Tuscan Chef GX-DL 46 Inch Built In Two Chamber Wood Fired Pizza Oven

Description

The Tuscan Chef GX-DL is the large Tuscan Chef oven sold without its cart, for the buyer who is building something for it to live in. It is the same 46 inch two chamber wood fired oven as the GX-D1: a fire brick lined firebox below, a cooking chamber above on a 36 1/4 inch ceramic stone, smoke vented up through both sides so the flavor reaches the food and the flames and ash do not, 6 mm welded steel wrapped in two inches of insulation and 304 stainless, 700 lb. What arrives is the oven and its chimney, finished, and what you supply is the place: a masonry opening in an outdoor kitchen, a stone or concrete island, or a non combustible counter built to carry it. Crustify is an authorized Tuscan Chef dealer, and every GX-DL ships free by freight.

A built in oven is a decision about the structure as much as the oven, so this page is written for the planning stage. It covers what the GX-DL is and how it cooks, what Tuscan Chef says about setting it into masonry and what it leaves to your installer, the clearances and the weight the structure has to carry, how a finished steel oven compares to the ready to finish and bare dome ovens we also sell for built in work, and how a 700 lb crate gets from the curb into the opening. If the oven needs to roll, the GX-D1 is this oven on its cart.

The Oven: Two Chambers at 46 Inches

Tuscan Chef's whole idea is the stacked layout, what some dealers call a dual chamber oven. The firebox is the bottom chamber, lined with an inch of refractory fire brick, with its own door and a sliding damper. The cooking chamber is the top one, with the ceramic stone as its floor and the firebox roof as the stone's heat source. Vents on each side carry the smoke from the firebox up and across the cooking chamber on its way to the chimney, which is where the wood flavor comes from. The flames stay downstairs, the stone gets its heat from below like a hearth, and you work the fire and the food through two separate doors. The manual's one habit: when you open the firebox to feed it, have the chamber above empty or the food covered, because fly ash can rise through the vents.

At the large size that means a 38 1/2 inch firebox that takes full splits and a bed of coals deep enough to hold a 36 inch stone even end to end, under a cooking chamber 36 1/4 wide, 18 1/2 deep and 11 1/4 tall with removable stainless wire shelves above. Two large pizzas side by side, three 12 inch, two birds in pans, or bread on one side and a roast on the other with a tray above; the extra inch and a quarter of height over the medium ovens is the room a roasting pan wants. The body is 6 mm welded steel in high heat flat black with two inches of insulation around both chambers and 304 stainless on the sides and top; a stainless gauge in the body above the oven door reads the chamber, both doors carry spiral heat deflecting handles and hinge down onto stops, and a 39 inch by 4 1/2 inch stainless chimney with a spark guard cap slips over the collar on top. Two round stainless side handles bolt on for the lift.

Setting It Into Masonry

Tuscan Chef's manual is short and plain on built in work. Its three built in models are the CS, CM and DL; it supplies the oven and chimney only; the homeowner, designer and installer are responsible for a structure that meets local codes; and the combustible clearances, 36 inches from the oven and 18 from the chimney, have to be designed into the opening. It recommends a local wood fireplace installation company for the materials and the work. The one drawing it publishes is for the medium GX-CM: the oven sitting on fire brick inside the opening, 2 inches of clearance on each side, a brick or stone facing in front. There is no drawing for the large oven, so that is the method to scale: fire brick under the oven, an opening a few inches wider than 46 and deeper than 19 with the back vented, the facing in front, and the chimney run with 18 inches to anything that burns.

Tuscan Chef's own readings on a 700°F oven are the numbers the structure is designed around: stainless sides at about 100°F and the top at 150, the doors at 360, the underside at 250, and the back at 450°F. The back is the hot face and the one to keep clear and vented; the sides and top are what the stainless wrap and insulation are for. A brick enclosure with a wood store below, like the one in the photo, is the typical plan: the oven on a fire brick shelf at working height, the firebox door and the oven door in the facing, the chimney up through the top. Send us the drawing before you order and we check it against the manual.

On a Counter Instead

The GX-DL can also sit on top of a non combustible counter rather than inside an opening, which is how it goes into a stone or concrete island. The counter carries 700 lb on the oven's footprint, 46 by 19 inches, so it is a poured or block structure, not a cabinet with a stone top; the oven sits on its base with the clearances kept around it, the chimney stands 39 inches above the body, and the hearth ends up at counter height plus the firebox, which is the height to check against a peel before the slab is poured. The oven is 31 1/2 inches tall and about 72 to the top of the cap on a counter, so an overhead roof or pergola needs the chimney's 18 inches and ideally the cap above it.

Either way, outdoors only, with the structure on a footing that carries the oven and the masonry together, and never under unprotected combustible construction. Our where to put a pizza oven post walks the siting questions, and built in vs freestanding is the honest version of the GX-DL versus GX-D1 decision.

Cooking in the GX-DL

Start the fire with kindling on crumpled newspaper, add small pieces as it catches, then full splits across the width of the box, and give it about 40 minutes to mature into coals; Tuscan Chef's figure for reaching temperature is 30 to 45 minutes. Tuscan Chef says most cooking happens between 450 and 700°F, that bread, pizza, fish and steak want 600 to 800, and that ribs, roasts, poultry and lamb want 250 to 350 with the damper closed down. Thin crust pizza is four minutes at 650°F on the stone; at 700°F and up a piece of wood every 20 to 30 minutes holds it, and at 350°F one or two pieces an hour hold it for as long as you like. Our pizza oven temperature guide covers what each reading is good for.

Built in, this oven becomes the outdoor kitchen's oven rather than its pizza night: a bird in a pan on a Sunday afternoon at 350°F, bread in the morning on the heat left from the night before, two pizzas side by side when the crowd comes. Seasoned hardwood only, split long for the 38 inch firebox; no accelerants, no treated wood. Before the first cook the oven is cured, a fire to 450 to 500°F with both doors open for at least an hour to set the paint, and after that the care is ash out of the firebox before each fire, a damp cloth on the stone, shelves and door, a wire brush on buildup, and a touch up of fine steel wool and high heat flat black if the painted doors or front show surface rust; a built in oven's facing takes the weather the cover would take on a cart. Our pizza oven maintenance guide covers the routine.

Finished Steel, Ready to Finish, or a Dome to Clad

We sell three kinds of oven for an outdoor kitchen, and the GX-DL is the one that arrives finished: a complete steel oven that sets into the opening and cooks the day it lands. The HPC Fire Di Napoli is a ready to finish core, a refractory dome in a steel enclosure with a gas burner and wood for flavor, framed into a non combustible structure and faced. The Authentic Pizza Ovens Builders Custom is a bare masonry dome, the Lisboa or Pizzaioli chamber with no facade, that your mason clads after it cures. The GX-CM is the medium Tuscan Chef for the same job in a smaller opening.

How to read it. The GX-DL is the choice when there is no cladding budget, the oven has to be cooking the day it is set, two pizzas at once is the point, and the look of a black steel and stainless face in the masonry is the look you want. The Di Napoli is the choice when the client wants a gas burner to light it and a stack through a roof, and the enclosure is already in the plans; its sister the HPC Villa is the same core with its stainless facade already on. The two APO domes are the only true masonry ovens of the five and the only ones where the finished look is entirely yours; they are also the heaviest, and the only ones that need a multi day cure before the facade goes on. All of them are in our Built In collection; the GX-DL is also in the Tuscan Chef collection and the Wood Fired collection.

Who Should Buy the GX-DL, and Who Should Not

Buy the GX-DL if you are building or have built an outdoor kitchen with a place for a large wood oven, you want the two chamber layout where the fire is tended through its own door and the food never meets the flame, and you want the oven finished and cooking the day it is set rather than cured and clad over a week. It is the oven for the contractor with a masonry opening on the drawings, for the homeowner with a block island and a pour coming, and for anyone who feeds a crowd and wants the oven to be part of the kitchen rather than parked beside it.

Do not buy the GX-DL if there is no structure; the GX-D1 is the same oven on a cart and costs the cart, not a mason. Do not buy it for a wood frame kitchen with a stone top, or for anywhere the 36 inch clearance cannot be designed in. Do not buy it if you want a gas burner for weeknights, where the Di Napoli and Villa are the built in hybrids, or if you want the look of a brick dome, where the Builders Custom is the dome. And if the opening is for a medium oven, ask us about the GX-CM, the same thing in the GX-C2's size. Our pizza oven buying guide walks the whole decision.

What to Order With It

The oven comes with its wire shelves, side handles, chimney and gauge, and you supply the wood and the peel. Tuscan Chef makes a 35 inch aluminum peel and a 10 inch brass bristle brush with scraper; it does not make a cover for the built in models, so the facing and an overhang are the oven's weather protection. We do not list the Tuscan Chef accessories, so ask us and we will quote them with the oven. A long handled peel and a brush from our accessories collection work with the 36 inch chamber, and an infrared thermometer earns its place on a floor this wide. Accessories ordered with the oven ride on the same freight at no added charge.

Buying the GX-DL From Crustify

Crustify is an authorized Tuscan Chef dealer, so the two year parts warranty applies. The oven ships by freight on a pallet from Inmar Industries, Tuscan Chef's distributor in Ontario, shrink wrapped and crated, and arrives curbside with a $95 residential liftgate fee at checkout; a business address with a dock pays no liftgate, and a job site with the installer on hand is the best place for it to land. Shipping is free in the contiguous 48 states; Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico are quoted before you order. Inspect the pallet before you sign and write "damaged" on the bill or refuse delivery if there is any; Tuscan Chef treats damage reported more than three days after delivery as having happened after delivery, so unpack it when it lands. Getting 700 lb from the curb into the opening is the installer's lift: four people with straps for a counter, an engine hoist or a mason's lift for a raised opening, and it goes in once. Returns on an unused oven in its original packaging follow our return policy, with return freight paid by the buyer, which is the reason to have the drawing checked before you order. Chat and email go straight to the owner and are usually answered the same day; send the plan through our contact page and we will check it against the manual.

KEY FEATURES

• Tuscan Chef GX-DL: the large 46 in two chamber wood fired oven without the cart, for a masonry opening or a non combustible counter; same oven as the GX-D1
• Fire brick lined firebox below, cooking chamber above, smoke vented through both sides for flavor without flame or ash on the food
• Cooking chamber 36 1/4 in wide by 18 1/2 deep by 11 1/4 tall over a 1 1/2 in ceramic stone, with removable stainless wire shelves above; two large pizzas at once
• Firebox 38 1/2 by 16 by 9 1/2 in, lined with 1 in refractory fire brick, steel door with sliding damper and spiral heat deflecting handle; takes full splits
• 6 mm welded steel body in high heat flat black, two inches of insulation around both chambers, 304 stainless on sides and top
• Rated to 950°F; most cooking between 450 and 700°F; thin crust pizza in 4 minutes at 650°F; 30 to 45 minutes to temperature
• Stainless gauge above the oven door, 39 in by 4 1/2 in stainless chimney with spark guard, round stainless side handles for the lift
• Oven 31 1/2 in H by 46 W by 19 D; about 72 in to the chimney cap; 700 lb
• Outdoors, on or in a non combustible structure; 36 in from combustibles, 18 in from the chimney; oven and chimney supplied, structure by a wood fireplace installer
• Arrives finished; cures in an hour at 450 to 500°F with both doors open and cooks the same day; all season outdoor use
• Two year parts warranty, normal consumer use; surface rust and abuse excluded
• Ships free by freight on a pallet; $95 residential liftgate

SPECIFICATIONS

Documents: Tuscan Chef GX-D1 and GX-DL spec sheet (PDF) and the Tuscan Chef product brochure (PDF).

VIDEO

INSTALLATION GUIDE & USER MANUAL

Before it ships. Have the opening or counter built and cured and the drawing checked: non combustible structure on a footing that carries 700 lb plus the masonry, fire brick under the oven, a few inches of clearance each side of the 46 by 19 inch body with the back vented, 36 inches from combustibles designed in, and the chimney path with 18 inches to anything that burns. Tuscan Chef supplies the oven and chimney and recommends a wood fireplace installer for the rest. Local codes govern.

Delivery. The oven arrives on a pallet, shrink wrapped, 700 lb. Inspect before you sign; mark the bill "damaged" or refuse delivery if there is any, and report concealed damage within three days. Unpack on a moving pad so the steel and stainless do not scratch; cut the plastic wrapped ties holding the doors, pull the nylon hinge inserts, the tube support inside the oven and the box with the chimney cap and thermometer.

Setting it. Bolt the round stainless side handles to the oven body with a 17 mm wrench; they are the lifting points. Push the thermometer through the hole above the oven chamber and snug the nut and washer from inside. Lift the oven into the opening or onto the counter with the manpower or hoist the installer has planned, level it on the fire brick, and fit the cap to the chimney and slide the chimney down over the collar on top of the oven before the structure closes around it.

Curing. Light a fire in the firebox, open both doors, and run the oven at 450 to 500°F for at least an hour to cure the paint before any food goes in. Cure before the facing goes on if the design allows, so the fumes clear in the open.

Firing. Kindling on crumpled newspaper, small wood as it catches, then splits across the box; about 40 minutes to mature coals. Set the heat with the firebox damper and the amount of wood; a piece every 20 to 30 minutes at 700°F, one or two an hour at 350°F. Empty the oven chamber or cover the food before opening the firebox. Gloves or mitts on both doors; lift each door slightly to swing it and lower it onto its stop.

Care. Clean the ash from the firebox and wipe the chamber, stone, shelves and door with a damp cloth before each use; wire brush any buildup. Wipe the exposed steel down; touch up surface rust on the doors and face with fine steel wool and high heat flat black paint.

Documents: Tuscan Chef GX series owner's manual (PDF), Tuscan Chef GX-D1 and GX-DL spec sheet (PDF).

WARRANTY INFORMATION

Term. Tuscan Chef outdoor wood fired ovens are warranted for two years, parts only, subject to normal consumer use. Curing the oven before use as the manual describes is a condition of the warranty.

Not covered. Surface rust on the painted steel, and damage caused by abuse or neglect, including installation contrary to the manual or local codes; Inmar Industries accepts no liability for damage from improper use or installation, and for a built in oven that includes the structure around it.

Claims. Contact us first with photos and your order number and we handle the claim with Tuscan Chef. Shipping damage is separate: note it on the bill at delivery or report it within three days.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS - FAQ'S

Your Questions Answered Before You Buy

These are the questions we get most often about the Tuscan Chef GX-DL, answered from Tuscan Chef's manual, spec sheet and brochure. If yours is not here, chat or email goes to the owner and you will usually hear back the same day.