This wood-fired, outdoor masonry stove can be used four ways: for baking, grilling, cooking and smoking. Whatever your cooking needs, this outdoor oven can do it, thanks to interchangeable grill grates and griddle surfaces. If you want to grill steaks or fish, use the grill grate. If you want to bake bread, slide on the steel griddle, stack some bricks on top to retain heat and add the door to hold in the heat. If you want to use the stove top, just slide the metal plate (or griddle) over the top of the firebox.
The oven has a thick insulation layer of lightweight perlite/cement between the firebox and surrounding concrete block, and we included a removable door. This design holds the heat in the firebox where it’s needed. (Perlite is the porous white stuff often found in potting soils. You can buy this mined mineral product at garden centers.)
You can build the outdoor oven in stages, a few hours at a time. (You’ll need a few days between some steps.) Check local building codes before you start building. The oven is made from materials you can buy at local hardware or building stores. You may be able to find some of the materials at a salvage yard, too. Even if you only use it to bake bread, you can save enough money in one year to more than pay for the $300 cost. Ideally, the stove is built to a comfortable height with concrete countertop space on each side, plus a roof to protect against the elements. We covered the concrete blocks with tile, primarily for aesthetic reasons, but you could apply stucco over the blocks, or just paint them. Having an outdoor sink and storage space nearby is also convenient.
Another key design element is the firebox size — not too small, not too large, but just right. Properly sized fireboxes heat up quickly, have improved combustion, produce less smoke and stay hotter longer. We measured cookie sheets, bread pans, medium and large roasting pans, canners and baking dishes to arrive at our optimal firebox size of 13 inches wide by 28 inches deep by 13½ inches high.
Our outdoor oven requires a fire in the firebox for about 45 minutes to one hour to reach a baking temperature of 450 to 500 degrees Fahrenheit. Or, if you want to grill, you can start in less than half an hour. The stove requires almost no maintenance. There’s no need to clean grease out of the oven because it will simply burn away next time you use it.
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Signing UpStep 1: Materials
53 medium-duty firebricks (2½ in. by 4½ in. by 9 in.)
28 concrete blocks (4 in. by 8 in. by 16 in.)
12 concrete half block 4 in. by 8 in. by 8 in.
4 80-lb. bags cement
1 80-lb. bag cement mortar for tile and block
2 wheelbarrows of sand
2 wheelbarrows of gravel
1 2-gal. bucket fine sand
3 13-lb. bags perlite
1 quarter-inch steel lintel (1½ in. by 14¾ in. by 18 in.)
1 small bag concrete pigment
10 ft. of 6-in. stovepipe
1 damper
1chimney cap
1 collar
1 tube silicone
38 sq. ft. tile (for four sides)
4 to 5 lbs. grout
1 steel griddle (¼ in. by 15 in. by 18 in.)
1 steel grill grate (15 in. by 18 in.)
1 grate (fridge/oven rack) (13 in. by 18 in. max)
36 in. stove gasket (optional seal)
1 metal insulated door with handles/vent
Total cost: $300. This price assumes you do all the work, and utilize recycled grates and stovepipe from yard sales. Everything new would cost $400-$500.
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