Any brands y'all recommend? Never had one before.

I am considering converting my open fireplace to one also. But I know nothing about them either.

Drolet

Buck

I’ve been running a Buck 91 for 14 years. It’s the largest stove Buck makes and is a catalyst stove.
It can be used as an insert or free standing.
Huge amounts of information on this site:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/

I had a Ashley that was nice

I've got a "Buckstove" brand in my Cabin. It's one size below the biggest one they offered 6 years ago. Heats this 1640 sq. foot cabin just right!! It's a wood burner type.

Are you looking for a free standing indoor, insert, or an outdoor boiler?

I want one to fit in my fireplace and stick out far enough to heat/cook on if the power is out.

Some folks have a steel plate fabricated with a piece of 6" steel pipe welded in the middle. Use it to seal your fireplace off so as not to loose heat from the room up the chimney. Use a small section of thin-wall pipe to tie stove to opening.....thus using existing chimney to exhaust smoke.

I've been using this Jotl since the early 1980s. Free standing, tile behind and on the floor, bag shown holds the wood and keeps the mess down. I replace the gaskets every year or so and clean the stove pipe twice a year. I burn seasoned red oak (have it stacked and covered for about 10 years), use a small fan at each end of the house pulling the heat through the house. Pretty much the only heat we use all winter.

Free standing indoor. About 800 ft^2, but high ceilings so I may go with a 1,200ft model. But open to suggestions.

Whatever you do, don't "over stove." That is buying too much stove for the square footage of your place. If you have too much stove it will run you out of the place.

We bought a stove rated for about 1200s.f. Our cabin has 2 floors, each with 480 S.F. and two 3rd floor lofts each with 72 s.f. That's a total of 1104 s.f. Our stove will get the whole thing so warm that even in winter sometimes I will have to crack the bedroom windows upstairs to get some cool air in there.

By the way our stove is a European Style stove that is EPA approved so we got a tax rebate that covered the cost of the stove. I got it at an end of the season sale for $500. It's a "Summer's Heat" made in the USA and we have been very happy with it. Not fancy, but simple and classic. Plus it has the glass in the front so we can enjoy the flames.

Looks great. I definitely like seeing the flames.