Pac,

I am thinking of replacing my old wood stove (a small free
standing Sierra) with a larger, more modern one

If it were me, I would compare stoves in the following order:

1. Clearances to combustibles. The stove quality won't make any difference
if the stove won't fit in your available space.

2. Smallest size to heat the available space. A larger stove may take
longer to heat up before it starts heating the space, and will take up more
space in the room. It will also be easy to overheat the available space
with a larger stove, though the tradeoff is longer burn times. It doesn't
make much sense to produce more heat if you have to open a window to keep
the house from getting too hot...

3. Cost. No reason to pay more than you need to. Although, based on my
experience, the chimney pipes cost almost as much as the stove itself!

4. Appearance. We wanted basic black, as it fit our "rustic" home style,
and I've heard too many reports of the brass trims falling off. In any
case, you'll be looking at the stove every day, so it should fit in with
your homes decor.

5. Emissions. Lower is better, of course, but there doesn't seem to be a
huge difference between the models I have seen, and most have to meet
government standards anyway.

We have a small Lopi Patriot woodstove and it suits our needs perfectly. We
bought it mostly for the ambiance and for backup heat during power outages.
It is only rated to heat 1200 sq/ft max, but it'll heat our 1456 sq/ft home
without any problems. And that's with 14' ceilings. Even with our little
stove, it's real easy to overheat the living areas (that nice, warm, sleepy
heat. )

Anthony