Category: Kitchens

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Custom Tiles

We often get asked if we do custom tile work. The answer is yes! We’ve completed a number of fun and beautiful projects in a range of styles, from larger accent tiles to handmade backsplashes to rustic tile flooring to Victorian hearths. Here are a couple of new accent tiles that are available for purchase. These are both 8×8 inches and have a depth of approximately 3/4 inch.

This Queen Bee tile was originally conceived of for a kachelofen design that ultimately wasn’t chosen. We loved the design so much that we thought it would make a lovely accent tile for someone. We’ve since sold quite a few of these. We can glaze this any colour, but really do love this particular light honey tone (the glaze is officially named “Caramel’).
This one is for the beer lovers out there. This image of a hops flower is glazed in a hand mixed faux lead glaze.

Feel free to contact us if you are interested in purchasing any of these tiles, or have an important project that could benefit from a custom decorative tile!

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An Ambitious Project

This was one of the most challenging ovens that Jessica has undertaken. One of our medium sized ovens might contain 100-150 pieces. This one has 250 pieces! This striking oven was conceived of as a room divider between a kitchen and a living room in an historical “New England” style farmhouse.

A maquette was made during the visualization stage of the project.
The completed project as seen from the kitchen side.

The central portion of the kitchen side has a black pizza oven atop a bake oven. On the right hand side is the stove top. The fire chamber below is used to heat both the bake oven and the stove top. Wood is burned directly inside the pizza oven. The heat generated by this side of the kachelofen is not retained in the thermal mass. This means that it can be used year round without overheating the room. All of the features on this side share one chimney. On the left hand side is a ledge that can be used as counter space, or even a cozy sitting nook!

The living room side of the unit is used for heating.

A delicate relief pattern of a swallow accents the living room side of the unit. The inspiration for this pattern was found in a very special piece of jewelry owned by the client. We are particularly pleased by how the lines of the display alcove are mirrored by the fire chamber door. Beneath the door is a wood storage area. This side of the kachelofen is used for seasonal heating.

This sequence of photos shows the kachelofen in various stages of completion.
An example of Jessica’s masterful slip trailing technique.
The outer ceramic layer of bricks is typically built 1 – 2 levels ahead of the internal fire chamber/flue network.
Felix creates the main fire chamber.
Jessica adjusts the cook top.
Both stainless steel chimney vents can be seen here.
Note the “white on white” slip trailing above the cook top.
Grouting and cleaning are the final steps.
The installation team posing in front of the finished project!
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Looking Back to 2012

One of the most important projects in Jessica’s development as a designer of kachelofen was the “Chesapeake” from 2012. This was her first kachelofen that included a heated bench. It was also her first “multi-use” design. The right hand side of the unit includes a bake oven and a cooking surface:

Cecile Davis, a local filmmaker, made this informative and fun video while Jessica and Mario were doing the installation.

Mario and I installing in Easton, MD, 2012

Now that you have seen how I make Kacheln, here is a little video on what goes into installing this Kachelofen. 2012

Posted by Kachelöfen by Jessica Steinhäuser on Saturday, January 14, 2017

The inner firebrick flue system of the oven is typically built in tandem with the outer decorative bricks. In this case Mario and Jessica had to do as much work as possible on the outside of the oven due to a catastrophic shipping delay! Hurricane Sandy had shut down much of the Eastern Seabord, and delivery schedules were completely thrown out of sync. This meant that the European portion of materials had not yet arrived when work commenced.

In the end they were able to make the most of things by taking a day off in the middle of the build!