12’’ Outdoor Pizza Oven

Great little pizza oven !! My husband couldn’t wait to use it ! Things to note: you’re going to need extra reinforcement (lock washers) on those wheels as they will fall off 2. It cooks and gets hot way faster than you think! 10 minutes if that to cook your pizza! 3. Use a hickory or any minimal flavor wood as in 10 minutes that flavor from the smoke really packs a punch! It’s impressive 4. When you’re making your pizza FLOUR FLOUR FLOUR is your best friend ! Lots of it on everything! (Not on the stone) Or you won’t be able to transfer it in the oven and you’ll have a mess ! 5. My husbands 1 complaint is that the oven is too short so when cooking the smoke stack is right in his face so be ware ! Otherwise it’s super easy to use I say this thing is great ! We’ll be cooking with it often ! 10/10 recommend

Easy set up and works great, made my dough really thick and it was hard to move it on the tray but it cooked beautifully and came out better then I expected.

When heated, the doors are very hard to close. The tin needs reinforcement to beef up the doors. Also, we are going to add a piece of steel to the bottom and the sides. We have a welder, so not a big deal to us.

The stove was super easy to assemble. The instructions were included and there were no missing parts. Another reviewer stated that there were no instructions for cooking. Well….that has nothing to do with the stove. The best thing was the side door. It’s so much safer than the ones that open out. One thing to make sure is to remove all the plastic covering on the stove’s door, legs, etc. When firing up for pizzas, especially, the fire needs to burn HOT HOT HOT. In fact, even the coating on the inside of the top door flaked off. Some tips on the stove: 1) Do at least one initial burn before cooking to get rid of any smell of the materials. 2) Remove the ash tray and just set it on the ground below the opening. The air flow will help with the fire. But I also tried leaving it in and it worked just fine as well. 3) The pizza stone is thin. But I knew this from the pictures before buying it. So, I bought another one similar in size and doubled it up. 4) The thermostat is only as good as telling you “cooling down” (arrow to the left), “warming up” (arrow in the middle) and “hot” (arrow to the right. I wouldn’t rely on the actual numbers. This is true with most wood burning stoves. I don’t think there is a thermostat that can withstand that kind of heat, especially things that are made for household use. Some tips on making pizza in the stove: I read reviews from other similar products, and many people complain of soot on the pizza, burnt pizza, a gigantic fire, etc. These reviewers just need to practice making the dough and use the stove often to tweak it to their needs. As for myself, I had a homemade pizza oven that I had to destroy because mice decided to move in and not leave. I was looking for a pizza stone and came across this oven. For an extra $50, I figured I’d just get the stove. It was such a deal. I make pizzas everyday and eat like bread and cheese throughout the day. For the dough not to stick to the stone, the consistency of the dough and cleanliness of the pizza peel, stone and the dough are the key. It needs to slide freely WITHOUT any flour or cornmeal. Also, don’t put the dough when the fire is raging. The bottoms will burn while you wait for the top to cook. What I do is put A LOT of wood and burn it HOT HOT HOT. Wait for the smoke to clear and you have just a nice fire going. When the fire has tamed down and smoke gone, that’s the time to put the pizza in. Close the door for a minute or so, and then open the door and use a metal spatula to gently lift the pizza. It should not stick. Close the door, open the door, intermittently and turn the pizza. It will make sure that the crust doesn’t burn. And towards the end, close the door one final time for the top to golden. It also helps to place small rocks around the corners. Rocks absorb the soot and keep the heat in. And oh, besides the small sticks at the bottom (to get the fire started), I place the wood horizontally. Placing the wood vertically towards you creates an uneven burn. As far as adding more wood, don’t just toss it to the back. It will create smoke and cause the ashes to go up into the top compartment. Place 1 or 2 pieces of wood at the edge of the lower compartment, kind of like keeping them waiting in line. And always keep 1-2 (sometimes 3) pieces of wood “waiting in line” as the fire burns and uses up the wood. By the time the original batch of wood has burned out, the ones “waiting in line” will have already caught fire, gently and slowly. All you need to do is to gently PUSH them towards the back. This helps minimize smoke and soot. Never toss the new wood. And don’t poke around with the wood while you have the pizza inside. It will create smoke and the soot will contaminate the pizza. I think people expect the oven to do it all and make a great pizza like magic. It takes tweaking and practice. In restaurants, their oven is constantly going. So, it’s not the same with household pizza stoves. You just have to get the temperature just right for your pizzas and the number of pizzas. I usually make four thin crust NY style (which cooks fast) at a time. So, for the stove itself, it’s a great price and the stove is pretty solid. I mean, it can withstand a huge fire without bending and buckling. In fact, one of the rocks I placed in the top compartment chipped due to the intense fire. The stove itself is completely in good shape. No warping or buckling. And I’ve been using it pretty much everyday. Pretty impressive.

Despite other reviews, I actually had trouble getting the oven up to temperature when I added the fire bricks that others have mentioned needing in order to keep the pizza from burning. No matter how much wood/charcoal we added, we couldn't get it much past 300 degrees. Once we removed the fire bricks, the oven quickly rose and we were able to get the pizzas cooked. **I will admit, this was on a cold and windy night in mid-February, where the temps were in the high 30s, so I suspect that the best method will depend on the type of weather we are experiencing at the time.** One other thing to note is that unless you have this thing really rolling and dialed in, it is hard to cook for a large group. Would recommend 6 or less pizzas unless you can stagger them enough to give yourself time. We tried cooking about 15 pizzas and we obviously couldn't all eat at the same time. No fault of the oven, more just a warning to those trying to provide for a group. Overall, 4 stars for the price, what the oven comes with, and the novelty. If the 2 front doors were just a tad thicker, this would be 5 stars easy.

If you're specifically wanting a wood burning pizza oven, you really can't go wrong with this one. Assembly was very simple and all the screws etc were included. With the flame cutouts and a few other touches, it looks nicer that you would expect for the price. The build quality is more than acceptable for what you're spending. The trick to getting good pizza with an oven where the heat source is below the cooking surface is always going to be getting the full pizza to cook before the bottom gets burnt. As another reviewer suggested, you'll help yourself by adding another pizza stone or a slab of basalt beneath the included pizza stone. I had prior experience with a homemade pizza oven, so that's helped make it easy to dial in a good cook with this one. The only small design critique I could offer for this product is that a different hinge on the upper door, one that allowed the door to swing out closer to 180 degrees, would have been ideal. With the 90 degree hinge, which opens to about 85 degrees since the rivets are in the way, makes it feel a little tighter than would be ideal getting pizzas in and out. It doesn't actually get in the way, it just makes things feel a little tighter than would be ideal. But it's a minor thing that doesn't impact the actual use of the oven. But ya, I'm very happy with the purchase, the pizza I can make with this oven, and the value and build quality for the price.

Nice design, poor quality. First time used it the door knob came off, the flimsy metal doors bent due to the heat.