Jotul Oslo or Castine... New to wood burning.

.My wife and I have narrowed it down to two stoves. We looked a Hearthstone and Morso stoves, but the two Jotuls met both the size and aesthetic criteria the best. I've spent endless hours researching both stoves, and need a nudge to pull the trigger.

our house was built in 2010 to the strict "Healthy Built/Green criteria." It would be considered Super insulated, and received as high a rating on overall "tightness" as possible. Were are the second owners, and I don't have the specific specs. The builder is our neighbor and if necessary I can retrieve the info. Overall Sq. Ft is 3000 Sq ft. 1500 upstairs and 1500 downstairs. We will be putting the stove upstairs in the main living area. Floor plan is open with it being divided fairly equal. The upstairs living area is 25ft x 25ft, and a hall way connects the bedrooms and bathrooms for the additional space upstairs. We live in Asheville, NC in the mountains about 3500 ft. above sea level. The house was built on the North side of the mountain, and receives almost constant westerly winds throughout the winter. I'm attaching pics, but a majority of the wall the stove will go on is all windows (which are all Low E). The chimney will be aprox. 15-18 ft, depending on the roof line, and the stove will vent from the top without any 45's or 90's. We plan on using double sided stove pipe to reduce clearances as much as possible.

I'm concerned the Oslo may be too much stove both size wise and heat output size, however I prefer the having the side loading door and the overall performance reviews I've read. The Castine seems to fit the space better (hearth much smaller and depth smaller), but I'm concerned about the airwash and my wife prefers the smaller size.

My wife loves the Ivory enamel and we plan on matching the stove pipe to the same color. I don't think I can with either, but since I'm new to wood burning, I wan't to make sure I have control.

Usage will be too supplement our heat pump during cold snaps (this will be primarily when it will be used 24 hours a day), enjoy the ambiance of a fire, and provided safety during power outages. We live outside the city, and this is fairly frequent. For reference, the smallest blue square, and the smaller large sq. are the hearth/stove measurements. The larger and larger are the Oslo. Thanks for any and all help. This site has been an invaluable reference.

Yeah, pricing out the two stoves with the install of the chimney, it's a small difference in price of stove compared to total cost. I agree the Castine would probably be plenty of stove, but the side loading and deeper firebox are good selling points for the Oslo. Also, after the winter we had last year, the option of being able to having longer burn times if necessary is appealing.

Begreen, you're correct, it's 1500 sq. ft upstairs, and basically the exact footprint downstairs. Previous to my research on this site, I had hope to move some heat downstairs, but that's not looking like its practical. While both are great stoves, I've had some hesitance with the Castine due to reviewers noting that it tends to puff smoke when opening. I may be over-weighting this as an issue, but in comparison I had a hard time finding any consistent complaints with the Oslo,

The builder of our house lives next door, and is very confident we can heat the house with a heater the size of Castine. The house was pressure tested and scored a 2.5 ACH50 (air changes per hour at 50 pascals). Overall, I'm glad I've finally narrowed it down to only two stoves, and it seems I can't go wring with either.

That Blaze King Ashford is solid stove. We don't have a dealer in the immediate area, so I haven't been able to see one in person. We also went through a couple days on the Hearthstone Shelburne or Manchester--both great looking stoves. Another major criteria is my wife liking to look at it. She loves having fires, but hasn't been excited about putting a large black metal box in the family room. The white enamel on the Jotuls has been very well received, especially with the stove paint painted to match.

Unfortunately, Vermont Castings aren't getting positive responses, because their Flexburn Encore would have been good fit.

RichVT-
That stove setup is great, and would definitely be wife approved in my household. We are looking to pull up some hardwood and put in a tile or stone hearth. The smaller Hearth requirements of the Castine is also a plus.

As for the Matte Black being easier to maintain, this seems contrary to what I've been reading. I had thought the Matte black aged faster, got dusty, and looked dated after a few years. Originally, we considered rear venting due to the wall of windows the stove sits on, but would rather top vent due to better functionality. We cleared some trees and view we opened up is fantastic, and we feared a black stove pipe would take away from the view--the white pipe/stove would be much less obstructive.

As for heating/burning, my assumption is during the winter we will start a fire in the evening and let it burn down overnight. If it's cold enough for the Aux heat on the heat pump to be on, I'll stoke the fire up in the morning and let it burn through the afterno repeating the process each day.

We may in the future install a stove downstairs, and I agree it's a preferable location. A downstairs install is far more complex, expensive (chimney wise), and we won't enjoy the experience of the stove . This is our first winter in the house, and if utility merits it, we'll look at an additional large stove.

I had planned on running the heat pump fan constantly to circulate the stove heat--we are installing a "necessities" generator that should manage the fan in an outage. However, there seem to be mixed reviews on how well this works.

I should specify, upstairs is misleading, it's actually the main floor, and the bottom floor is actually below ground on one side--basically a finished basement built into the side of the mountain. I planned on having a main wood pile around back and second stack at our front door about 30ft from the stove location.

Definitely installing an OAK on the stove immediately, and additionally, putting a high wind chimney cap on. The house is situated between two ridges and the wind whips up through the valley between the ridges.

For conversation sake, does anyone have first hand experience with the Jotul White enamel? The Mrs. is set on it. Wood stoves seemed to be an exercise in compromise between form and function.

Originally, when we purchased the home and determined the location for a future stove, I was set on a Morso 7648 and then the Morso 3450. After researching I quickly learned those were expensive space heaters--not what we were looking for, and I knew in an outage I'd be kicking myself (also recutting splits to 10in).

Well darn... Search just got more complicated. That's a fine stove, and the clearances--5in with double wall--are great. I've had a great experience with our local Jotul deale. I'm not excited about switching stove brands, but that T5 is beautiful, and specs are within the range I was looking for.

As for the walls, we have Superior pre-fab walls on a concrete foundation. The heat loss should be very low. I don't have exact specs.

Begreen, will the stove construction on the PE affect the feel of the heat or output. Also, the Antique white is pictured but not listed as an option. I'm going to reach out to a dealer this week.