Warmth, beauty and delight: the simple joys of a kachelofen

Bringing a bit of Austrian culture to our home in Ireland

Fall officially arrived on September 22, and yesterday—September 26—Gerhard built the first fire of the season in our kachelofen. It wasn’t really that cold outside, but the day was rainy, windy and gloomy, and it’s amazing how the fire lifted our mood.

A word of explanation: The kachelofen is a ceramic heating stove (“kachel” means “tile” in English, and “ofen” means “stove”) that is traditionally found in countries like Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Czechia.

For at least seven months of the year here in Ireland, it has become a ritual to start our day with a lovely, blazing fire. Gerhard—who has become an expert builder of logs that will catch fire almost instantly—loads the wood and then we sit together on the couch watching a small spark turn into joyfully dancing flames.

I grew up in a house in Montana that had three beautiful stone fireplaces. But my parents almost never lit a fire in them. Gerhard grew up in a house in Austria that had no fireplace. He spent most of his adult life living in fireplace-free apartments, and I mostly lived in houses in the States that were fireplace-free as well. So both of us greatly appreciate our daily ritual now.

This is especially true since just one fire a day in our kachelofen heats the tiles and radiates heat into the living-dining-kitchen area for the entire day. One of the reasons for this is that it has a complex flue system, which allows the heat to be distributed through multiple channels within the stove. The result is that it retains and radiates heat for hours after the fire has burned out.

The kachelofen first emerged in the Alpine regions of Europe around the 13th century. The earliest versions were simple clay stoves used to retain and radiate heat. As ceramics and pottery techniques evolved, craftsmen began incorporating glazed tiles into the stoves to enhance their heat retention and distribution capabilities. The tiles were not only practical, but they also encouraged artistic expression, with intricate designs and patterns often depicting religious, mythological, or everyday scenes.

During the Renaissance and Baroque periods, kachelöfen became increasingly elaborate symbols of wealth and status. Their craftsmanship became more refined, and master potters were commissioned to produce them for aristocratic homes, palaces and monasteries.

This is definitely true in Austria, where such buildings had a kachelofen in almost every room, and each one was a unique work of art.

Many traditional hotels and restaurants in Austria also installed kachelöfen to ward off the winter chill. Thankfully, they are still very much in use, which is one of the reasons I really enjoy spending time in such places. (Not to mention that the food is often delicious and the accommodations are charming.)

For some reason, the kachelöfen are often made of green tiles, but their designs vary considerably.

Today, kachelöfen come in a vast array of colors, sizes and designs and have many benefits when compared to traditional wood fireplaces. One is that they burn so efficiently they produce few pollutants. Another is that they use much less wood. In addition, they have little impact on air humidity and do not add any dust to the air. And the radiant heat maintains a steady, pleasant temperature throughout the day.

I first fell in love with the things 50 years ago when I was a student at a university in Northern Germany. This is why I was thrilled when Gerhard agreed to add one to our new home in Ireland when we retired there in 2019.

To get started, we contacted an Austrian company, who designed the entire stove according to our specifications, the area where it was to be located, and the size of the room it was to heat. Then the company shipped all of the materials to us, and a trained specialist (they employ just one man in Ireland) took about two weeks to build the stove onsite.

So now we have a bit of Austria in our home providing warmth, beauty and delight throughout the long, dark, rainy Irish winters! One of the best parts is that should the electricity go out—as can happen—we know our house will stay warm and cosy.