Just wanted to say thanks for the advice I got on here. The installation of everything was a lot more work than I planned for, but I'm super happy with the end result.
Have to give the Osburn a big thumbs up, too. It's a decent step up in terms of overall build compared to the ones at Lowes (Englanders?). It seems about as well made as the others I looked at (Avalons, PEs and Quadrafires) but was only $1345 shipped from dynamitebuys.com. It's got great clearance-to-combustible specs so definitely look into it if you're dealing with a lot of wood paneling. It also has a lot of flexibility as to how deeply it sits in the fireplace (six inches range or so).
This is their 1.85 cubic foot firebox model, which should be fine for our weekend/weeknight use in a ~1400 SF house with a couple rooms we don't need to heat much. If was in the 30's all weekend and even burning about low as it'll go the kitchen and living room were 80 degrees. Giving it 3 pieces of wood at 10, the core of the house was still in the mid-70's the next morning. About my only complaint right now is that I managed to burn some dried mortar into the finish so I may be repainting the top. Ah well.
Originally I was going to just add an extra inch of tile to the old pink granite to get the right clearance, but my wife made some "helpful" aesthetic decisions that led through the seconds room at the local tile studio....
Before and (dusty, post-grouting) after picture:
Have to give the Osburn a big thumbs up, too. It's a decent step up in terms of overall build compared to the ones at Lowes (Englanders?). It seems about as well made as the others I looked at (Avalons, PEs and Quadrafires) but was only $1345 shipped from dynamitebuys.com. It's got great clearance-to-combustible specs so definitely look into it if you're dealing with a lot of wood paneling. It also has a lot of flexibility as to how deeply it sits in the fireplace (six inches range or so).
This is their 1.85 cubic foot firebox model, which should be fine for our weekend/weeknight use in a ~1400 SF house with a couple rooms we don't need to heat much. If was in the 30's all weekend and even burning about low as it'll go the kitchen and living room were 80 degrees. Giving it 3 pieces of wood at 10, the core of the house was still in the mid-70's the next morning. About my only complaint right now is that I managed to burn some dried mortar into the finish so I may be repainting the top. Ah well.
Originally I was going to just add an extra inch of tile to the old pink granite to get the right clearance, but my wife made some "helpful" aesthetic decisions that led through the seconds room at the local tile studio....
Before and (dusty, post-grouting) after picture:
