Should I have countertop in front of my wood oven opening?

[Snoochers]

Hi all,

I will have a pizza oven outdoor that will be opened from the inside of the house. So for these purposes I suppose we could consider it an interior wood oven. I'm not sure how to handle the cabinetry around this area. The location of the sink and the BBQ are non negotiable and can be seen in the photos below. Things are much more flexible once you're about 12-18" left of the sink. I thought I would have a tall open cabinet on the left for wood as shown. Please note that the exact dimensions of the oven opening and the wood storage unit are not correct and should be treated as approximate.

The plan currently is to have a full countertop in front of the wood oven opening. This would be very functional, especially considering that this counter will see use outside of the wood oven. However, it seems to me that such a deep counter would get in the way of using the wood oven comfortably.

What are you suggestions for this area? Should we not have counter in front of the opening, shorten the counter to maybe 12" deep, or leave a full depth counter? Any other options or ideas?

We're quite open here and any guidance regarding the counter or anything else would be appreciated!

[david s]

Having the wood storage under the oven mouth, as most of us do, does present a fire risk, particularly for an indoor oven. I suggest you ensure there is nothing flammable under or near the oven mouth.

[MarkJerling]

Hi all,

I will have a pizza oven outdoor that will be opened from the inside of the house. So for these purposes I suppose we could consider it an interior wood oven. I'm not sure how to handle the cabinetry around this area. The location of the sink and the BBQ are non negotiable and can be seen in the photos below. Things are much more flexible once you're about 12-18" left of the sink. I thought I would have a tall open cabinet on the left for wood as shown. Please note that the exact dimensions of the oven opening and the wood storage unit are not correct and should be treated as approximate.

The plan currently is to have a full countertop in front of the wood oven opening. This would be very functional, especially considering that this counter will see use outside of the wood oven. However, it seems to me that such a deep counter would get in the way of using the wood oven comfortably.

What are you suggestions for this area? Should we not have counter in front of the opening, shorten the counter to maybe 12" deep, or leave a full depth counter? Any other options or ideas?

We're quite open here and any guidance regarding the counter or anything else would be appreciated!

For all intents and purposes, your wood fired oven is, essentially, an open fire.As such, you need to consider coals that may fall out of the oven and onto the counter. The counter is therefore acting as a hearth so, depending on the rules for hearths and open fires in your jurisdiction, it may make sense to set the counter, in a fire proof material, as deep as it needs to be to form a hearth. An normal counter depth would seem to make sense in that regard.

Your jurisdiction will also likely have rules around the minimum offset of flammable materials to the sides of an open fire and, in that respect, your high wood storage may or may not comply. You'll need to check that. Knowing that my own WFO does sometime have smoke bypass the chimney and come out the door, I think it would be wise to consider having a rangehood over so as to be able to extract smoke if required. This will need to be a safe distance above so as to not be a fire hazard in itself.

Depending on your home's construction method it may also be necessary to introduce an opening or openings of some sort to the exterior in order to provide sufficient air to aid combustion. In order to exhaust smoke up the flue, your fire needs to be able to draw in fresh air.

[Snoochers]

Having the wood storage under the oven mouth, as most of us do, does present a fire risk, particularly for an indoor oven. I suggest you ensure there is nothing flammable under or near the oven mouth.

Thanks for this! Certainly there will be nothing flammable near the mouth and everything will meet code and be certified and the like!

[Snoochers]

For all intents and purposes, your wood fired oven is, essentially, an open fire.As such, you need to consider coals that may fall out of the oven and onto the counter. The counter is therefore acting as a hearth so, depending on the rules for hearths and open fires in your jurisdiction, it may make sense to set the counter, in a fire proof material, as deep as it needs to be to form a hearth. An normal counter depth would seem to make sense in that regard.

Your jurisdiction will also likely have rules around the minimum offset of flammable materials to the sides of an open fire and, in that respect, your high wood storage may or may not comply. You'll need to check that. Knowing that my own WFO does sometime have smoke bypass the chimney and come out the door, I think it would be wise to consider having a rangehood over so as to be able to extract smoke if required. This will need to be a safe distance above so as to not be a fire hazard in itself.

Depending on your home's construction method it may also be necessary to introduce an opening or openings of some sort to the exterior in order to provide sufficient air to aid combustion. In order to exhaust smoke up the flue, your fire needs to be able to draw in fresh air.

Thanks for this! I think the counter would be granite or the like and would be fire proof, but the exact depth I'm not sure. I can ask the code guy. 26" did seem a bit deep to me in terms of reaching in etc. Do you think that would present an inconvenience?

There will be plenty of air, in fact this is a sunroom so air won't be an issue thankfully.

[MarkJerling]

Thanks for this! I think the counter would be granite or the like and would be fire proof, but the exact depth I'm not sure. I can ask the code guy. 26" did seem a bit deep to me in terms of reaching in etc. Do you think that would present an inconvenience?

There will be plenty of air, in fact this is a sunroom so air won't be an issue thankfully.

No, I don't think the depth is too much of an issue. While you may need slightly longer tools, the reality is that one tends to stand up against a counter so really, you're not much further away that one would be standing in front of a regular wood fired oven.