This model was suggested to me in this forum a couple of years ago when we were researching which stove to buy. We had to order it sight unseen because we couldn't find a dealer who had one. We finished building our home last summer and have been using this stove for several months now. I am finally prepared to give my opinion.
PROS:
We LOVE how it looks. Repeat, LOVE. This was what drew us to it in the first place. Slightly contemporary, slightly traditional.
Warmth: Our home is a single level, 2200 sq.ft., and the Newcastle 1.6 heats it comfortably. It keeps us very cozy even when the outside temps are in the single digits, but keep in mind -- our home is new and well insulated. It will heat all night. We keep a ceiling fan slowly going to help distribute the heat.
It hardly intrudes into the room, since it can sit fairly close to the wall and its depth is minimal.
The window is large. The latch handle is comfortable.
I don't often use the hinged warming shelves on top, but I keep a kettle of water there to slowly steam for added moisture. If I open the warming shelves and set the kettle on the (very hot) surface below, it'll boil water.
CONS:
Expensive. A little over $2000. (Don't remember the exact price.) But quality cast iron stoves don't come cheaply.
The firebox is small. Ofttimes when the door is open as I'm loading wood in it, it feels like the logs could easily roll right back out. Logs sometimes fall against the window inside as they burn, which can make it tricky to open when you need to poke/arrange the coals. The ashes spill out quite a bit. We built our tile hearth pad the minimum required size with the distance in front of the stove at 16" and in retrospect, we might have extended the tile out a little more. We've had several wood stoves over the years, and I don't recall this being a concern before.
The window does cloud up, but is easily cleaned.
Sometimes it puts out more heat than we need. A little slow to warm up, but not bad.
The ash pan is awkward to open, but we never use it. We just shovel out the ashes.
BOTTOM LINE: Would we buy it again? Not sure.
PROS:
We LOVE how it looks. Repeat, LOVE. This was what drew us to it in the first place. Slightly contemporary, slightly traditional.
Warmth: Our home is a single level, 2200 sq.ft., and the Newcastle 1.6 heats it comfortably. It keeps us very cozy even when the outside temps are in the single digits, but keep in mind -- our home is new and well insulated. It will heat all night. We keep a ceiling fan slowly going to help distribute the heat.
It hardly intrudes into the room, since it can sit fairly close to the wall and its depth is minimal.
The window is large. The latch handle is comfortable.
I don't often use the hinged warming shelves on top, but I keep a kettle of water there to slowly steam for added moisture. If I open the warming shelves and set the kettle on the (very hot) surface below, it'll boil water.
CONS:
Expensive. A little over $2000. (Don't remember the exact price.) But quality cast iron stoves don't come cheaply.
The firebox is small. Ofttimes when the door is open as I'm loading wood in it, it feels like the logs could easily roll right back out. Logs sometimes fall against the window inside as they burn, which can make it tricky to open when you need to poke/arrange the coals. The ashes spill out quite a bit. We built our tile hearth pad the minimum required size with the distance in front of the stove at 16" and in retrospect, we might have extended the tile out a little more. We've had several wood stoves over the years, and I don't recall this being a concern before.
The window does cloud up, but is easily cleaned.
Sometimes it puts out more heat than we need. A little slow to warm up, but not bad.
The ash pan is awkward to open, but we never use it. We just shovel out the ashes.
BOTTOM LINE: Would we buy it again? Not sure.
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