Wood Cook Stove

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A few lucky members here have them in their kitchens. I had an old timer when living in CT and loved it. This stove is a lot fancier. Not sure what brand this one is, Margin? Aga, Esse, Heartland are a some of the makers out there.

Good to hear that he is really careful where he deposits those hot coals.

The how to start a wood cook stove video is helpful.



Here's a video of laundry drying around the stove. There are several more including one on




For more videos documenting their lifestyle here is their youtube home page:
http://www.youtube.com/user/ArtisanAcre
 
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That is a really fancy stove. I love it. Thanks for all those videos. I'll check them out. It's a little hard to justify the $4,000+ price tag for the new cook stoves. A woodstove cooktop can do half of the tasks as one of these and not nearly the price. Fun to think about though.
 
There's something elegant and special about a nice cookstove in the kitchen. It warms the body, food and soul.
 
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Wouldn't be without our Esse. What a pleasant stove to run and cook with. The heat output is great! Such a nice soothing heat, and then you remember it's cooking your dinner too. Best of both worlds. Power goes out, your dinner is still cooking. We did the same exact brownie mix in our electric oven and the Esse. Esse hands down won! After having the stove, you get what you paid for. I can tell this stove will out last me and without a doubt the next owners as well.
 
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Tough sell for most wives, I imagine. Would sure be fun as a second cookstove, but it's not likely to replace a gas or electric range in most households.

Now if that Margin Flame View Heater was a cat stove with long burn times... I'd be measuring to see if I could shoehorn one in my fireplace!
 
I would love to have one, and I would use it.

You may change your tune after firing it 500 times a year, every time you want to heat something on the stove top! Looks fun, until it's your only stove on hot days in late July.
 
When I had one and fired it up, twice a day during the heating season. It becomes a rhythm of life, not too different from other small firebox woodstoves. In the summer I used the electric stove, though it was not uncommon before electricity and piped gas to have a second stove outside in the summer kitchen.
 
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If we had the space, I would love a wood stove as well as our propane stove-or one of the combo units. There is no where NEAR enough clearance in our kitchen though, and no place for a summer kitchen.
 
You may change your tune after firing it 500 times a year, every time you want to heat something on the stove top! Looks fun, until it's your only stove on hot days in late July.

When I was a little boy my mother did her cooking on the wood stove....except for the hot summer months; usually Memorial Day until Labor Day. In those times she used a small propane stove top. It was actually more like something one would use for camping. She was happy to get the wood stove going again though until her health somewhat deteriorated. She finally got a decent gas stove and I do not have the memory of what happened to the wood cook stove. Later in life, they also ended up getting fuel oil for heating. I think that was about the time I got married and the price of fuel oil at that time was $.12 per gallon. Most folks bragged that they could heat their home for less than a dollar a day back then.
 
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When I was a little boy my mother did her cooking on the wood stove....except for the hot summer months; usually Memorial Day until Labor Day. In those times she used a small propane stove top. It was actually more like something one would use for camping. She was happy to get the wood stove going again though until her health somewhat deteriorated. She finally got a decent gas stove and I do not have the memory of what happened to the wood cook stove. Later in life, they also ended up getting fuel oil for heating. I think that was about the time I got married and the price of fuel oil at that time was $.12 per gallon. Most folks bragged that they could heat their home for less than a dollar a day back then.

Interesting story.
 
The Esse takes up to a 19 inch log. I cut everything 16-18 so the wood fits in both of my stoves. The Esse does over night burns , even has a secondary air wash on the top. You get those wispy secondary flames over the wood once you damp it down. Once going I shut off the bottom draft and just run the secondary upper draft. Easy stove to run. I usually keep it going 24/7. For that matter you could burn coal as well as it has some monster grates inside.Bet they're an inch thick and cast iron. Nice big slide out ash drawer too. I save all my ugly wood pieces for the cook stove. There was a picture window in the room with stove, we took that out and put two new double hung windows , so we can now open the windows and let air in or heat out if need be. I figure we could always throw a fan in the window and use the stove when it's still a little warm out.
 
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A well-designed wood cookstove is quite easy to use, and I do all our baking on ours. Well, except for the very hottest summer days, when I bake on the Weber gas grill outdoors. I've been baking in cookstove ovens for decades and love them. Contrary to some opinion, they are not difficult to get to or keep at a desired temperature. You do not come home from a long day at work and light them up, expecting to cook in ten minutes. But the better-designed ones will hold temperature for hours with minimal attention to the fire.

However, good cookstoves are pricey, very heavy, and take up some room. Though not any more room than a gas range. Many people have the gas range as well as the cookstove, so there is much more room taken up in the kitchen, which can be a factor for many kitchens. We don't have a gas range in the kitchen, just a countertop propane burner set I cut off the top of a propane range someone gave me.

Getting a wood cookstove is, therefore, something about which to think carefully. I am 100% for them, but if you plan to move in a little while, that cookstove is gonna be a bear to take along. Ours weighs around 900 lb. And, as they cost a lot of money, if you later decide you don't really like it, you have a ton of cash locked up in it until such time as you can find a buyer.

But you couldn't pry mine away from me. My wife agrees, says it's about the best thing we ever did, buying it.
 
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A well-designed wood cookstove is quite easy to use, and I do all our baking on ours. Well, except for the very hottest summer days, when I bake on the Weber gas grill outdoors. I've been baking in cookstove ovens for decades and love them. Contrary to some opinion, they are not difficult to get to or keep at a desired temperature. You do not come home from a long day at work and light them up, expecting to cook in ten minutes. But the better-designed ones will hold temperature for hours with minimal attention to the fire.

However, good cookstoves are pricey, very heavy, and take up some room. Though not any more room than a gas range. Many people have the gas range as well as the cookstove, so there is much more room taken up in the kitchen, which can be a factor for many kitchens. We don't have a gas range in the kitchen, just a countertop propane burner set I cut off the top of a propane range someone gave me.

Getting a wood cookstove is, therefore, something about which to think carefully. I am 100% for them, but if you plan to move in a little while, that cookstove is gonna be a bear to take along. Ours weighs around 900 lb. And, as they cost a lot of money, if you later decide you don't really like it, you have a ton of cash locked up in it until such time as you can find a buyer.

But you couldn't pry mine away from me. My wife agrees, says it's about the best thing we ever did, buying it.
I agree on the oven temps being easy to maintain. That's one of the benefits I think you get with a heavy built stove. Mass gives you nice even cooking temps. We're fortunate that there was an open room right off our kitchen with a 6 inch step down to that room. It worked out perfect. Cooking food that will come out great and heating your place at the same time is no doubt a very wonderful feeling and environment to be in. Self sufficiency at it's best! Yup can almost feel the old days!
 

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There is a modern Knox Mealmaster wood or coal cook stove for sale near here at a very reasonable price. Is anyone familiar with them? I'm very tempted to just buy it and store it in my basement for a rainy day.

Is there any way to line an interior chimney that is currently used to vent a gas furnace so that it can vent both the gas furnace and the kitchen cook stove? If so I could install this Knox in a rear room or in the basement. (I installed an exterior flue for the Fireview in our living room.)
 
Does your gas furnace really need a chimney? Maybe repurpose that chimney to the cookstove, and go direct vent with the gas furnace?
 
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Although no longer hooked up, I still have this one, and am somewhat attached to it:
 

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I agree on the oven temps being easy to maintain. That's one of the benefits I think you get with a heavy built stove. Mass gives you nice even cooking temps. We're fortunate that there was an open room right off our kitchen with a 6 inch step down to that room. It worked out perfect. Cooking food that will come out great and heating your place at the same time is no doubt a very wonderful feeling and environment to be in. Self sufficiency at it's best! Yup can almost feel the old days!
Charly, That is absolutely beautiful! We put a little stove in our kitchen winter before last. We really wanted a cook stove but just didn't have the room and really didn't want to spend the money. We love our little stove in the kitchen, but yours makes a part of me wish I had gone with the cook stove. Gorgeous!
 
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Does your gas furnace really need a chimney? Maybe repurpose that chimney to the cookstove, and go direct vent with the gas furnace?

The gas furnace is more than 20 years old. I have no idea what the requirements are to vent a gas furnace (natural gas, hot water furnace with old fashioned radiators). Anyone have any ideas? I'd love to be able to use the interior chimney with a liner for this kitchen cook stove.
 
Charly, That is absolutely beautiful! We put a little stove in our kitchen winter before last. We really wanted a cook stove but just didn't have the room and really didn't want to spend the money. We love our little stove in the kitchen, but yours makes a part of me wish I had gone with the cook stove. Gorgeous!
Thank you for the nice complement. We are extremely happy with the whole thing. If we have a lot to cook, we have two kitchen stoves, one definitely cooks food a lot better and also heats the house;)
 
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