Is a pizza oven a good gift? Here's why you should factor one in to your Christmas list

Pizza ovens can be a huge investment. Do they make a worthy gift?

Ooni Karu 16 & Ooni Karu 12 side by side on a garden table
(Image credit: Future PLC/Heather Young)

Pizza is a crowdpleaser. Owning a pizza oven is step above, and serves as a great way to bring poeple together in your home. But does a pizza oven make a good gift, or is it an investment too far to give to somebody else? They do, after all, require quite a bit of work.

As Ideal Home's product tester and compiler of our guide to the best pizza ovens I've tried lots of pizza ovens this year, and enjoyed some lovely moments with my friends and family while doing so. I can see why, if budget allows, that one of these outdoor ovens might make it onto your list of potential gift ideas for the foodies you have in your life.

I've rounded up the ovens that I think would make great gifts for people you might be trying to buy for, as well as the pros and cons of gifting a pizza oven altogether. 

Does a pizza oven make a good gift?

Pizza ovens can make a garden into a more social space, and mean that you get access to restaurant-quality margherita whenever you like. Win-win. But the debate over whether they make a good gift is a little bite more complicated.

The first thing you'll want to consider is how keen a chef your potential recipient is. If they're the type of person who loves using one of the best BBQs in the summer, or they're already known to batch bake bread with the help of a stand mixer, then you can probably be pretty certain that they have the at-home-cooking-enthusiasm needed for a pizza oven. 

If they aren't that keen on cooking, or on setting up and maintaining buys like a BBQ, then you might want to reevaluate whether they will be willing to put in the effort needed to succeed with a pizza oven. Oh, and being sure that they definitely like pizza will also help too.

Pizza cooking in a Drew & Cole wood fired pizza oven

(Image credit: Future PLC/Heather Young)

Once you're sure a pizza oven is actually a good fit for them in terms of effort, you should think practically about whether they have the space for one. If their garden space is smaller, or if they share space with other people, you'll want to consider whether it's a viable purchase for them to use and store year-round. 

Another thing to consider is the type of fuel the oven you choose uses. Wood-fired ovens are more authentic, but take more effort to set up and run, while you can use gas ovens to churn out lots of pizzas at once, making them perfect for those who love to entertain. Below you can find suggestions for which type of pizza oven will suit each pizza-lover.  

Gifts for pizza oven obsessives

If the person you still need to buy for already has a pizza oven, and you're looking for accessories to add to their set up, then there are plenty of great add-ons that you can use to spruce up their stocking this Christmas. 

If you need a little more help on deciding which pizza oven to buy then our feature on which Ooni to buy may be of help to you as you sort out your Christmas list too. 

Kitchen Appliances Editor

Molly is Ideal Home’s Kitchen Appliances Editor and an all-around baking and cooking enthusiast. She joined the team in September 2022 as an Ecommerce Editor after working across Real Homes, Homes & Gardens and Livingetc. She's been reviewing products for 4 years and now specialises in weighing up kitchen essentials' pros and cons, from air fryers to bean-to-cup coffee machines.

She's always been a keen reader, so after graduating from the University of Exeter in 2020 she was thrilled to find a way to write as a full-time job. Nowadays, she spends her days at home or the Ideal Home test facility trying out new kitchen innovations to see if they’re worth a space on your worktop. Her most beloved and hard-working appliance is her Sage coffee machine though she also takes the title of Ideal Home’s in-house air fryer expert after writing about them religiously over the past few years.

When she's not thinking or writing about kitchen appliances, she loves getting around London exploring new places, going for a dip at the Ladies’ Pond and consuming every bit of pop culture she can get her hands on.