Hi splais, We are at the tail end of a total gut kitchen remodel in our 1925 bungalow. I had a 30” freestanding 1980ish coil electric stove that came with the house. It ran on 220V and had a 3 prong plug. When we converted to gas heat in 2005 and removed our old 1940’s oil furnace, I had the furnace installers make a “T” with the gas line for a future gas range. They came up through the floor behind my existing electric range. (new furnace was pretty much right below the stove area in the basement) With the remodel, I bought a new 30” GE Profile Dual Fuel FS range and the plumber moved the existing gas line from the floor, to be coming out the wall. (new code where we live). The electrician changed the existing 220V wall plug to a 4 prong to accommodate the new range. Since we were converting to a gas range, we needed to vent it properly. We couldn’t go straight up from the position of the non-vented hood we had because there is a bedroom directly above. Our plumber ran a 8” duct up through the cabinet above the range into the ceiling joist, turned 90 degrees ran in the joist, turned again 90 degrees ran it a few feet into the attic space and went out through the roof. We have a max of 350CFM on our Broan range hood. Our GC said that it would be adequate for our new range and cooking needs. Our range is not a pro style range but for me it’s just fine. I find that I use the range vent hood on 1 or 2 power because I rarely have the gas burners on past a 3 or 4 and most of the time I only use 1 to 2 burners at a time. If I am boiling water for pasta then I have the range vent on the high position because of the steam. Gas definitely heats faster then electric coil! I like the immediate response it gives me and that I can "see" it right away. This is a learning curve for me, I’ve never had a gas range. It is a little more maintenance to keep the top clean, I tend to be a “wipe down when you’re done cooking” kinda gal so I remove the grates to wipe down, my coil stove was easier to do this, just wipe and go. So far I like cooking on gas very much. I wanted to have an electric oven because I like to bake cheesecakes, pies and cakes once in a while and prefer electric ovens, this range gave me both. I also love having a window in my oven, my old stove did not. I waited over 20+ years to get a window! I can finally see what I’m baking without opening the door! Yay! My Mother had her kitchen remodeled in 2012 and she had a 27inch slide in electric coil stove, but since she was gutting her kitchen she opted for the versatility of a 30” freestanding electric range instead. She loves her window in her stove too since old one didn’t have one either. I think you could easily have your microwave on the counter somewhere, looks like you have a few placement options and plenty of counter space. I don’t think it would interfere with resale. Most people seem to want counter space and you definitely have that. I’m enclosing a picture of the new range and the new vented range hood. NWRain-Gal :)

When my Harmon was installed, I was warned against scraping the fire pit too often. I have found that the time between scraping depends on the fuel you are using (Maple pellets seem to produce a lot more carbon that oak, pine is about in the middle, ash is almost as clean as oak, etc. ) I scrape about every 5-8 bags (e.g. 200-300 pounds) of fuel. Just after scraping, I can run the feed rate at 4 1/2 with a specific brand of pellet, and as the fire pit loads up, I have to back off on the feed rate. After 3 or 4 bags, I set the feed rate on 3. The ash bucket fills up after about 20-25 bags of fuel, and I simply slow the stove down for a while and dump the bucket, clean up any ash that was behind it, give the primary tubes a quick clean, and put it back together. I clean everything once every ton of fuel or so. (e.g. filling the ash bucket 2 or 3 times.) The reason I end up playing with the feed rate is that: a: The stove is the only heat we are using in the house. b: The house is about 2500 sq ft. c: it was getting down to -5F at night in the area this winter. So, I go for getting the most heat I can from the stove. If it doesn't get as cold at night, I don't need the little bit of extra output I can get. When it is really cold out, I'll burn 2+ bags a day. Right now, it's about 1 1/2. (It is only getting down to about +10F at night.) As far as cleaning the glass, its done when the rest of the stove gets a full cleaning. I bought a pack of 500 single edge razor blades and put a fresh blade in the knife, take the heavy stuff off, then use Windex(r).

jjplant, I wish I had been able to locate my stove in a central location like that. I would have loved to get that little Tribute model and put it on my main floor where I could watch the fire. There was just no place to put it. You'll be a lot better off than me by having an interior chimney. I've run into the cold exterior flue thing where I have to use more wood to keep the flue sufficiently hot to avoid creosote buildup. Your interior stack will provide heat that mine cannot as well. If you want to reduce the time it takes to get the soapstone up to a good heat, try starting your fires backwards. By that I mean, put a few large split logs on the bottom with a space between them, put medium to small logs across those, kindling of top, light a stick of fat wood and stick it under the kindling. The kindling will ignite the other stuff below as the coals fall down. I got my stove up to 400 within 30 minutes using this method. You also don't have to keep running back to build up the newly started fire with this method. I'm loving it. Just make sure that you'll have the adequate chimney height for the stove you choose. I love my Heritage, but it takes a minimum 13' chimney. You're going straight up, so you should be good to go no matter what you get. By the way, I believe Hearthstone discounts their stoves in January each year for a few weeks.

Hi: We've been looking into coal stoves, too. We are down to Harman and Keystoker. I think Keystoker has more models than is shown on their website. I would suggest you email them for more details. I think I also saw where they are 88-90% efficient and have a 10-year warranty on their stoker stoves, 5 years on their radiant;i.e., automatic feed vs. self-feed. Harman is cheaper, has a 5-year warranty, but I have no idea what their heating efficiency. It just doesn't tell you anywhere. I don't think Harman has any automatic feed stoves. At least, I didn't see any. We are looking for one with minimum clearance, but if I had my druthers, I'd go for a center room floor-to-ceiling stone wall with a place for a fireplace insert or stove...but no time to build that. I, for one, would like to have a Keystoker more than Harman, but that's my opinion. Hubby would rather the Harman. Maybe we can buy 1 of each. LOL Yueng, I think coal prices are still the same right now. We've been watching.