CHEFMAN Indoor Pizza Oven (Open Box)

If I had an opportunity to go back in time and re-purchase this pizza oven, I would not. I think the quality of this pizza oven is just okay. I think it makes just okay pizza. I own the original Baking steel, a ceramic pizza stone, a cast iron pizza pan, and the Breville Pizzaiola. I have made incredible pizza using all of those kitchen tools and using my Breville Pizza oven. Maybe my opinion of the Chefman pizza oven would be higher if I was new to pizza making and if I had not experienced excellent quality pizza using my kitchen oven or the Pizzaiola. I was originally interested in acquiring the Ooni Volt because it is bigger the Breville Pizzaiola. Although I love my Pizzaiola, I wanted a bigger pizza oven to make larger pizza pies. I saw this oven and was immediately intrigued by it. The interior is bigger than the Pizzaiola and I read some good reviews on this oven. At the time I purchased it, it was on sale for $268.99. That price was incredible. So, I took the plunge. The construction of this oven is not in the same league as the Breville pizza oven. The steel is a much thinner gauge and the interior of the oven is not insulated as well as the Breville pizza oven. The Chefman pizza oven does not retain the same amount of heat as the Breville pizza oven. The Chefman pizza oven does not make good Neapolitan pizza. Neapolitan pizza uses a wetter dough and requires a really hot oven to cook the pizza quickly in a minute to two minutes. This oven could not cook a Neapolitan pizza in one or two minutes. It could not do that. The top heating element cycles on and off. There is no way to get it to stay on. The bottom element always stays on. This means that the bottom will cook faster than the top of pizza. By the time that you have pre-heated the oven, and you are ready to launch your pizza on the stone, the top element will have cycled off. Because the top element cycles on and off, you will have to leave the pizza in longer than 2 minutes to properly cook the top of the pizza. I tried to cook a couple of Neapolitan style pizzas in this oven and the bottom burned before the top of the pizza was properly cooked. When I dropped the bottom temperature, I ended up with a Neapolitan style pizza that was dry and less tender than a real Neapolitan style pizza. The bottom of the pizza was darker with some burnt spots, and the fresh mozzarella on the top of the pizza had separated because the pizza was left in the oven longer than the ideal cooking time for a Neapolitan pie. On average, it took me 5 minutes to cook a Neapolitan pie. This oven makes lousy Neapolitan pizza. I made good New York Style pizza and I made good deep dish pizza. I made better deep dish pizza and New York style pizza in my regular oven using the Baking steel and a ceramic baking stone. I make better pizza in the Breville pizza oven. This oven is no Breville pizza oven. My Breville pizza oven makes exceptional Neapolitan pizza. It also makes better deep dish and New York style pizza. I also want to point out that this oven's door does not form a tight seal when you close it. The door does not close tightly. There is an excessive amount of steam that bellows out the entire time the oven is cooking the pizza. I initially thought it was smoke and I was expecting my fire alarm to go off. When I put my hand near the oven door, I noticed that it was steam and not smoke. I also noticed quite a bit of condensation forming on the inside of the door to the oven. I think there is too much condensation/steam in the oven that effects the crispiness of the pizza and cooking time of the pizza. I think the steam would be perfect for baking certain breads like baguettes and French breads that use steam to make the outside crispy. I think a dryer oven would be more conducive for pizza making. The pre-sets do not work well for the various styles of pizza. They will not cook your pizza correctly. You will have to manually make adjustments to the top or bottom elements to cook the pizza in order to not burn the top or bottom of your pizza before the pizza is done. You will be only able to find the right adjustments through trial and error. I would not cook a frozen pizza directly on the stone. I tried it once to test the frozen pizza setting, and it was a mess. My frozen pizza had too many toppings and too much sauce on it. The cheese, the sauce, and toppings spilled onto the pizza stone and ended up getting all over the pizza stone while the pizza was cooking. The cheese and sauce really burned on the stone before the pizza was done. It caused a significant amount of smoke in my oven and my kitchen. It took quite a bit of effort to scrape the burnt cheese and pizza residue from my burnt pizza stone. I would only cook a frozen pizza in some type of pizza pan. I tried cooking homemade gyro meat in the oven because I wondered how it would cook in the oven. The gyro meet was completely dried out. That was a bad idea. However, the homemade pita breads turned out great. I would not cook any meats in this oven. I would stick to breads, and pizza. In addition to the top element not staying on, I think that the top heating element should be re-designed to recess more into the top portion of the oven. I accidently touched the top heating element when I was attempting to remove the pizza from the oven. I burned my hand a couple of times. The top element hangs a little too low, and if you are not expecting it, you might accidently touch it. If you are making a Detroit style deep dish pizza, the top heating element sits a little too close to the top of the pizza. It actually left char marks on the top of my Detroit style pizza. I had to place a sheet of aluminum foil on top of the pizza during the first part of baking my pizza, and then remove the foil for the second half. This Chefman pizza oven works best if you are cooking pizza at the lower temperatures. If you set your expectations lower, then you will not be disappointed. This is not a professional quality pizza oven by any stretch of the imagination. It is not on the same level as the Breville Pizzaiola, which is a better designed pizza oven. At $269, it is a decent pizza oven if you are not trying to use it to cook a Neapolitan pie. This pizza oven is very economical and uses less energy than a gas oven, which is a big deal with the higher prices of gas. It also does not heat up your entire kitchen, which is a plus during heat waves in the summer. Because I wanted a pizza oven that could make good Neapolitan style pizza, I wish that I would have just put this money towards an Ooni Volt.