A 3-in-1 Wood Cookstove

Heat, home-cooked food and hot water: You can have it all with the Esse Ironheart.
February/March 2011
The Esse Ironheart woodstove can cook your food, heat a room, and even provide domestic hot water.


Do you dream of getting warmth, hot water and a good meal from the same efficient woodstove? While wood cookstoves have been available for generations, and a few have fireboxes big enough for serious wood heat, none until now could burn wood efficiently. The Esse Ironheart does, and this British cookstove is getting rave reviews. 

The Ironheart has many features that set it apart from other cookstoves. The first is a glass door with an air wash system that allows you to see the fire. Another is the hot plate covers that retain heat until you need the burners. You can even order a hot water collector for it. 

The Esse Ironheart sells for about $5,000. It’s a multifuel stove (meaning it can burn wood, clean coal or peat), but because North Americans will mostly burn wood, there’s a retrofit ($169) that improves combustion efficiency and increases the firebox depth. The Ironheart’s firebox is big by wood cookstove standards — about the size of a small heating stove. It will most effectively heat a room or small cabin.