Every house needs a center-piece: the fireplace.
We are getting a "Kachelofen", a tiled masonry stove. If you ever had a beer or dinner in Germany, Austria, or Switzerland, chances are that you saw one, they are very common (stock photo):
They have a masonry core, and are covered with tiles. The house I grew up in had one, and I remember my mom feeding it in winter. On the eve of Dec 6 (St Nicklaus), we put our boots under it, and they were filled with cookies and chocolate in the morning .... a Kachelofen can be fed with coal or wood, has over 700 degrees at the core, and stays warm on the outside throughout the night. Typically, a Kachelofen is in a room's corner and heating multiple rooms.
Building ovens is a trade in Germany. There are a couple of trade masters in the US, who travel around the country ... Master Eric, from Minnesota, built our oven last week with his team. He collaborates with a tile maker who pre-made the oven tiles that he brought with.
Here is the design (shared this last year already):
The tiles that Eric brought: Bavarian colors (white and blue) for the kitchen, and green for the dining room:
First they built the core:
There is a complicated air-tunnel system around the burner to heat up the center, and warm the surface.
Then, the core is wrapped with glass fiber, to allow expansion and contraction
Then comes a layer of small bricks and the tiles
And finally, the tiles are grouted.
The finished product from the kitchen side. Note in color the Salvador Dali tiles that my mother-in-law (bless her heart) gave us as wedding gift in 2002.
And the dining room side with Eric and his team:
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