Choose a gas pizza oven if you want pizza on a weeknight with no fuss: it lights at the turn of a knob, holds a steady heat and leaves no ash. Choose wood if you want the flavour and theatre of a live fire, and an oven that keeps roasting and baking on stored heat long after the pizzas are done. If you want both, a hybrid oven runs on LPG or wood, and the size you need comes down to how many pizzas you want out at once.
Wood vs gas at a glance
| Wood-fired | Gas | |
|---|---|---|
| Heat-up | Slower: the floor and dome need time to soak up heat | Quicker, especially smaller countertop ovens |
| Temperature control | Managed by the size of the fire and how you feed it; takes practice | Turn of a dial; easy to hold steady and repeat |
| Flavour | Light wood smoke and a classic charred crust | Clean flavour with no smoke taste |
| Fuel | Dry hardwood, split small | LPG cylinder with the correct regulator |
| Cleaning | Ash to clear once it is cold | Minimal: brush the floor |
| Versatility | Roasting, baking and slow cooking on retained heat | Mostly pizza and fast, hot cooking |
| Smoke and neighbours | Some smoke, especially while lighting | Very little |
| Best for | Weekend sessions and people who enjoy the fire | Quick midweek pizza and beginners |
The quick rule. If you will mostly cook pizza midweek, buy gas or a hybrid. If pizza night is a weekend event and you also want to roast, bake and cook over a live fire, wood earns its keep.
Which type of pizza oven?
There are four ways to get proper pizza in a UK garden. Each suits a different cook and a different amount of space.
Best for flavour and versatility
Wood-fired ovens
A live fire inside the dome gives that charred crust and a hint of smoke. The Igneus Classico has a 60 x 60cm floor of 28mm firebricks for two 12 inch pizzas, and the Fontana Marinara cooks five at once.
Best for quick, easy pizza
Gas ovens
Light it, let it preheat and cook. The Fontana Maestro 60 is a gas-only countertop oven made in Italy, with a 61 x 40.5cm floor that takes two pizzas at a time.
Best of both
Hybrid ovens
Run on LPG when you are short of time and on wood when you want the fire. Fontana's hybrid Margherita and Mangiafuoco ovens switch between the two fuels.
Best for trying it first
A pizza insert for your BBQ
The Camp Chef Artisan insert is a steel oven with a ceramic bakerstone that sits on a Buschbeck masonry barbecue or a suitably sized gas or charcoal barbecue.
What are the disadvantages of a wood-fired oven?
- It takes longer to heat up. Igneus says the Classico is ready in 15 to 20 minutes; bigger ovens with thicker floors take longer.
- You have to manage the fire. You keep feeding it through a long session and turn each pizza so the side nearest the flames does not burn.
- You need dry wood and somewhere to keep it. Ideally kiln-dried hardwood under 20% moisture, stored under cover.
- There is ash to clear out, and only once it is completely cold.
- Wet wood makes smoke, which taints the food and annoys the neighbours.
For many people those are the point: building the fire is part of the evening. And there is a real payoff. A well-fed wood oven gets very hot (Igneus quotes up to 500°C for the Classico, with pizzas cooking in about 60 seconds), and the stored heat keeps working long after the last pizza.
And the downsides of gas
- No wood-smoke flavour. The crust is crisp and the toppings cook well, but there is no smoky edge.
- Less retained heat. A gas oven cooks on its burner rather than on heat stored in a heavy floor and dome, so there is less left for roasting and baking once the burner is off.
- A cylinder to keep topped up, stored safely outdoors and connected with the right regulator.
Most outdoor gas pizza ovens run on LPG. In the UK, propane regulators are typically 37mbar and butane regulators 28 to 30mbar, so use the one your oven's manual specifies. Propane is the better choice if you want to cook through the winter: butane struggles to turn to gas at temperatures around freezing, while propane keeps working well below it.
Gas safety basics. Change cylinders outdoors with the valve closed, and check the joints with soapy water: bubbles mean a leak. Never look for a leak with a flame. Calor advises replacing a regulator that is worn or more than 10 years old, and replacing rubber hoses at least every five years, or sooner if cracked or damaged. Never use a gas oven indoors, in a garage or in a tent.
Hybrid ovens: wood and gas in one
A hybrid gives you both habits in one oven. The Fontana Margherita has a 60 x 60cm floor that cooks two pizzas at a time, and the Fontana Mangiafuoco has an 80 x 60cm floor for four. Both are made in Italy, with a refractory cooking floor and an insulated dome. The hybrid versions come with a hose and regulator for LPG and a kit for burning wood instead, and Fontana is clear that they run on gas or wood, never both at the same time.
In practice, many owners use gas for a quick midweek pizza and light a wood fire at the weekend, when there is time to enjoy it. Browse all dual fuel pizza ovens.
Choose the size: how many pizzas at once?
Fuel is half the decision. The other half is the size of the cooking floor, because that sets how quickly you can feed everyone.
| Oven | Fuel | Cooking floor | Pizzas at once |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fontana Maestro 60 | Gas, countertop | 61 x 40.5cm | 2 |
| Igneus Classico | Wood | 60 x 60cm, 28mm firebricks | 2 x 12 inch |
| Fontana Margherita | Wood, or hybrid LPG and wood | 60 x 60cm | 2 |
| Fontana Mangiafuoco | Wood, or hybrid LPG and wood | 80 x 60cm | 4 |
| Fontana Marinara | Wood | 80 x 80cm | 5 |
A worked example: for a family of four eating together, a two-pizza oven means two rounds of cooking, which is fine when each pizza takes a couple of minutes. For a party of twelve having two slices each, a four or five-pizza oven keeps everyone eating at the same time. Fontana also rates its ovens for bread: around 2 to 3kg a batch in the Margherita, 3 to 5kg in the Mangiafuoco and 5 to 6kg in the Marinara.
How hot, and how fast?
A pizza oven cooks from below and above at once: the hot floor crisps the base while heat reflected off the dome cooks the toppings. A thin, Neapolitan-style pizza wants a very hot floor and cooks in a minute or two. A thicker pan or tray pizza wants a lower heat and a few minutes, or the base burns before the middle is done.
Check the floor, not just the dial. An oven thermometer reads the air in the dome. The floor can lag behind, especially in a heavy wood oven, so give it time to soak up heat. If the base is pale when the top is done, the floor needs longer.
What cooking in each is like
Wood-fired
You light a fire in the middle of the floor and let it burn until the dome clears of soot and the floor is hot. Then you push the fire to the back or side and cook beside the flames, feeding small, dry logs to hold the heat and turning each pizza as it cooks. After the pizzas, the retained heat in the floor and dome will roast vegetables, bake bread or slow-cook a joint as the oven cools.
Gas
You light the burner, preheat as the manual directs until the floor is hot, and cook. Temperature is set with the control, so it is easy to repeat the same result every time, and you can turn it down for thicker pizzas or flatbreads. Most gas ovens are at their best for fast, hot cooking rather than long, slow roasting.
Hybrid
A hybrid behaves like a gas oven on gas and a wood oven on wood. Pick the fuel before you start, and follow Fontana's instructions for switching between them.
Beyond pizza: roasting, baking and grilling
The heat stored in a wood oven is the reason many owners end up using it more than the barbecue. Once the pizzas are done, the oven settles into a steady roasting heat for a chicken, a tray of vegetables or a loaf of bread, and later still a casserole can sit in the cooling oven for hours. The Igneus three piece cast iron pan set (a casserole, a lid that doubles as a frying pan and a ridged skillet) is made for that kind of cooking, and the Fontana grill and drip tray set turns a wood-fired oven into a grill for steaks and vegetables.
What wood to burn in a pizza oven
Use dry hardwood such as ash, beech, birch or oak, split small (about the thickness of your wrist) so it catches quickly and burns with a clean flame. Igneus recommends kiln-dried silver birch for a fast heat-up. In England, firewood sold in quantities under 2 cubic metres must be certified Ready to Burn, which means 20% moisture or less. Avoid resinous softwood, painted or treated timber and anything damp: it smokes, soots the dome and taints the food. Our guide to the best wood to burn compares the common UK species, and our guide to white vs blue smoke explains why dry wood tastes better.
Where to put it
- A stable, level base. Use the oven's own stand or a solid, non-combustible surface rated for the weight. A Fontana Margherita countertop oven weighs around 100kg and a Marinara around 150kg; the Igneus Classico is 45kg, or 20kg with the firebricks out.
- Clear space around and above. Keep it away from fences, sheds, overhanging branches and the house, with the chimney clear above.
- Open air. Pizza ovens are for outdoor use. Never use one in a garage, conservatory, enclosed gazebo or tent, and follow the manual on covered areas.
- Gas stored safely. For a gas or hybrid oven, keep the cylinder outdoors, upright and away from the heat. Calor advises never storing cylinders in cellars or below ground level.
- Out of the worst of the wind. A strong wind blowing into the mouth makes a wood fire harder to control.
- Covered when cold. A fitted cover stops rain soaking into the floor and dome between uses.
Smoke control areas
Many UK towns and cities are smoke control areas. The government's guidance is clear that you can use outdoor barbecues, chimineas, fireplaces or pizza ovens in a smoke control area. The rules on authorised fuels and exempt appliances apply when an appliance uses a chimney on the roof of a building, such as a summerhouse, not to a freestanding oven in the garden. Burn dry wood anyway, so you are not a nuisance to the neighbours.
The kit that goes with it
Whichever oven you choose, a few tools make the difference between a fun evening and a frustrating one:
- A peel to slide pizzas in and out. The Fontana pro pizza shovel is 120cm long overall, in aluminium, which keeps your hands well back from the fire.
- A turning peel to rotate pizzas as they cook.
- A brush to sweep ash and flour off the floor.
- Heat-resistant gloves for handling hot doors, pans and trays.
- A cover made for your oven; see our pizza oven covers.
The Igneus five piece bundle covers a 12 inch peel, a turning peel, an oven brush with scraper, a rocker cutter and a dough cutter in one go. See all pizza oven accessories.
Common questions
Is a gas pizza oven as good as wood?
For the pizza itself, a good gas oven makes excellent pizza and is easier to control. Wood adds a light smoky flavour and stored heat for roasting and baking afterwards. It depends which you value more.
What are the disadvantages of a wood-fired oven?
A slower heat-up, a fire to manage, a supply of dry wood to store, ash to clear and some smoke while lighting. Many owners see the fire as part of the appeal.
Can I use a wood-fired pizza oven in a smoke control area?
Yes. Government guidance says you can use outdoor barbecues, chimineas, fireplaces or pizza ovens in smoke control areas. Burn dry wood to keep smoke down.
Can a gas pizza oven run on mains natural gas?
Most outdoor gas pizza ovens are supplied for LPG. A mains supply needs an oven made or converted for natural gas, and by law the gas work must be done by a competent Gas Safe registered engineer.
What is a hybrid pizza oven?
An oven that can cook on gas or wood. Fontana's hybrid Margherita and Mangiafuoco ovens run on LPG or wood, one fuel at a time.
How long does a pizza oven take to heat up?
It depends on the size and fuel. Igneus says the Classico is ready in 15 to 20 minutes, while larger ovens with thicker floors take longer. Always let the floor heat through, not just the air.
Should I use propane or butane?
Use whichever your oven's manual specifies, with the matching regulator. If you want to cook in cold weather, propane is the better choice because butane struggles to vaporise around freezing.
Can I put a pizza oven on a wooden table?
Check the manual first. Igneus says the Classico, which stands on four wooden feet, can go on any surface except granite or glass. Heavier ovens such as the Fontana range need a stand or base made for their weight.
Do I need a cover for my pizza oven?
Yes. Fit a cover made for your model once the oven is completely cold, so rain cannot soak into the floor and dome.
Find the right pizza oven
Wood-fired, gas and hybrid ovens from Igneus and Fontana, plus the peels, brushes and covers that go with them. Not sure which size? Get in touch and we will help you choose.
