Top Outdoor Pizza Oven Designs: How to Choose the Right One
Few things are as fun as preparing and cooking your pizza at home, especially if you have an outdoor pizza oven where you can cook a crispy pizza that rivals an authentic Italian dining experience.
Because of that, a pizza oven can be the perfect addition to any outdoor kitchen. It's not just great for pizza but can be used for preparing meats, grilling, roasting, or even making pies and bread.
However, if you plan to install a pizza oven, you need to consider the different outdoor pizza oven designs and how they would fit in your situation. Many factors can influence whether you'd want a rectangular pizza oven, square pizza oven, or dome pizza oven. You will need to consider these factors if you're going to enjoy using the oven every day.
With that in mind, let's go over some of the most crucial aspects of different options to help you find the best outdoor pizza oven design in your situation.
Types of Outdoor Pizza Oven Designs
To make the best choice regarding your pizza oven design, it's crucial to first understand the most popular types. Let's go over the most crucial outdoor pizza oven designs and their benefits below.
Domed Oven Pizza Design Overview & Benefits
A dome pizza oven is one of the most popular types you can choose. It comes in two main styles, Neapolitan and Tuscan, with the latter typically having a higher and more aggressive curve in the dome. For pizza, Naples-style is better because it allows the oven to heat faster and produces higher temperatures.
The great thing about these types of outdoor pizza oven designs is that they allow the heat to come down on the cooking surface in a more even manner. When cooking a pizza in high temperatures, this can be crucial, as it ensures that the short time the pizza spends in the oven allows all parts of the pizza to cook equally well.
However, when it comes to the Neapolitan dome, its main drawback is that it might not be suitable for higher pots such as a Dutch oven, which can be limiting if you want to use it for things other than pizza cooking.
Square Oven Pizza Design Overview & Benefits
Another popular option among outdoor pizza oven designs is the square oven. It's not just effective for making pizzas but is also very simple to build compared to some of the alternatives. The square pizza oven dimensions also simplify its installation into your outdoor kitchen, as you can easily fit that choice into most areas in your backyard.
For some people, a square oven might not be as aesthetically pleasing as other options, such as the Dome 60 pizza oven, but that is mostly a matter of taste. The square is a fine choice for those who value simplicity and practicality, even if it's not as ideally suited for pizza making as a dome oven.
Barrel Vault Pizza Oven Design Overview & Benefits
Barrel vault, also known as a brick bread oven, is a classic style that combines rectangular and dome shapes to create a distinct look that many people enjoy. The massive size of this type of oven usually means that it takes up more space, which is a crucial consideration when looking at different outdoor pizza oven designs.
However, there are reasons why this type of pizza oven remains relatively popular. With an enclosed barrel vault oven, you can reach temperatures that are needed to make a high-quality pizza. However, because of the oven's large size, it may take longer to reach the required temperatures.
Rectangular Pizza Oven Design Overview & Benefits
The final important option is the rectangle pizza oven, which is similar to a square shape in many ways. For this reason, the typical outcomes you are going to get will be similar as well.
Rectangular pizza ovens are convenient and can fit in various outdoor kitchen scenarios. They are also relatively easy to build and provide pretty consistent results when cooking pizzas.
However, as pizza purists that have experience with outdoor pizza oven designs will tell you, the dome shape usually comes down on top as the leading option for those who want a true Neapolitan experience. But for many others, a rectangular shape might be perfectly reasonable, especially since it can provide similar results.
How to Decide on Pizza Oven Dimensions
One of the most important aspects of being happy with your choice of an outdoor pizza oven is making it a seamless part of your outdoor kitchen area. But for that to happen, there are numerous factors you need to consider, as the process isn't as straightforward as it may initially seem.
That's because pizza ovens come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and the best design choice in your situation may come down to fit more than the specific type of design.
To help ensure you don't miss anything important when choosing the pizza oven dimensions, let's explore the considerations you should be aware of.
The Number of People
The most crucial consideration when choosing the pizza oven size and type is the number of people you want to serve. In theory, even the smallest pizza oven will do the job, but some people will have to wait for a long time for you to cook the pizzas one by one.
So, if you'll be primarily using the pizza oven for yourself and your partner, a small pizza oven that can fit only one 12-inch pizza will usually be enough. But if you also have children or want to cook pizzas with friends, you may want to be able to fit more than one pizza at once.
At the same time, if you'll be using the oven for larger gatherings and parties where people prepare their own pizzas, having a large pizza oven with the ability to cook four or more pizzas might be required.
The number of people also impacts which outdoor pizza oven designs will work better. A Neapolitan dome-style pizza oven will heat up faster than most of the others, which gives you a bit more flexibility in terms of how quickly you can start cooking the pizzas after you decide to do it.
The Placement
Even if you feel like you could benefit from a larger pizza oven, it still needs to fit in the type of setting you want to use it in. It also needs to be suitable for the type of place that you want to put it.
You should look at the outdoor space you want the pizza oven to go in and carefully measure how much space you can allocate. You can't expect to fit a large pizza oven if that means you won't have much room left for anything else; it needs to complement your existing design and serve as a valuable part of a bigger plan.
Frequency of Use
Finally, when deciding on the pizza oven dimensions, you should evaluate how frequently you plan to use it. This should involve your family members, which can help you make a more accurate prediction about how big of a role the pizza oven will play in your daily lives.
If the pizza oven is going to be used multiple times per week and in various settings, it definitely deserves a prominent role in your outdoor kitchen. In these cases, you should strongly consider a larger option. But if you are only going to be using it occasionally, it might make more sense to leave more outdoor space for other things and make do with a smaller pizza oven that can make just as good of a pizza.
Bottom Line
Choosing between the various outdoor pizza oven designs isn't easy. Despite the countless considerations you need to make, you can find the right option if you take the time to consider your needs.
At Grillscapes, we have a selection of high-end pizza ovens for any situation. If you have any questions about which design to go with, we are there to help. Call (800)311-4356 or write an email to sales@grillscapes.com, and we will provide you with all the information you need.