Best Wood Cook Stoves

[oifla]

hello all,

I'd like to find more information on wood cook stoves (stoves specifically designed for cooking, with burners and ovens, etc).

Is there a master thread on Hearth.com outlining different models and their virtues? I ran a few searches and could not find it.It would be nice to know which brands/models are more desirable (and why). My apologies if my searches somehow missed this information. Thanks!

O.

 

[peakbagger]

I guess you get to start one !.

A general observation is that rarely should a wood cookstove be used for primary heating. Not many kitches are large enough for wood cookstove and they put out a lot of heat if you are trying to cook with them, fine on cold night but not so fine during shoulder season.

For a small cook stove with an oven, the Jotul 404s are rare but quite popular. They come up on Ebay on occasion. I have one for "decoration" but its not hooked up.

 

[bholler]

The best cook stove I have seen was an esse but they are very expensive and you have to have it shipped from england. Kitchen queens are pretty good but put out quite a bit of heat into the room even when you don't want it.

 

[coaly]

I use a Kitchen Queen for our only heat source as well as stove top and oven cooking. There are 2 sizes and I went with the larger 480 that heats up to 3000 sf and only have 2000 sf. It doesn't drive us out, but you need to know how to use it.
They do not put too much heat into the home when you don't need space heating. You use the summer grate for summer stove top cooking. (it is a raised grate just under the stove top) You build a fire with kindling and remove eye (lid) over firebox for direct heat to food pans or kettle. It cooks as fast as a gas stove top or faster, then open the slide on rear (bypass) that dumps heat directly into the chimney instead of circulating across stove top or around oven. They have the largest water heating capacity of any ranges with an optional 24 gallon stainless reservoir across the back. There is a U shape stainless steel 3/4 inch pipe that comes with the water tank to circulate through the firebox. If heating 24/7 you don't want to use the coil in the firebox. It will make too much hot water and over humidify the house. It is for Amish families that use this as the only hot water source. Stainless oven inside. Nickel racks.
The main reason I went with the Queen is due to the sideways flow across bottom of oven, up the side and across top, instead of the normal across top, DOWN side where it cools leaving tar and creosote deposits under oven to clean. Second reason is the heavier duty materials than the Suppertime or Pioneer brand. Any Amish family that does all night canning groups warps and wears the other brands out. (they are gauge steel compared to 1/4 inch steel plate- just compare the weight) I also added a thermostat for intake air control on the back which is added for many Amish customers that don't need the UL listing since they self insure. I posted with pictures how to do it. It also makes it capable of coal burning.
I have this in the middle of the kitchen and my wive favors it over a Garland commercial gas range. All winter the oven hovers around 350 and is ready to bake anytime with very little adjustment to bring temp up or down.
Search posts by myself on the Forum for pictures and other cooking tips.


You can see pictures of them being built here; This is NOT the Amish builders website. http://www.antiquestoves.com/kitchenqueen/

This is their new website that shows an optional thermostat very similar to my homemade one;
http://www.kitchenqueenstoves.com/
Duane Miller is the owner / builder you can order direct from, but there is a wait time to build. He is not the original designer. It was designed in Michigan by Freeman Troyer who is now an Amish Bishop.

 

[bholler]

They do not put too much heat into the home when you don't need space heating.

Yes but how does the oven work in "summer mode? From what I have seen of them the top works fine like that but the oven does not work as well. That is why the Amish houses we have installed them in usually have them in the separate summer kitchen.

The esse is an amazing stove with heavy insulation everywhere and insulated lids for the burners when not in use in the summer. But in the winter you can open the outer door and expose the glass door and open the lids to release heat into the room. One side of the top has the cat under it so it gets much hotter and the cat is directly above the oven as well for added heat there as well. It also has 3/4" clearance to combustibles so you can put it in a run of cabinets like a regular range. But it does cost about 10 times what a kitchen queen does.

I am positive the kitchen queens while not nearly the stove are a much better value.

 

[begreen]

This is an annual topic in the main hearth forums. There are several threads on this topic. Search on "cookstove"

 

[coaly]

Yes but how does the oven work in "summer mode?

No oven use with summer grate. The space under oven for exhaust flow is between the grates, so the fire would have to be downdraft through the upper grate to get around oven. The summer grate rests on folding rods for legs to fold for winter storage. I put a couple logs in and slide it across to install, it's that heavy.

That's a smoke flap at the top that swings inward for loading larger pieces if needed.

If the stove has been up to temp a while, the oven cruises around 350, so pulling the lever to circulate around it raises it depending on how much cold food you put in as well. It's like a freight train. When you see a large increase on the thermometer, you better close it down or shut the oven off or it's going to continue to climb far above what you want. It does not burn food like a modern oven if it gets too hot since it is sealed (other than a small vent hole) and moisture from the food prevents browning on top or burning. You get used to not browning casseroles in a wood oven no matter how hot you try it with. but meats are way juicier than a conventional vented oven.
The summer grate is identical to the winter one that lays low in the firebox. This is what makes the stove so easy to use, heat fast, or prolong a fire; The grate is made of steel rods with just the right amount of space between them that raking across will open the slots for bottom air from ash pan where the thermostat intake is to rush up through for intense oven heat or quick starts. Overnight it clogs with ash and the upper air intake through door is just like burning on a bed of ash. In the morning I toss a few small pieces in through the top (I never use the front loading door) and it takes right off. If it has burned way down, the long poker with a 90* bend on the end reaches down through the top to rake the grate rods sideways until a few hole appear to give it a burst of air from the bottom. This thing lights up like a light bulb in the morning with air from the bottom. I always crack the original intake through the front door to give it some secondary air above the fire and in the morning we only open the thermostat half way in case we get busy and it closes the air down as it comes up to temp, so the original intake becomes the low fire used much of the time.
I did a lot of research on many cookstoves and wanted one of these for years. I had a conversation with Duane about adding the thermostat which wasn't available to non-Amish at the time as well as upgrading the door thermometer to a probe type. You can see it in the pic above. I also changed all the galvanized screws to stainless inside and out. The gaskets are not cemented in place like most others, there is a groove that you tuck flat gasket into so the edge contacts the sealing surface. That's a nice feature that you can change a gasket while in operation if needed. Between adjustable hinges and latches, there were few improvements needed. The ash pan door and clean out cover on the back has a simple lever that as the gasket crushes, it can become loose, so I drilled a hole in the latch hook and made an eccentric washer on a 1/4-20 bolt to rotate the washer and be able to tighten the latch for gasket crush.
The only other improvement would be a "nest" for the lid over firebox for smaller pans. It takes a 11 inch round pan or kettle to cover that hole. (Hint - Hint Ed !)
Here's my latch adjuster;

Bolt head with shank close to hook edge.

Eccentric washer contacts latch instead of fixed position hook.

 

[oifla]

Thanks everyone!