Since SVK brought me into this, I will insert my 2cents. I really like my wood stove in my basement. True I can drive my gator loaded with wood right up to the stove, and I can heat my water in the winter time, but to do it over there are a couple of things I would and have changed. I no longer drive my gator loaded with wood into the basement. The thing was, I was usually toteing wood inside during winter and bad weather which means mud and mess all the time. I build myself two wood racks on wheels that I now just roll to the door and load up from the back of the gator and then roll them back to the stove. This eliminated the mud falling off the gator tires inside the house. Doesnt keep me from spreading wood chips from the door to the stove, but a minute of broom work takes care of the chips.
The second thing I would do is get rid of the free standing stove and install a wood furnace. The wood stove heats my house really good, but it relies on the heat riseing and getting thru the floor. I have a vent in the floor that lets the heat get upstairs, but this method doesnt heat the house uniformly. With a furnace, I could hook it into my current duct work and let the fan blow hot air into all the rooms. My wood stove currently means I have to open and close drafts to regulate the heat, with a furnace, fill with wood and set the thermostat and forget it.(not exactly forget it, but you know what I mean).
My personal opinions on OWB is I will never own one. First off,, OWB rely on electricity to get the hot air from stove to inside the house. Meaning in the event of a power failure, you either do without heat or you purchase a generator to run the OWB fans. Even a furnace in your basement will put out heat inside the house without electricty, might not blow thru your vents in each room, but it will rise thru the vents by simple convection so you dont freeze to death. Second, buring wood in a OWB just to heat water in the summer time is a waste of wood and labor. I can get 180 degree hot water in Dec and Jan from a solar water heater and I dont have to run a chainsaw or keep the stove fed when I would rather be fishing. The purchase price difference between a OWB and a wood furnace will heat my house for several winters using electricity. The only advantage I see in owning a OWB is it keeps the mess out of the house and you can use bigger and less quality wood for burning. I know a lot of folks just love their OWB and will call me crazy, but I personally know of several people that bought one and hate it, many have sold them and returned to a more conventional wood stove.
Like I said my 2cents and not saying I am right or wrong. With a basement, I would go for the wood furnace over the OWB everytime.