Has anyone put in a new Victorian cast iron radiator?

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I was going to put a cover over a radiator we have in a sitting room as there'll no longer be a sofa in front of it but have hit on the idea of replacing it instead. We live in a Victorian house so a cast iron one would be on keeping - any pitfalls I should be thinking of?

I think they takes ages to heat up/cool down. My neighbours had them and were always complaining.

I just paint my (standard) radiators the same colour as my walls but in an eggshell paint and then they blend in.

We did, they are lovely! Real stand out features and don't take any time to heat up at all, same as the others.

They do project slightly further from the wall and they are free standing so you have to take skirting into account when you think of how far out it will really project.

Get pipe sleeves and opt for a nice looking valve. They also need to be strapped back to the wall.

They're really heavy! Mine took 3 people to lift it

We had them in our last house. We had two really small ones and they looked gorgeous and were so lovely and warm.
We have moved and they are definitely something we will do again when we decorate. I've seen coloured ones too for the kids rooms.

Get a steel column radiator rather than cast iron. Looks much the same (unless you wanted one of the really decorated ones) but far lighter and quicker to warm up.

We've put them in. They're very, very heavy, project further from the wall, and are fuckers to dust because of all of the patterns in the metal work. But they're just so lovely, and are real features in an old house. Heat up and cool down just as quickly as other radiators. One of ours is on a wood plinth due to the weight on very old floor boards that have previously had wood worm in, so check your boards are sound first, or if not then a plinth might be needed.