Authentic Pizza Ovens Maximus Prime Pizza Oven Stand

Description

The Bello is the Authentic Pizza Ovens Maximus Prime stand, the Maximus Prime pizza oven stand APO builds in Portugal for its 400 pound portable oven, the Maximus Prime. Black steel, 39 inches square and 35.6 inches high, an open top frame the oven seats into, a fold out wood side shelf that takes the cart to 54 inches wide, a utensil rail on the other side, a full lower shelf, and four casters. It weighs 95 pounds and fits the Prime only.

Ordered with the oven it ships free on the same freight delivery. Ordered on its own it ships by freight at the rate shown at checkout. A Maximus Prime pizza oven stand is the difference between a Prime that lives on one block base for good and a Prime that rolls to the pool, the driveway, or the far end of the patio.

This page covers what the Bello is, how the open frame holds the oven, what the shelf, rail, and lower deck are for, where a 500 pound cart can and cannot go, how the finish is made, what height it puts the cooking floor at, how it compares with the Mobile's smaller Woody stand, and how the Prime cover fits over it. If you own the smaller Maximus Mobile, its stand is a different product: the Maximus Mobile stand.

What the Bello Is

Strip it back and the Bello pizza oven stand is four heavy gauge steel legs, a top frame, a lower deck, and wheels, all in black. What makes it the Bello rather than a generic cart is the pair of things on the sides: a slatted hardwood shelf on one end that folds out on steel brackets and folds down flat when you do not need it, and a steel rail on the opposite end for hanging the peel, the brush, and the turner where they are in reach but out of the way. The Maximus badge on the leg is APO's mark, not a sticker.

It is not a table with an oven on top. The top of the Maximus Prime pizza oven stand is a frame with a square opening, as above, and the Prime's base plate drops into that opening and sits on the frame's inside lip. That matters more than it sounds, and it gets its own section next, but the short version is that the oven cannot slide on the cart. Roll the cart across a patio and the oven goes with it, square and centered, without straps.

APO calls it a portable pizza oven stand, and that is the point of a Maximus Prime cart. The Prime is portable in the sense that no masonry is poured, but at 400 pounds it does not move again once it is on a block base. On the Bello it moves whenever you like: out from the wall to cook, back under the eave to cover, across to the far side of the deck when the wind turns. That is the case for the Maximus Prime pizza oven stand over a base, and for most Prime owners it is the deciding one.

The Open Frame: How the Prime Seats

Look at where the Black Prime meets the Maximus Prime pizza oven stand above. The oven's base plate is 39 inches square; the Bello's top frame is 101 centimeters, a shade under 40 inches, on the outside, with the opening inside it. The plate rests on the frame's inner ledge and the oven's weight is carried on four sides down four legs, not on a shelf in the middle. Nothing bolts; the 400 pounds of oven is what holds it, and a large pizza oven stand designed for that load does not need more.

Two things follow from the frame. First, the Prime sits low on the Maximus Prime pizza oven stand, with the base plate roughly level with the top of the frame rather than stacked on top of it, which is why the whole rig looks like one piece of equipment rather than an oven perched on a table. Second, the underside of the oven is open to the air through the frame, so heat that reaches the base plate has somewhere to go instead of soaking into a deck. The cart's lower shelf sits 13 inches below the frame, well clear of it.

That open underside also decides how the Maximus Prime cover fits. Its drawstring hem drops below the base plate and cinches under the oven, between the plate and the frame, which is the tightest fit the cover has on any base. On a block counter the hem has to gather around the oven's foot instead. Cart plus cover is the combination APO designed together, and it shows.

Shelf, Rail, and the Lower Deck

The wood shelf on the Bello folds out to 36 centimeters, about 14 inches, and that is the landing zone: the pizza comes off the peel onto a board there, the next one is built there, the ceramic dish waits there. It is hardwood slats on steel brackets, so a hot peel can rest on it and rain runs through it. Fold it down and the cart is 39 inches wide again for storage or for rolling through a gate.

The rail on the opposite side of the Maximus Prime pizza oven stand, at the right in the photo, is a plain steel bar with the ends turned up, and it holds hooks or hangs tools directly by their handle holes. Peel on the rail, brush on the rail, and the shelf stays clear for food. It also makes a decent handle for pushing the cart, which the flat sides of the frame do not.

The lower deck of the Maximus Prime pizza oven stand is a full steel shelf, 50 centimeters, just under 20 inches, off the ground, with 13 inches of clearance under the top frame. It carries a night's wood in 8 to 10 inch splits, the ash holder, and the spare tile, and it is where the cover's storage bag and the stowed chimney live while you cook. Keep the wood at the back and the deck stays a work surface at the front. Nothing on it should sit against the underside of the oven, since that is where the frame vents heat.

Wheels, and Where a 500 Pound Cart Can Go

Oven plus stand is about 495 pounds rolling, and this pizza oven cart with wheels carries it on four casters, at least two of them locking. On a hard, level surface, pavers, concrete, a composite deck, artificial turf laid on a base, one person moves the Maximus Prime pizza oven stand with the oven on it and the rail as a handle. The Black Prime above lives on asphalt at the edge of a pine hillside and rolls to the house when the weather turns. That is normal use.

What a Maximus Prime pizza oven stand will not do is cross a lawn, gravel, or a lip taller than the caster. Five hundred pounds on four small wheels sinks into turf and stalls on stone, and the frame is not built to be dragged. Plan the Bello for the paved part of the yard, lock the casters before you light the oven, and never roll it with a fire in it or with the door off and coals on the floor. A cold oven rolls; a hot one stays where it is.

Height and threshold matter when the Maximus Prime pizza oven stand goes indoors and out. At 35.6 inches to the frame and about 45 inches to the top of the chimney with the oven on, it clears a standard door but not the frame of most sliders with the chimney fitted, so lift the flue and cap off before the cart goes through a doorway into a garage or a covered porch. The chimney is off for the cover anyway, so most owners fall into the habit of stowing it on the lower deck whenever the oven moves.

Black Steel and the Finish

The Maximus Prime pizza oven stand is welded steel, powder coated black, and made in Portugal alongside the oven. Powder coating is a dry finish baked onto the metal rather than a paint that dries on it, which the Powder Coating Institute describes as a tougher and more chip resistant film than liquid paint for exactly this kind of outdoor steel. In practice it means the frame shrugs off a dropped peel, a hot ash pan, and a wet winter, and it wipes clean with soapy water.

Two honest notes on a black steel Maximus Prime cart. A powder coat is tough but it is not armor; a deep scratch to bare metal on a stand that lives uncovered by the sea will show rust at the scratch, and touching it with an exterior enamel is a two minute job worth doing. And black steel in full sun gets hot to the touch by afternoon, so the wood shelf is where hands go, and the rail is where the tools hang.

On the Red Prime above the black frame reads as a base and the oven does the talking, which is how APO intends it; on a Black Prime the two are one color and the rig looks like a single machine. Either way the Maximus Prime pizza oven stand is the only stand APO makes in this size, so the choice is the oven's color, not the cart's.

Working Height

The Maximus Prime pizza oven stand's frame is 35.6 inches high, the Prime's tile floor sits a few inches above its base plate, and the plate sits at the frame, so the cooking floor lands at roughly 38 to 40 inches on the Bello. That is where the Prime product page told buyers to aim for a block base, and it is no accident: it is peel height for most adults, high enough to see the back of a 35 inch floor without stooping and low enough to launch without lifting the elbow. A base lower than 30 inches means bending all night; taller than 40 hides the fire.

The Bello's shelf sits at the same height as the frame, so the board the pizza lands on is level with the oven mouth and the peel slides across rather than down. Small thing, and the thing that separates a Maximus Prime pizza oven stand designed for this oven from a stainless prep table pressed into service.

Bello Versus the Mobile's Woody Stand

APO makes two carts for its two portable ovens, and they are not interchangeable. The Woody is the Maximus Mobile stand, sized to that oven's 27.5 inch base; the Bello is the Maximus Prime pizza oven stand at 39. A Prime does not fit a Woody's opening and a Mobile drops through a Bello's. The table sorts the rest.

If you are still choosing the oven, the Maximus Mobile on its Woody is the cart rig that fits a car for tailgates; the Prime on its Bello is the cart rig for a family that feeds a crowd or a caterer who works from one location. Both sit in our freestanding cart pizza oven collection once the stand is on.

What to Order With It

The Maximus Prime pizza oven stand goes on the same order as the Maximus Prime and rides free with the oven's freight; the oven clears our $750 free shipping threshold by itself. Add the Prime cover, which is a warranty condition on the oven and fits best over the cart, and the five piece starter pack, since the rail is built to hang exactly those tools. If roast chicken is on the menu, the Prime rotisserie spit stores on the lower deck between uses.

Everything else that lives with a wood fired oven is in our pizza oven accessories collection, and the full APO range, ovens and stands, is on our Authentic Pizza Ovens brand page.

Buying the Bello From Crustify

With the oven, the Maximus Prime pizza oven stand ships on the same pallet or alongside it by freight, at no charge, curbside, from the brand's Texas warehouse. On its own it is a 95 pound freight item and ships at the rate shown at checkout; it is not a parcel. Lead times are confirmed when you order; the Bello is a stocked accessory and normally ships within a few business days.

Inspect the Maximus Prime pizza oven stand before you sign, note any bent leg or damaged caster on the delivery receipt, and report concealed damage within five days. An unused stand can be returned within 14 days with the return freight paid by the buyer, which is why we would rather confirm the fit before you order: a Maximus Prime pizza oven stand fits the Prime and nothing else. Questions go straight to the owner by chat or email, the pizza oven buying guide covers the rest of what goes into owning a wood fired oven, or contact us directly.

The Maximus Prime pizza oven stand ships free with the oven on the same delivery. Order the cover with it and the two are designed to work together.

KEY FEATURES

• Authentic Pizza Ovens Bello, the Maximus Prime pizza oven stand, made in Portugal, black powder coated steel
• 39 in W x 35.6 in H x 39 in D; 54 in wide with the hardwood side shelf extended; 95 lb
• Open top frame, 101 cm outside, that the Prime's 39 inch base plate seats into; the oven cannot slide on the cart and nothing bolts
• Fold out slatted hardwood side shelf, 36 cm, on steel brackets: a landing board at oven mouth height that folds flat for storage
• Steel utensil rail on the opposite side for the peel, brush, and turner; doubles as a push handle
• Full steel lower deck 50 cm off the ground with 13 in of clearance under the frame, for wood, the ash holder, the stowed chimney, and the cover bag
• Four casters, locking, for hard level surfaces; oven and stand together roll at about 495 lb
• Puts the Prime's cooking floor at roughly 38 to 40 in, peel height, with the shelf level with the oven mouth
• The Prime cover's drawstring cinches under the base plate on this stand, the tightest fit the cover has
• Fits the Maximus Prime only; the Maximus Mobile uses the smaller Woody stand
• Ships free with the oven on the same freight delivery; freight rate at checkout on its own

SPECIFICATIONS

APO's drawing for the Bello is in centimeters: 101 cm (39.8 in) across the top frame, 100 cm (39.4 in) deep, a 36 cm (14.2 in) fold out shelf, 90 cm (35.4 in) to the top of the frame, 78 cm (30.7 in) leg height, the lower deck 50 cm (19.7 in) off the ground, and 33 cm (13 in) between the deck and the frame. APO's published inch figures are 39 x 35.6 x 39, and 54 wide with the shelf out. Every stand is handmade, so expect small variations.

INSTALLATION GUIDE & USER MANUAL

Site. Choose a hard, level, non combustible surface with room for the Maximus Prime pizza oven stand, the shelf when it is out, and the door side of the oven. Keep the same clearances the oven needs: 2 inches at the sides, 16 inches above the chimney cap, and a non combustible landing in front of the mouth. Under a roof or on a porch, plan a flue above the chimney as you would for a wood stove.

Setting the oven. Position the Bello where the oven will live and lock all the casters. With the chimney, door, dish, and tiles out of the oven, lift the Prime by the body with four people or lower it on straps from a dolly, and seat the base plate into the top frame's opening so it rests square on the inner ledge on all four sides. Check it is centered before the tiles go back in. Never lift or steer by the stone front.

Moving. Cold oven only. Lift the flue and cap off, stow them on the lower deck, unlock the casters, and push from the rail end. Hard level surfaces only; lift the cart over a lip rather than rolling into it, with the oven off if the lip is more than an inch. Lock the casters again before lighting.

Shelf and rail. Fold the shelf out for cooking and down for storage; keep hot pans on a board rather than directly on the slats. Hang tools on the rail by their handle holes or with S hooks. Do not stand or sit on the shelf.

Care. Wipe the Maximus Prime pizza oven stand with soapy water, touch any scratch to bare metal with an exterior enamel, and oil the hardwood shelf once a season. Cover the oven on the stand with the Prime cover, cinched under the base plate, whenever it is not in use.

WARRANTY INFORMATION

Coverage. Authentic Pizza Ovens covers the Maximus Prime pizza oven stand against defects in materials and workmanship, to the original purchaser, on the same basis as its other accessories.

Exclusions. Rust at a scratch on the Maximus Prime pizza oven stand that was not touched up, damage from rolling the cart over gravel, lawn, or a lip with the oven on it, damage from moving a hot oven, bent brackets from loads on the shelf, weathering of the hardwood slats, and use with any oven other than the Maximus Prime are outside the warranty.

Claims. Contact us first with photos and your order number. We handle the claim with APO on your behalf. Shipping damage is separate: note it on the delivery receipt or report concealed damage within five days.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS - FAQ'S

Your Questions Answered Before You Buy

The questions we get most often about the Maximus Prime pizza oven stand, answered straight. If yours is not here, chat or email goes to the owner and you will usually hear back the same day.