cafeteria there and finding there are limits to how much information you can get on some products materials, I sense there is some contradiction there and/or a very narrow view of what is 'green'. Just one person's opinion. Thank you both. :-) pm2

horton, thanks so much for the feedback! That's the feeling I got about quality and ease of putting it together. It's also nice to be able to choose an exact size and leg style, plus the edge as well, at no extra cost. Thanks again!

After my recent experience with Maiden, I do not believe all of the positive reviews. There are price discrepancies for the sectional I want to order and their customer service team was rude and talked over me when I tried to explain that there are 3 different prices being quoted for the exact same item! I was told its a website “glitch” and that the actual price of the sofa I want is more than what the website shows. Website shows $5425. By text customer service told me more than once it’s actually $5500 list price and by phone/email yet another customer service rep told me its even more- $5550! I told her i don’t trust these seemingly arbitrary price discrepancies and she said the higher price IS the price, doesnt matter what the website says or the other customer service rep says- the highest price stands, take it or leave it. If they can’t even get their story straight on the pricing, how are they gojng to get my order right? if they seem to just change their oricing arbitrailty and not honor whats written on their website- why would I trust that they are going to honor ANY of the written policies or product information on their website. Seems like they put out false information and then cal it a ”glitch” and the customer is the one who suffers for it. The difference in price won’t break me, its a few hundred- but the principle of it and the poor customer service make me wary of Maiden. Seems like an Untrustworthy company!