31" corner vs 35" vs 39" vs 43" for large food?

[mstang1988]

I'm planning on doing a corner oven and noticed the sizes in the forno bravo plans are for 31, 35, 39, and 43 inch internal ovens. I would of course love to do the largest oven but am limited by space. Besides the space benefit I am planning on doing a fireplace below the oven and counters that also include a smoker and built-in grill which would benefit from having a smaller oven. The smoker will be of my own design and the fireplace will be roughly based off the Rumsford(?) design.

I also noticed something that seemed really odd in the plans, it went from 46" edges for the 31" oven to 57" for the 35" oven. Does this seem right? To me it seemed odd that it then only increased from 57" to 62" for a 8" oven increase (35" - 43"). Has anybody been doing the 31" oven installs?

Will I be able to fit large items like a Turkey, roast, etc in the smaller oven? What is the max size pizza I'll be able to fit? Bread? I'll only need to be able to do 1, maybe 2 pizza's at a time but would like to be able to do a full size feed the extended family size Turkey/Prime Rib roast.

[egalecki]

Re: 31" corner vs 35" vs 39" vs 43" for large food?

How big a turkey you can fit in depends on your opening size. If you can get it in, you can cook it. I find most pizzas run a bit smaller than 12 inches, no more- I can't manage a bigger one well- it tries to fold up instead of turn.

You can figure your own size up- using half bricks, which measure 4.5 inches, plus your insulation, plus your vermicrete, plus what ever your final finish measures. Multiply by two and add your inside dimension, and you have the minimum size for your hearth.

I built a corner installation 36, and my stand was about 64" square with one corner cut off. I have only about an inch on the sides left- but it fits!

[Dutchoven]

Re: 31" corner vs 35" vs 39" vs 43" for large food?

88mstang
My simple suggestion is to simply build the largest oven you can find a way to fit because although you can cook less in a larger oven you can't cook more in a smaller oven
All the best!
Dutch

[mstang1988]

Re: 31" corner vs 35" vs 39" vs 43" for large food?

Thanks. I suppose I could fit a larger oven, the thing is it takes more fuel to heat etc and most definately more space. I was hoping to keep my kitchen space to fit within a 10ft by 10ft area including the smoker, the grill, fireplace, and the oven. It's looking more like the 12'x12' is going to do the job with the 31" oven. Perhaps I'll hit the drawing board again in the morning to see what I can fit and what I can't. All pieces are a must, builtin smoker, grill, fireplace, and oven. I also want 3ft or so of counter space on each side of the smoker with the counters being a std of 2ft.

[bturton]

Re: 31" corner vs 35" vs 39" vs 43" for large food?

I found it helpful to do a mock up of the base and opening. I took my favorite clay bakeware to make sure it would fit through the opening - and then built the biggest oven we could manage! Happy cooking!

[christo]

Re: 31" corner vs 35" vs 39" vs 43" for large food?

I was really concerned about a turkey fitting in mine. I did the same thing and measured a medium turkey in the store to ease my mind.

Christo

[drogers]

Re: 31" corner vs 35" vs 39" vs 43" for large food?

If you research the design of a Rumford fireplace, and the chimney construction you may find it difficult to integrate the two in a stacked arrangement with the WFO over the fireplace. In many of the early constructions using this combination the oven was off to the side. This link may be helpful. Fireplace

[dmun]

Re: 31" corner vs 35" vs 39" vs 43" for large food?

Early fireplaces were for cooking, and were massive, walk-in affairs. The first bake ovens were located in the inside back or side walls of the firebox, but it was soon learned that it was impractical at best to manipulate heavy food in and out of an oven over an open fire. This negated the advantages of sharing a flue, and being able to rake the oven fire directly out onto the firebox floor. Soon the ovens were located at the side of the fireplace, with a separate flue. This is what you see in places like the kitchen at Mount Vernon in Va.

Better still, is to have them separated further, since most people don't cook in open hearths, and cooking and seating are best separated to different areas.