This is in Atlanta. I suspect that Maine is a bit different; more need for heating for more of the year.
I don't have an electric stove, because I don't like them. Matter of taste. I like to cook with fire. But I do like your idea of a kettle on top of the wood stove -- making good use of what would otherwise be waste heat.
I very ofter cook once, eat twice or more. That is, While cooking, I'll double the recipe and have a second meal for another day. Two meals for the energy cost of one.
I'm a bachelor. It's hardly worth the effort to cook a meal for one, so when I cook, I usually put most of the result into bags or tupperware, which goes into the 'fridge or freezer. A minute or two in the microwave, and it's good to go.
I recently got one of those vacuum-seal gadgets, and that oughta help me put less stuff to waste.
Often at night, in the winter, especially if not running the wood stove, I will burn my kerosene lamps.
I love my oil lamps. My mom bought them to add ambience to our Christmas gatherings. I put them out one Christmas and decided not to put them away. In the spring and summer, they're a backup if a tropical storm knocks out the power. In the fall and winter, they're a backup if an ice storm knocks out the power. It's a warm, friendly glow in either case, more so because the lamp oil I have on hand is cinnamon-scented. I ought to kill the electric light and fire up the lamps more often.
I have a gas furnace, but with an electric blower -- so if the power goes out, my house is effectively without heat. The heat coming off those oil lamps is a pretty nice thing to have. That and hot water.
Never put a water container directly on a wood stove. It may warp or crack the stove. Place your container on a raised rack with legs. Lanterns! Oh yes! Contact Woody Kirkman for anything you need - he’s got everything and he and his wife are cool.
LOL
That IS another big advantage - and, hey, it not only helps save on not needing as much kindling to get the fire going, but is the ultimate in cost savings from recycling -
The heat coming off those oil lamps is a pretty nice thing to have.
Before I had my wood stove, (it saved my hiney in the Great Ice Storm of '98 when I was without power for 19 days in the middle of winter!) I had a 5 day power outage - 20 below outside.
I said to me: "Hmm, normally the house is heated with two floor vents in the living room, two in the kitchen/dining area, one in the office and one in the bath."
So I lit up a kerosene lamp in lieu of each vent.
The house stayed an average of 70 degrees! The heat coming out of the top of a lamp is many times hotter than a heat vent and it is constant!
I can do that now with just 2-3 lamps and don't hear the furnace kick in for hours.
Like I say, many, many ways to save on MUCH more energy than will be saved by the Nanny-state's mandated light bulbs...phony as a three dollar bill...