You are quite right that storage heaters are pointless when you are only there in the evening -- they are designed to shift cheap night-time electricity into daytime heat. For you, they've largely cooled down by the time you get home, and a lot of their heat has gone out through the windows and walls.
As paulz says, oil, paraffin or gas heaters (without flues) produce a lot of water vapour and so you tend to get condensation, especially if you have no double glazing. You also need to be absolutely certain they are in perfect condition, or you may get carbon-monoxide poisoning and die... Personally I can't stand the smell of paraffin fumes at the best of times.
I agree with country boy -- fan heaters are very efficient at heating large volumes of air quickly -- and you can point them at your cold tootsies when you get in. Thermostat ones can be left on very low when you're out, to keep the chill off or stop the pipes freezing when you're away.
Oil-filled radiators are OK, especially as background warmth. However, because the warm air rises they tend to heat only the top half of the room -- you'll find you have a warm head but cold feet. If you have a fan heater as well, that stirs up the air and helps the oil-filled rad.
Electric bar-fires, of course, are an invention of the devil -- all they do is scorch your legs and warm the walls slightly, at great expense. And set fire to things.
If it's your own house, insulating the cavity walls makes a big difference, and only costs a few hundred quid. Then the inside leaf of the wall acts as a storage heater itself.