i have 2 machines (well, four actually, but that's another story) - I have sewn on a kenmore for about 4 years and have really enjoyed it. It is a solid machine, but not a big throat, although it has about 200 stitches, which includes the alphabet. I enjoy the various stitches because it is fun to use decorative stiches when quilting in the ditch, and I do use the blanket stitch when I am doing machine applique. Other than that, I've only used the "fancy" stitches about 4 times. There are limitiations in size for quilting because of the small throat size but the machine is really good for piecing and doing smaller projects.
To do those larger projects, I purchased recently a Janome 1600P, which is their mid-arm machine, single stitch, has a 9 in. throat. I haven't honestly used it yet, but it is out of hte box!! I have used a Janome before and it is smooth smooth smooth and can go very very fast! The price retail is about $1200 (which you should NEVER pay!) and you can get it online through an authorized dealer (on ebay) for about $800. There are package deals you can get which is how I got mine through a local shop - the machine was packaged with a quilting frame.
Have fun in your search!!