Available Styles
SHKO works carefully with you to make sure that our designs work in harmony with your home. The perfect Kachelofen “feels” like it belongs. Its various elements should create a meaningful dialogue with its surroundings in order to enhance your lived experience.
Every project is different. Each one presents its own opportunities and rewards. We’ve selected some of our favourite projects from the past to share with you.
Customizations
Our Kachelöfen are endlessly customizable! We’ve listed a few of the more popular options below. We are constantly experimenting with and refining our techniques, and feel qualified to meet any challenge that you may present to us. Whether it’s incorporating a family crest, a personal motto, a meaningful symbol, or simply finding the perfect glaze in your favourite colour, we can work with you to achieve your goals.
Glazes
Choosing the right glaze is vitally important, so it pays to take some time to consider all of your options. There are many types of ceramic glazes, each with its own unique characteristics. Consider whether you’re looking for a glossy finish, matte finish, or a transparent glaze that shows off the clay’s natural body.
We’ve worked with hundreds of glazes over the years, and will help make this process simple.
Pizza Oven
Pizza ovens are a wonderful addition to any Kachelofen. We have built standalone pizza ovens, as well as incorporated black pizza ovens into several Kachelöfen. We’ve also supplied decorative trim pieces to masons, builders and homeowners who want to add a classic touch to their own projects.
Slip trailing
Slip trailing is a traditional decorative technique from Frankonia, a region of Bavaria in Germany. It is primarily used to create pleasing radial geometric patterns, often using cobalt blue glaze. We’ve also used the slip trailer to write meaningful poetry or prose on Kacheln. Slip trailing creates a beautiful tactile quality on the surface of the clay body that is unique!
Accent Kacheln
Adding an accent Kachel is a straightforward and meaningful way to personalize a Kachelofen. Whether it be an individual customized relief tile, or a series of tiles, the possibilities are endless! Below are just a fragment of what we have done over the years.
Crown/Trim
Over the years we’ve made a number of different crowns and trim sets for our ovens. We’ve explored many specific architectural eras with our trim. We’ve also matched profiles to other architectural elements in a house.
If your project needs a specific profile, we can do that!
Cooktop, Bake Oven or Warming Shelf
Kachelöfen are often like kitchens. People are drawn to them, and if they are welcoming and properly designed they want to be near them. If your Kachelofen is in close proximity to the kitchen, then what better way to add functionality than to add a cooktop, bake oven or a warming shelf!
We work with a metal fabricator in Germany who has decades of experience creating custom hardware for the Kachelöfen industry.
Seating
One of the most amazing things about a Kachelöfen is that the ceramic surface never gets too hot to touch. The gentle radiant heat feels wonderful. Because of this, we often incorporate a seating area into the design of the oven.
There are a few ways to approach a seating area. We’ve made unheated benches out of ceramic in a matching glaze. In some cases it is possible to have a heated seating area. Another popular approach is to commission a woodworker to create hardwood benches to complement the Kachelofen. If you are in Central or Southwestern Ontario, we would be happy to recommend a local woodworker.
Sculpting / Carving
Sculpting or carving can sometimes make a project. Wether it’s three dimensional poppies covering an entire wall, or a tiny hidden personal element, the added dimension affording by a sculpture or carving can really personalize a Kachelofen.
How the Kachelofen works
Kachelöfen (sing. Kachelofen) are a class of thermal mass heaters. Thermal mass heaters are incredibly fuel efficient heating systems that store the heat created from the fuel source in the mass of the stove itself. Once the fuel source has been completely burned and the damper closed, the heat is trapped inside the oven. It then slowly snakes its way through the firebrick flue channel, and slowly radiates outward through the mass of the stove.
Kachelöfen differ from other thermal mass heaters because the outer layer of a Kachelofen is made up of decorative ceramic Kacheln. Kacheln may look like tiles – this style of oven is often erroneously referred to as a tile stove – but they are actually three dimensional brick-like building blocks used to construct the outer layer of the oven. During the construction process the Kacheln are backfilled with firebrick and mortar to add mass and to help evenly distribute heat.
A Kachelofen will capture the heat from a single fire and slowly release it over the course of eight to twelve hours.