I know what you mean about spending a long time shopping and then ending up displeased after all that. That's happened more than once to me
However, can't say that about my Progress! I shopped for a couple of years, then had to wait for another year until it hit the production floor, but I can say it was well worth the wait and the expense. One nice thing about WS that helped me in my "did I make the right decision" moments was the fact that if it didn't turn out right for my situation, for any reason, I could return it and they'd even pay the return shipping. Now that I've had it for close to a year, they couldn't have it back for love nor money!
To address your fire viewing concerns, the Progress is a hybrid, it combines both cat and secondary burning. It has a huge glass window for a reason! It is lovely to watch (actually, both in season and off season, as its lovely when its not burning as well).
Living in an old house, I was also concerned about the weight. Just to be safe, I had my contractor beef up the floor, he put in a couple of extra posts, wasn't a big deal in my situation. Might be with yours.
Besides the looks, I love the Progress for its ease of use and solid reliability. It is very controllable and responsive to the controls. After I've engaged the cat and turned down the draft, it will stay at whatever fire activity level I've chosen (dependent on how much heat I want).
All that said, the BK is another viable choice. They are supposedly coming out with some new models in the near future, I think. Might be worth the wait. I gave BK a long, hard look when I was shopping, but couldn't get by how it would look in my house. Personal choice, and not to say that it doesn't look fine in other situations, just wouldn't have worked in my house.
Good luck in your choice. And although it makes it difficult, isn't it great that there are a number of great choices out there.