I went with a 8,500 watt model. It will run anything in the house, just not everything at the same time. Using the microwave, coffee pot, oven, dryer, etc is all OK. You can generally pick up a good one at Costco for $800 - $1K. I only use nonethanol gas. Just the other day checked my records and found out it has not run for almost 2 years. It fired right up and ran it for 30 minutes. Then I removed 3 gallons of gas from the tank and added fresh to it.

My biggest fear is when I die my wife will sell my guns for what I told her they cost.