Woodstove that looks good from behind

[windycity]

I'm putting a wood stove in a new 2300 square foot home. The house is (or will be) well-insulated, good windows, two story, with a somewhat open floor plan. Also, 9 foot ceilings downstairs. There's a good central location between the living room and dining room where I could leave out part of a wall and have the stove open to both areas, improving heat circulation throughout the downstairs. I'd like a stove that has a good-looking back, since we'll be staring at it from the dining room table. Some of the Hearthstones I've seen looked good. Any suggestions? I need a big stove, this is a cold and windy place and the stove will be our primary heat source. Also, only softwood's available around here. I'm considering the PE Alderlea T6 (haven't seen it, assume back's ugly), the Jotul Oslo, and the Hearthstone Mansfield and Equinox. Have not seen the backside of any of these stoves. Anyone have any advice?

 

[Todd]

All right guys, lets see some pics of your back sides. :lol:

 

[Noah]

My Jotul looks pretty good but with the rear heat shield on you can't see the castings. It sounds like you wouldn't need a heat shield though.

 

[pinewoodburner]

I saw the Equinox at a stove store in NC. It looked gorgeous. It was in the middle of the room and your could see the front, sides and back. Great looking stove, and big. All sides and back looked nice. They mentioned that it was close to 800 lbs.

 

[begreen]

Because it's a top vent stove the back side of the T6 is very clean and minimal. However, there is the required listing label on the lower right.

edit: here's a shot of it

 

[mikeathens]

The Mansfield is sharp from any angle (unless you have the heatshield). It has nice polished soapstone all around. Sounds like a rear heatshiled wouldn't be necessary in your case, though. The Heritage is the same, so I would assume the Equinox would also be comparable, though I've never seen one.

 

[RedRanger]

You must be a bachelor if you all are looking for a "hot ass".. ;-)

 

[Randyb]

I'd bet the back side of this looks good, or maybe this is the backside image...

 

[burntime]

Randy, that is reaaallllllyyyy cooooool. If you had a really big place you could almost do a stove on each side and 2 pipes going up to heat it!

 

[wellbuilt home]

Yes The Euuniox looks very nice from the rear. I have one coming in sept . We had a very larg soap stone in the 80s and liked the way we could throw large logs in it . I have 3000 + feet and hope i like the way this stove heats.

 

[webbie]

Look at the 360 degree images I did of the woodstocks......
(broken link removed to http://www.woodstove.com/pages/vr360.html)

I also did some of Jotuls and they were pretty nice...

 

[Highbeam]

Any stove with a rear heatshield is going to look plain from the rear. I was ashamed and saddened to cover up the back of my heritage. The soapstone rear is as lovely as the top. Even the EPA sticker is on a tag and cable that allows you to maximize the view of its arse.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I can't say that I suggest a Century. They collect spider webs.

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u124/EatenByLimestone/080308002.jpg?t=1217893798

Matt