Radiant floors: not in a small house?

When I was planning my house, I decided on a mix of direct solar gain, wood heat, and a propane radiator. The radiator installs on an outside wall, vents directly outside without affecting indoor air, and needs no electricity.

I met resistance from some friends who like a heating system be centralized and uniform: flip a switch and everything is 68 degrees. Most persuasive were the evangelists for in-floor radiant heating. It seemed logical, since I used a slab for the first floor. I could put the tubing in the slab, run some more between the second floor joists, and hook it all up to The Switch.

But I ended up with several arguments against the system for my small, efficient house. Your mileage may vary.

• At the typical $6/square foot, the bill for the first floor alone would be $3,840. The price of the one radiator that heats the whole house: about $700.
• My house is tight, well insulated, and small by modern standards (640 square feet downstairs; less upstairs). I wondered if I would run the floor system enough to justify its high expense, especially on sunny days when I got solar gain.
• The controls for the system would need a 3- by 4-foot section of wall, according to an installer. That's a lot of real estate in a small, tightly organized house. I have no basement or mechanical room to hide things in.
• The system would need electricity, one of the first casualties of winter storms here.
• The system would be complex and difficult for me to troubleshoot.
• And one of my biggest concerns: Where would the cat go? There would be no guaranteed hot spot. The cat and I prefer hearths over uniform heat.

If I used a propane radiator instead, I'd always have a mini-hearth when I wasn't using the woodstove. Since the house is small, I wasn't concerned that distant corners would be freezing.

Results: woodstove and sun warm the slab