Going on year #2 with my Ideal Steel and no complaints thus far! As far as burn times are concerned, they are generous depending on what wood you put in the firebox and how stuffed you can get it. With a 3.2 cf firebox, on paper that sounds great but here's my only dislike about the stove: the roof of the firebox is slanted towards the back. That's just how they designed the secondary burn area. Unfortunately with that slanted roof you lose a bit of space overall so packing the wood in can be interesting at times especially when dealing with larger pieces of wood or non uniform pieces of wood (knots, crotches, shorts, etc). But regarding the burn time, even with the slant you will easily get 8-12 hrs most of the year burning dry hardwoods. Easy 8 hours as well even with softwoods. You'll always have enough coals in the morning to restart too so that's a plus!
I personally don't know if the "thermal mass" produced by all that soapstone really does anything for heating your home/stove room except for the fact that I do feel it keeps the stove warmer even if a fire has died out. I do not think there will be a huge advantage one way or the other if you line your firebox with the brick or soapstone blocks. For my stove I got the soapstone blocks and while they were pretty looking before the first fire, you couldn't even tell what color they are these days due to the soot and char on them. They're going to get super dirty and stay that way is what I'm saying
The panels on each side of the stove though are nice. Are you getting some of the custom artwork on the stove as well? It looks very nice with the big soapstone panel behind it.
Ash pan, hell yes you will want the ash pan. And actually, buy 2. Trust me, worth it so much
Some species of wood, like cherry, are notorious for making ash. When I get into my cords of cherry (when I have them) and am burning that for weeks and weeks, I literally will have to dump the ash pan almost every other day due to the ash produced. It is much nicer having it go into the ash pan and then dumping that rather than trying to scoop tons of ash out every day to make room for wood!
Overall, I would give the stove 9.5/10 stars. It only loses a bit due to the slanted roof in the firebox sometimes making it a challenge to properly fill it like you'd want to. But you cannot beat the ease of use (including ash removal option and the air control) as well as a very good hybrid design that does burn super clean. This year was my first year using a cap with a screen on it and although blackened from use, there has not been one clogging issue and I know there were crappy (wet) pieces of wood that went through the stove this year. The firebox will get really dirty and have build up but the chimney remains super clean (didn't even have a cup of soot last year after sweeping) and in my case this year, the cap as well. The catalyst is super easy to access and clean and maintain as well.
I would say you would be safe in ordering one ASAP before the price increase. When ordering, do remember that they ship freight so it will not (likely) be delivered to your house. It should be shipped to a nearby freight depot where you will have to pick it up. These things weigh around 700 lbs crated so make sure you have a good truck or a trailer to take it home. Once you get it home, if possible, do the new stove smell burn in fires outside to lessen the smells that a new stove will give off once it's inside. To bring the stove in, make sure you have a very heavy duty dolly to move it into your house. You will want a couple of people to help you. Otherwise I would recommend movers to get it in or call your local stove store to have them move it.
Hope my novel here helps!
