Looking for design suggestions

[Dave T]

We are doing a rebuild of our patio next to our house, and are planning on including a pizza oven built around a Forno Bravo. I will not be doing the work, a contractor will be doing the build.

Can anyone suggest anything that we will want to do? I've never had a pizza oven and don't know what I don't know. I don't want to have a lot of "I wish we did it differently" thoughts once we start using it.

So I'm thinking I need suggestions about how to locate the oven, storage, workspace area, etc.

Thanks!

- Dave

[moderator]

Re: Looking for design suggestions

We are doing a rebuild of our patio next to our house, and are planning on including a pizza oven built around a Forno Bravo. I will not be doing the work, a contractor will be doing the build.

Can anyone suggest anything that we will want to do? I've never had a pizza oven and don't know what I don't know. I don't want to have a lot of "I wish we did it differently" thoughts once we start using it.

So I'm thinking I need suggestions about how to locate the oven, storage, workspace area, etc.

Thanks!

- Dave

Dave,

Let me help get your thread get started.

Here is a good intro guide to wood fired ovens and below I listed the five key questions I want our sales staff to answer when a customer is selecting an oven.

Key Questions

1 - Why do you want an oven? If you plan on doing pizza tonight and bread tomorrow, you want a thicker dome like the Premio. This will retain thermal mass for higher through put (product) and retain temperatures to bake bread the next day without a new fire.

2 - Inside or Outside and if outside is there a covered patio or similar obstruction within 10 feet? This will affect the flu design and how the oven will draw.

3 - How many people to you want to entertain? This is about cooking real estate.

4 - How much room to you have? Is there a size constraint that limits certain oven sizes or design concepts?

5 - Kit or Assembled? You can get a semi-custom fully assembled oven like custom paint / tile colors, etc. But if you have a landscape you want to design your oven into, the kit is the way to go (with either our Cucina stand or a local masonry built stand). Almost anything is possible from an appearance point of view. Stucco, Tile, Copper, SST, Stone, Brick, etc.

[mrchipster]

Re: Looking for design suggestions

Take a look at a classic post.

http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f28/...our-12453.html

By the great "Brickie in Oz"

One of my guides to building a proper oven.

[Dave T]

Re: Looking for design suggestions

Thanks!

To answer your questions:

1 - Why do you want an oven? If you plan on doing pizza tonight and bread tomorrow, you want a thicker dome like the Premio. This will retain thermal mass for higher through put (product) and retain temperatures to bake bread the next day without a new fire.

Mainly for pizzas, but once I gain experience with it, I'll probably use it for other things. Cost isn't too much of an issue, so if something like the Premio gives me more flexibility without giving anything up, I'd probably go for that.

2 - Inside or Outside and if outside is there a covered patio or similar obstruction within 10 feet? This will affect the flu design and how the oven will draw.

Outside. We haven't decided where to locate it yet. We are considering putting it up against the house, if that's an option. Otherwise, it will probably be about 10-15 feet from the house.

3 - How many people to you want to entertain? This is about cooking real estate.

Anywhere from 4-10 people, occasionally could be more.

4 - How much room to you have? Is there a size constraint that limits certain oven sizes or design concepts?

We have quite a bit of room, but not unlimited space.

5 - Kit or Assembled? You can get a semi-custom fully assembled oven like custom paint / tile colors, etc. But if you have a landscape you want to design your oven into, the kit is the way to go (with either our Cucina stand or a local masonry built stand). Almost anything is possible from an appearance point of view. Stucco, Tile, Copper, SST, Stone, Brick, etc.

We want to build it into something that will include an outdoor fireplace, and space for preparing food and storing equipment.

So, other than considerations about how we design the oven itself, I'd really appreciate input on how to design a space that includes counter space for preparing pizzas, and storage for things like the peels and whatever other doodads I'm going to want to have out there.

[mrchipster]

Re: Looking for design suggestions

There must be a new moderator in town? You are commenting differently than prior moderators. Please introduce yourself.

[moderator]

Re: Looking for design suggestions

There must be a new moderator in town? You are commenting differently than prior moderators. Please introduce yourself.

Chip,

My name is Tim. Our Moderator is on temporary leave so I have been filling in. I am the COO of Forno Bravo and we plan on getting much more active in the site when the new website launches in late July. Just getting a feel for the community. We haven't been very active since 2012 and that is going to change.

Thanks for noticing, hopefully my post was readable and accurate.

[moderator]

Re: Looking for design suggestions

Dave,

1 - Premio is a commercial grade oven for residential use. It is very popular with chefs who want one for their home. Or bread bakers due to the heat retention. High throughput. You can entertain dozens of people and move a lot of pizza through it due to the 4" dome thickness.

2 - You can put it against the house no problem. You can install the Premio or Casa indoors as well with some UL103HT listed flu (instead of single wall). If it is against the house, you need to plan for proper draw. Worst case, you have to extend the chimney flu up to about 3 feet above the roof line. This isn't always necessary depending on local conditions and chimneys are easily extended provided you don't build it into a designed facade (like brick).

3 - Any of our ovens can entertain 10 people. They cook very fast once you reach temperature. The most popular sized oven is the Casa 90 for home use. 36" cooking interior diameter, fits a medium turkey, reasonably priced. Anything larger in your situation would be a luxury.

4 - We recently redid the CAD on the Casa / Premios (others still pending) to give a better tool for architects / contractors.

Casa 90 layout
http://www.fornobravo.com/PDF/casa2g...a2G90_dims.pdf

CAD library
Forno Bravo Document Library

5 - Don't go pre-assembled then. We sell fireplaces as well. Recently we ran a Swing of Spring photo contest with some great combination designs (all the ovens are ours, some of the fireplaces are, some aren't).

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...0380576&type=3

If you want to talk to a representative, give us a call. Otherwise, have fun in the forum and draw upon all the great resources like Chip.

Tim

[mrchipster]

Re: Looking for design suggestions

M

Chip,

My name is Tim. Our Moderator is on temporary leave so I have been filling in. I am the COO of Forno Bravo and we plan on getting much more active in the site when the new website launches in late July. Just getting a feel for the community. We haven't been very active since 2012 and that is going to change.

Thanks for noticing, hopefully my post was readable and accurate.

Tim,

I think you are doing a fine job and it is good to see someone at the top engaged in the forum.

You have provided a service to those of us on the forum a site of immeasurable value. I sincerely hope you continue to host the site as.many people derive great friendships and eat fantastic food as a result of your generosity.

Dwight Friedline aka Mrchipster

[moderator]

Re: Looking for design suggestions

M

Tim,

I think you are doing a fine job and it is good to see someone at the top engaged in the forum.

You have provided a service to those of us on the forum a site of immeasurable value. I sincerely hope you continue to host the site as.many people derive great friendships and eat fantastic food as a result of your generosity.

Dwight Friedline aka Mrchipster

Thanks, if anything the new website will improve the Forum and re-energize it. We are just putting the technology in place now to support it. We will always host it.

[v12spirit]

Re: Looking for design suggestions

Chip,

My name is Tim. Our Moderator is on temporary leave so I have been filling in. I am the COO of Forno Bravo and we plan on getting much more active in the site when the new website launches in late July. Just getting a feel for the community. We haven't been very active since 2012 and that is going to change.

Thanks for noticing, hopefully my post was readable and accurate.

Hellow Tim,
Glad to see you on the forum. You did me a big favor on the FB cookbook contest helping me upload the picture that failed to upload. Surprisingly and unexpectedly my recipe won and I couldn't send you my thanks in person due to problems in my E-mail. Once again, I appreciate your help and thank you.

Bests.
v12spirit.

[SableSprings]

Re: Looking for design suggestions

Welcome Dave - you've come to the right place to enter into the world of wood fired ovens. Lots of experience, good advice, build designs, fabulous foods, and friendly folks within this valuable forum.

One of the best threads for those looking for oven designs and ideas was put together by LBurou (link below)

http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f2/n...res-15133.html

Thanks to Tim and the Forno Bravo staff for their continuing interest in this international Forno Family. We're all looking forward to the site upgrade...although it's pretty awesome now!

[moderator]

Re: Looking for design suggestions

Hellow Tim,
Glad to see you on the forum. You did me a big favor on the FB cookbook contest helping me upload the picture that failed to upload. Surprisingly and unexpectedly my recipe won and I couldn't send you my thanks in person due to problems in my E-mail. Once again, I appreciate your help and thank you.

Bests.
v12spirit.

I remember your recipe, it was for Damascene pizzas

The new website which rolls out by August has a great new layout for the cookbook that will make the content more interactive (change the math, shopping lists, etc) so everyone can have a lot more fun with it.

Free, just like the forum.

[v12spirit]

Re: Looking for design suggestions

I remember your recipe, it was for Damascene pizzas

The new website which rolls out by August has a great new layout for the cookbook that will make the content more interactive (change the math, shopping lists, etc) so everyone can have a lot more fun with it.

Free, just like the forum.

We are all looking forward to the new website and seeing our generous host getting more involved in it. I'm sure that will make this already exciting experience quite more exciting.