A wood-fired oven would work very well in cold climates, and it won’t have any trouble with snow and very cold temperatures. A modern wood oven is installed using high tech insulation, which holds the heat in when the oven is cooking and keeps the cold out. We have a number of photographs of ovens working in the snow on Fornobravo.com, and the because of the insulation, the snow never even melts on the outside of the oven enclosure.

It is important that your oven is installed properly, using the insulation that comes with the oven and installed with a waterproof enclosure. The Primavera and Toscana assembled ovens from Forno Bravo can also work in your your climate.

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We like to say that it is easy to cook bread in a pizza oven, but difficult to cook pizza in a bread oven. That is because bread and pizza cook in fundamentally different ways. Bread ovens are designed to cook multiple batches of bread at a low heat, from a single firing, and as a result they have trouble reaching and holding the temperature needed for pizza.

A pizza oven has the right thermal mass for pizza, food and bread. It heats up quickly, and has a round cooking hearth designed for fire in the oven cooking. At the same time, it has enough mass to easily cook a large batch of bread from a single firing - more than enough bread for any family.

I am really sorry, but we do not have any coal burning oven expertise. Our ovens are all Italian designs -- which are all either wood fired, or gas/wood combo (commercial ovens only). Our experience is that wood fired ovens work wonderfully and wood is readily available, and we aren't really sure why someone would want to use coal.

Definitely! The characteristics that make a wood fire oven excel at pizza and bread also make it ideal for cooking roasts, poultry, potatoes, vegetables, and fish. The fire in the oven environment that simultaneously cooks the top and bottom of a pizza is perfect for appetizers and tapas, while the oven's ability to retain heat enables you to slowly cook beans, soups and stews.

You can use stainless steel, terra cotta and cast iron pots and pans and a cast iron grill in a wood fire oven to obtain a wide range of cooking effects.

We do not recommend gas fired ovens for homeowners for three reasons. First, there are some serious safety issues. Pizza ovens are small and enclosed, and even a small leak can leave enough gas in an oven to be unsafe and capable of exploding. Our commercial gas-fired ovens have very sophisticated burners, controls and shut-offs that minimize risk, but they cost $4,000 by themselves. The scope of the safety problem is very large, with the possibility of a life-threatening explosion.

Second, commercial gas-fired ovens are operated in a commercial setting by professionals. We have concerns about a potentially dangerous gas-fired oven being operated by friends, neighbors or even children. Even if a problem were to never occur, the stress of worrying about oven safety would detract from the enjoyment of owning a pizza oven.

Third, a gas fire has much less potential energy than a wood fire, so gas-fired ovens take a long time to heat up from scratch. Gas does a good job of holding a commercial oven at cooking temperature because those ovens never fully cool down. Still, it can take hours for a gas burner to heat up an oven from a cold start -- which is what homeowners do with their ovens. The Forno Bravo wood-fired ovens heat up in 20 to 45 minutes, which is why they are so popular.

You can use either single wall pipe, UL103 double wall pipe or a refractory clay chimney liner with the Casa2G ovens. The single wall chimney kit (anchor plate, chimney and cap) included with the Casa2G oven is the right solution for outdoor oven installation. It is cost-effective, it is constructed using high grade stainless steel and it will be very durable outdoors. The double wall UL103 (Duratech and others) chimney system is UL listed for indoor installation, and it can also be used outdoors. It also comes in a range of lengths and offers a range of angled offsets, straps, flashing, ceiling boxes, etc. for more complicated installations. You can purchase Duratech from Forno Bravo.

The Casa2G can also be used with a traditional flue liner for both indoor and outdoor installation -- and that installation method is described in the installation guide.

In general, we would recommend that you choose as large an oven as you have space and can afford. The incremental cost of the next larger oven size is not big, and you will appreciate the additional cooking space. Even if you do not intend to cook multiple pizzas at a time, you will enjoy the size of a larger oven for roasting and grilling, potatoes and vegetables, or preparing multiple pans of appetizers for a party.

Absolutely! The 24" Primavera60 is the perfect oven for tight spaces and tight budgets (or for anyone who wants an oven that is easy to set up). It is wonderful at cooking one pizza at a time, and it has the space you need for roasting, grilling, baking focaccia and bread. It does almost everything (short of roasting a large turkey) a larger oven does. In fact, we use a Primavera60 in all of the Forno Bravo YouTube demonstration videos.

We ship throughout North American by truck. Your oven is packed in a secure wooden crate, and is shipped Curbside Service, where it is placed at the curb of our home using a lift gate truck. The freight company contacts the buyer a few days prior to delivery to coordinate a delivery time. Our modular ovens and stands can be moved and set in place by two people, and each piece can be carried by hand through a standard doorway or gate. The Primavera60 oven can be moved into place and set by four mean, while our other pre-assembled ovens require a forklift, or other mechanical means, for movement and placement.

Please read the Oven Delivery and Oven Curing instructions that we send by email and attach to the oven crate.

Yes, you can extend the single wall stainless steel chimney pipe that comes with the Casa2G. Forno Bravo sells 24” pipe sections in both the 6” and 8” versions, so you can make the chimney as high as you want. We do not sell single wall angled offsets, so you will have to use double wall UL103 pipe (Duratech) for more complex installations. You can also purchase Duratech from Forno Bravo.