Best buys · The grill and the backyard

The best pizza oven worth buying

Our pick is the Ooni Koda 16. Below: why, what actually matters when buying one, what to get for less, the step up, and whether today's price is a good one.

The pizza oven

Ooni Koda 16

Gets hot enough to cook a pizza in about a minute, which a kitchen oven never manages, and runs on propane, so there is no fire to tend. Friday night becomes an event.

Buy it for
Families, parties, anyone who has paid for a pizza and thought they could do better.
Skip it if
You will use it twice a summer. A pizza steel in the kitchen oven gets most of the way.

What actually matters when buying a pizza oven

  1. Gas is easier and more consistent; wood tastes better and takes practice.
  2. Opening size: a sixteen-inch mouth is much easier to turn a pizza in than a twelve.
  3. A stone that holds heat, so the second and third pizzas cook as well as the first.

Either side of the pick