BK Princess- with our without sides

The sides will give the stove more of a convective heat effect than without the sides, where you would expect it to radiate more heat directly out from the stove.

Having gone from a radiant stove to convective and back again to radiant again, there can be a significant difference in the way the space heats, at least in my space, and the way the heat "feels" in the room.

Hope this helps, hopefully someone who has added the sides to their BK can add or explain the difference with their stove.

Besides whatever functional purpose they serve, I think the stove looks better with the sides on. (I need them for the clearance reduction too...)

I have them but don't need them. They improve the looks of the princess model since without the shields you see more of the bigmac box shape.

The side shields aren't open at the top, they tuck in under the top plate of the stove so they aren't intended to create or encourage a convection current. The heat is not lost though, it just heats up the stove faster and the thermostat can back off earlier.

Leave them on for looks, take them off if you need every bit of heat that the stove can make.

Thing is, if you get the air hot enough and keep it hot, the objects will be plenty warm. All stoves have a component of radiant and convective heat production. Some make a bit more of one kind than the other. I've had inserts, stone stoves, and plate steel stoves and all of them were sized properly to make enough heat to do the job very well. You only really notice the difference when you're cold.

From a cold house, it takes a while to heat the air and then the contents of the house. After that, comfort is achieved.

Does removing the standard shields on the Ultra models affect the UL listing? One could assume the clearances would be the same as the unshielded Parlor and Classic models, but it might be good to find out first.

The optional shields for the Parlor and Classic models follow the shape of the sides, and aren't visible from the front. Still looks like a big mac box

I'm pretty sure the side shields on my Sirocco are open top and bottom. I'm not home right now, but I'll check later on when I get home...

The sides on my Sirocco are open at the bottom, but closed on top except for about an inch long opening towards the rear.