If your budget is about $1000, and you want a really great machine, take a look at the Janome 6500. It was discontinued when the Janome 6600 came out, but it is very close in features to the 6600, has almost as many stitches (more than I'll ever use!), and it has been said it is destined to become one of those classic models. It doesn't come with a built in walking foot, but you can put one on. It still has the pedal drive, but I've used those for so long, I'm not sure I want to use a button. They won't sell them in the shops because they are so close to the 6600 in features, and lower in prices, that they can't take the competition. So they're selling them in places like eBay and Amazon. They do come with a warrenty. If you test drive a 6600, that's pretty much what a 6500 is like. They do have the 9" throat, which is larger than most machines, and can handle some pretty good sized quilts. And they are really quality machines.
Now here's the thing with the price. For the longest time, you could buy them for $1,199 --- anywhere. Seemed to be a fixed price, unless you went to the Company web site, where they were priced higher. I was just about to buy one when -- Wow! -- just before Thanksgiving, the price went up to $1,499! Figured it was the pre-Christmas mark up. Doesn't make sense when you could get a brand new 6600 in the shop for a list price of $2,300, and a "haggle price" of $1,800!! So I decided to sit back and wait until the after Christmas sales, and see what happened. Believe me, the machines weren't selling at $1,199. One eBay shop had 900 models to sell, and last I checked, it still had 898 models to sell, and that was over a 4 month period of time. Nobody is going for the higher price. It defies common sense as to why they put the price up! Not selling so raise the price? Doesn't make good marketing sense to me, especially in this economy. So I'm thinking the price is going to drop way down after Christmas. There's only so long they can hang on to merchandise that isn't selling. So we'll see. Anyway, it would be a great machine at a great price if the price comes down closer to $1000 or less. And oh, yes. On eBay, they were also offering free shipping, no small point. But do try out the 6600 Janome first, so you get a feel for what those machines are like.
Just a suggestion. Merry Christmas!