There are numerous of factors:
1. Chimney vs no chimney. Traditional pizza ovens result from either Italy or Spain/Portugal. There are several types of Italian ovens, mainly Tuscan and Napoli. Every one has a powerful chimney in front of the oven door and outside the cooking area. However Portuguese and Spanish ovens (⤽Mediterranean ovens⤠as they became known) usually come with no chimney in any way with the smoke taken from the entranceway with the oven.
wood fired oven
2. Shape of the dome. The dome inside the traditional Italian ovens is generally 15-16⤠high at highest internal point. The height is measured from floor to inner dome surface. This assures best heat reflection. Mediterranean ovens are much higher - up to 25-30⤠at highest dome elevation. They dont get as hot because the Italian ovens nevertheless they stay warm to get a long time which serves the Portuguese tradition of keeping food inside them from morning to evening without having to burn it.
3. A special category is indirect combustion ovens such as the ones produced by Fontana Forni, Clementi, Tranquilli, and other companies. The cooking chamber is outside of the wood burning chamber. The pros include a larger area dedicated to cooking only, multiple cooking levels (shelves), better heat distribution, modern looks, easy cleaning, lighting, and straightforward transportation. The cons are lack of the ⤽real oven⤠feel, absence of burning wood smoke in the food, and higher price.
wood burning ovens
4. Increasingly popular are modular oven kits, virtually all of them via Italy and USA. Good quality kits can be produced into great ovens that will serve for years. However all hangs on the quality of the masonry mixed used in producing the kit. The information is supposed to be high density, high alumina content, low conductivity, and completely chip-proof. If these factors are present then all it lacks offers some layers of insulation both underneath the floor and over the dome.
wood pizza ovens
5. The last category to cover is Beehive ovens. These ovens are popular in Portugal in most cases come with a metal stand. Due to the shape of the dome they arent supposed to have a chimney and quite often a door. Theyre meant primarily for cooking meat and fish and never pizza. Pizza can nevertheless be baked in them nonetheless it will take over a regular Italian oven.
