Kitchen Queen Cookstove vs. Margin Flameview?

[piccololily]

We are hoping to buy a cookstove soon, and are especially interested in the Kitchen Queen. Does anyone use this stove? We need it to heat our 2000 sq ft house (including basement) in cold central WI. We have a very large family and cook just about everything from scratch, so the large oven and cooktop is a must. We also want to heat our water by hooking it up to our existing plumbing and 80 gal water heater in basement, using a circulation pump. We have a propane furnace and range for backup, but prefer wood.

Has anyone here done this with a Kitchen Queen? Can you give me any other pros/cons, having used one yourself? Because of its size, does it get unbearably hot in the kitchen on cold winter days when you want to make sure the rest of the house is warm enough? Other suggestions on similar stoves, such as the Margin Flameview? We don't want anything fancy, just very practical/easy to use. The large firebox seems to be a good selling point for us, as it will mean less cutting and splitting, and longer burn time.

I am eager to hear from others with similar stoves and circumstances!

[littlebritches]

Hi, I have some friends who live off the grid and they have a Kitchen Queen they heat their entire house with it along with their garage. It is their sole source of heat. the main part of the house has an open floor plan so the kitchen, dining and living room are all open. They heat their water with it and it is sooo nice.
We are trying to figure out where we can fit one of these into our house, I like theirs so much. I grew up with a wood cook stove and an out house and life does not get much better. The kitchen queen is quite an improvement on the one I grew up with, as it burns real fire wood instead of kindling. I am sorry my friends do not have internet, if they come over in the near future I will try to have her answer some more questions if you have any. I am not sure about your kitchen getting to hot, is it kind of off by itself? If I get one it will not fit in my kitchen so I was planning on putting it in the living/dining area or enclosing the front porch. They are nice stoves.

[diane]

I have been heating approx. 1600 sq. ft. with my Kitchen Queen for three years now, as well as my water. I love it. It has a huge firebox that holds a fire for a long time, is really wonderful to cook and bake with. I have it in a very open part of my home, we put a 600 square foot addition onto a 980 square foot mobile, and it heats the whole place. In the coldest part of the winter I do use a small fan to move heat to the bedroom that is farthest away from the stove and occasionally on a very sunny day I have to crack a window because it gets to hot. For the most part I am able to control the house temperature very easily unless I want to bake biscuits which requires a very hot oven.

I would suggest that if at all possible you run the chimney straight up and out. We thought that due to our age we didn't want to have to get up on the roof to clean so we did a curve to the back wall and out, then up. I have to clean that pipe way more than I like to in order to feel safe, even when I do a hot burn every day.

I would be happy to answer any specific questions you have.

[A@VT]

We bought a Kitchen Queen cookstove last spring, but we have not used it yet. We are hooking it up this weekend, I can't wait to try it, I will tell you how it burns next week.

[hugho]

WE bought a Kitchen Queen 380 6 wks ago and I can only say that it is a superb appliance, well designed and efficient. I cannot comment on other brands. WE have always had wood cookstoves which were generally restored antiques. The Queen is way different and ideally suited to wood and only wood. It has a large firebox and a modest sized oven. It bakes better than any stove, gas, electric included. I added firebrick up to the top of the firebox to increase the firebox temp . I feel that is the only design omission the skilled amish craftsmen missed. Their firebrick only lines the bottom and low sides and thereby sheds a lot of heat out the side and back. Some of my firebrick is nearly 3" thick but it works well with mostly blue flame rather than yellow. No smoke at the flue. My wife was not thrilled with the dour black Amish buggy appearance of the Queen but she loves her Queen now and we rarely use our large efficient woodstove in the LR. The KQ is heating a large log cabin in one of the coldest places in the US here in Wyoming. I would like at least a small viewing window on the door to monitor the fire. WE run our stove 24/7 and our propane tank remains full as we rarely use our large gas stove any more.

[James&Lorraine]

We don't get the KQ offered up here, here its Margin, Elmira fireview and Heartland that is retailed.

We've decided on the Margin Flameview because of the size of the firebox (2.6 cubic feet). We're heating our water too, and radiant floor heat so are getting the water jacket and coil.

It's been a 3 year search for an indoor water boiler and this is the best solution for us with what's available. I can't wait to get it.

If someone would like to share opinions on the optional cast iron cook surface I'm all ears! What do you like about it? Do you actually fry/grill on the surface?