We recently had a Kachelofen built for us by the aforementioned & very talented Jessica Steinhäuser, who just happens to live just a couple of hours away from us, and are thrilled with it.
One point that I don't think has been raised yet in this RMH vs Kachelofen discussion is cost - obviously a Kachelofen will cost substantially more than an RMH. However, in terms of cosmetic appeal, functionality (ours has a separate pizza/bread oven), and fuel efficiency, not to mention that it will long outlive my husband and I (early 60s), there really is no comparison.
One last additional point re cost... We used a Pacific Energy woodstove in our old house for some 20+ years (replaced once). Knowing what I know now, and if we could've afforded it at the time, it would have been more cost-effective to install a basic Kachelofen when we first moved in. Even though we had our own woodlot two hours away, and thus free wood, by the time you add up the additional costs of chainsaws, trailer, fuel, unpaid time/labour etc. for all the wood our woodstove consumed each winter, I think we would've broken even on the cost of a Kachelofen years earlier.
