Buying guide
Which pizza oven should you buy?
There are dozens of models, but only three questions you need to answer. Work through them in order and one oven is almost always left standing.
Do you have outdoor space?
Every pizza oven running on gas, wood or charcoal produces carbon monoxide and therefore belongs in the open air only. Not in a shed, not under a closed canopy, and certainly not indoors.
If you have no garden, balcony or roof terrace, two are left. The G3 Ferrari Delizia and the Ooni Volt 2 both run on an ordinary socket and both may be used indoors. The Delizia sits in a far lower price class than the Volt 2 and reaches 400 degrees against 450. Fifty degrees matters on a pizza, but it is less of a gap than the price suggests.
Note that electric is not the same as usable indoors. The Cozze 13 electric and the Ninja Woodfire also run on mains power and are both sold as outdoor ovens.
- No outdoor space→ Delizia or Volt 2, the only two allowed indoors
- Outdoor space available→ Move on to question 2
Gas or wood?
This question is not about flavour but about how you want to spend an evening. Gas is switch on, wait fifteen minutes, bake. Wood is lighting, tending and clearing ash afterwards, a good hour on top.
A wood fire gives something back: an irregular flame that blisters the crust more beautifully, and smoke flavour you do not get from gas. Whether that is worth the hour depends on whether you enjoy the baking itself or only the eating.
If you cannot decide, choose the Karu range. It burns wood and, with a separate burner, gas, so you do not have to commit up front. Do count that burner into the budget.
- Quick and predictable→ Koda range
- Wood flavour, I enjoy tending a fire→ Karu range
- I am not sure→ Karu with the separate gas burner
Small or large?
The range runs from twelve to twenty-four inches. Twelve inches is one thirty-centimetre pizza, fine for up to three people. Above that you bake so many rounds back to back that you never sit down yourself.
Going bigger helps not only because the pizza is bigger. The oven has more mass and so sags less between bakes, which means you get through them faster. You notice that difference more at the fourth pizza than at the first.
The rule of thumb: if you usually bake for three people or fewer, twelve inches is the sensible choice. If you regularly bake for five or more, the premium for sixteen inches or more is worth the money, and if not, this is the purchase you regret within a year.
- Usually two or three of us→ Twelve to fourteen inches
- Regularly five or more→ Sixteen inches or more
- I cook for large groups→ Koda 2 Max with two zones
The short answers
If you want to skip the reasoning: these are the four ovens most people end up with, and why.
Count this into your budget
The oven is not the whole outlay. You need a perforated peel from the first evening, and an infrared gun to read the stone, even on an oven with a thermometer or Connect hub: those read the air in the oven, not the stone. Reckon on fifty to a hundred euros extra.
See the accessoriesFrequently asked questions
One more thing
Which pizza oven is best for beginners?
Of the ovens on this site the Koda 12 is the usual starting point: gas, so there is no fire to tend, and the entry model of the range. If you want to bake more than pizza, the Koda 2 is worth the step up for its control from 100 °C upwards.
Can a pizza oven be used indoors?
Of the models here, only the Volt 2. Every other one burns gas, wood or charcoal and produces carbon monoxide; those belong outdoors only, in the open air and not under a closed canopy.
How much gas does a pizza oven use?
A five-kilo gas bottle is good for roughly ten to fifteen baking sessions on the smaller models. The Koda 2 Max uses considerably more on two burners.
Do I need a pizza peel?
Yes. Without one you cannot get the topped pizza into the oven. A perforated peel is the better choice, because excess flour falls through instead of burning on.
Is twelve inches big enough?
For up to three people, fine. Above that you bake so many rounds back to back that you never sit down yourself, at which point sixteen inches is the better buy.
How long does the pizza stone last?
Years, as long as you never clean it with water. Burn off baked-on residue by leaving the oven at full temperature for ten minutes after baking, then brush it once cold.
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