I'm going to try to help, but keep in mind I'm a noob who hasn't fired up his stove yet.
I did a ton of research here along the way. I'm in Ct so pricing should be close to Mass unless you jump the border to NH, you may find it cheaper there..
I too had a $2000 budget in mind when I went out shopping in September. I was looking at the Englander 25ep I think was the model and the summers heat at Lowes (same model, Lowes re-brand). At the box stores they were around $1500. The Englanders range from $1000- $2000. They had to order the stove, so I went to a couple of large stove dealers to see what they had, their prices were pretty good, with a couple others being outrageously over priced. Shop around.
I found the quadra fires ranged from $2000- $3500.
The Harmans ranged from $3200- $5000.
Heatalators ranged from $1400- $2500.
A few others that I can't remember the brand, all ranging from $1500- $5000.
At the stove stores I got to see them working, open them up and mess around a bit with them, ask questions, that helped me a lot. I ended up blowing my budget because I did not want to regret it later. However, I mainly blew my budget because I did not research the pipe first.
I got a quadra fire classic bay for $2400 out the door. I was/am replacing a wood stove in the basement. After researching here(after purchase) I bought a 4" flex chimney liner kit to run the entire chimney, that ran $600. Three tons of lacretes on order for $900, and I'm out $4000.
Questions for you. You have a 1800 square foot single level house. Where are you placing the stove, main level or basement? Central location or at the end of the house? Open floor plan or lots of hallways and doors?
I'm sure you can find all the help here you want, the more info you give them the better, but its probably already here some place anyway if you look around. Good luck!