Looking for small/medium insert - Need help deciding

[Midwestburn]

Hey all,

I moved to a new house this year with a masonry fireplace. I've always wanted a wood burning stove, and now that the opportunity is here I'm paralyzed by indecision.

What I'm Looking For-

I plan to use the woodstove as a supplemental source of zone heating in my living room. I would find the ambiance and wood heat enjoyable, and have access to tons of free wood. With natural gas costs increasing every year, it seems to only make more sense. I also think it would be handy to have backup heat in case of a power outage. However, I am concerned that sizing up the stove to provide more useful heat in case of an outage would diminish its everyday use as ambiance and free zone heating (ie roast me out of the TV Room)

Sizing-

The stove would be located in a ~400ft2 lower level living room of my 2500ft2 split level home. I live in Minnesota, and wouldn't be using this as a primary heat source except for emergencies. In a power outage, I also have a 35kBTU gas fireplace located on the upper level for emergency heat.

The dimensions of my existing fireplace (brick to brick, not the doors) are 35"W x 22" H x 24" depth. These are pretty close but approximate since it's hard to tell exactly where the door ends and brick begins.

Current Options-

I'd like to keep the cost of the stove and liner under $5k. The following are stoves I'm considering, but am open to your suggestions. Quotes include liner + needed accessories

Lopi Medium Nexgen Insert - $6500 (Expensive and I'm leaning away from cat stoves)

PE Super LE - $5600 (Love this, but probably oversized)

PE Vista - $6100 (Seems perfect, but outside of the budget)

Quadrafire Expedition ii - $4300 (Attractive price, but may be oversized and lacks adjustable damper)

Osburn 1700 - $4200 (Great price point, not sure if I like the extremely basic surround)


I've attached pictures of the floor plan and the living room where the insert would be located. Excited to hear your input!