ItaliaForno Grande Pro Duo Hybrid Pizza Oven

Description

The ItaliaForno Grande Pro Duo pizza oven is the one hybrid in the ItaliaForno line, and the one that answers the question most backyard pizza ovens make you settle: gas or wood. It runs on propane from a 75,000 BTU burner along the left wall, on a wood fire built on the floor, or on both at once, and it does it on a 31.5 by 31.5 inch refractory floor that holds two large pizzas with room to turn them. It is made in Italy, in Sicily, by a family oven maker with more than sixty years of building ovens like this one.

What you get for $4,995 is a 420 pound stainless countertop oven, 42 inches wide and 38.5 deep, with the propane burner, the chimney, the door, the refractory floor and a thermometer in the box, plus the adapter that connects it to a standard US propane tank. The price is set by ItaliaForno and is the same at every dealer, so the choice of where to buy comes down to who you would rather deal with after the crate lands.

The Grande Pro Duo pizza oven is a residential outdoor oven with a two year warranty, and that warranty has one everyday condition: keep it covered when it is not in use. It is also propane only, with no natural gas option today, and it is a 420 pound countertop oven that needs a cart or a base decided before it arrives. Those three facts are stated up front because they decide whether this is the right oven before the rest of the page does.

Ordered from Crustify, the Grande Pro Duo pizza oven ships boxed on a pallet from ItaliaForno's Texas warehouse, in stock as we write this, with liftgate delivery to a home driveway for the $95 fee every pallet oven on this site carries. Chat and email go straight to the owner, and the oven is excluded from every sitewide coupon because ItaliaForno holds a strict MSRP.

The rest of this page covers how the hybrid works, what the 31.5 inch floor does, cooking on it, flame control and propane, the cart and clearances, cover and care, how it compares with the other hybrid ovens we carry, and buying it from Crustify. The spec table, the dimension drawing, the manuals and three videos follow the description.

Gas, Wood, or Both: How the Hybrid Works

The burner in the Grande Pro Duo pizza oven runs along the left wall of the chamber behind a curved heat deflector, so the flame rolls up the wall and across the dome instead of pointing at the floor. That is what lets a gas oven brown a crust the way a wood fire does: the heat comes from above and beside the pizza, and the refractory floor, once it is up to temperature, does the bottom. The control knob on the front face sets the flame from a low simmer to full output, and the pilot and thermocouple keep it lit in wind.

The wood fire goes on the floor on the right side, away from the burner, the same way it does in any wood oven. Build it small, let it burn down to a bed of coals with a live flame at the back, and slide the pizza in beside it. On wood alone the Grande Pro Duo pizza oven cooks like a brick oven with a stainless shell: you manage the fire, you turn the pizza toward the flame, and the flavor comes from the smoke.

Both together is the mode that earns the name. Light the propane to bring the oven up in half an hour instead of an hour, keep the burner on low to hold the floor temperature between pizzas, and run a small wood fire on the other side for the flame and the flavor. On a night of twenty pizzas, the gas does the work of keeping the oven ready and the wood does the work of making them taste like they came from a wood fired oven.

The 31.5 Inch Floor and What Fits On It

The cooking floor is 31.5 by 31.5 inches, just under 1,000 square inches of refractory tile under a dome 13.5 inches at its peak, and the mouth is 21.65 inches wide by 8.62 tall. Those numbers decide what the Grande Pro Duo pizza oven will and will not do: two 14 inch pizzas side by side with a wood fire beside them, a 16 inch pizza and a tray of vegetables, a whole chicken on a rack, a Dutch oven of bread, a sheet of focaccia. What it will not take is a pan wider than 21 inches or anything taller than about 8 inches through the door.

For comparison, the compact ItaliaForno ovens cook one 12 to 13 inch pizza at a time and the Famiglia takes 14 to 16 inch pizzas up to two at a time. The Grande Pro Duo pizza oven is the one you buy when the compact would have you cooking in shifts for a table of eight, or when the pizza is only the first course and the oven is going to roast the second.

The floor holds heat the way refractory does, which means the first pizza of the night lands on tile that has been soaking heat for 30 to 50 minutes and the tenth lands on tile that is still there. That is the difference between this class of oven and the small portable ovens that cook one pizza and then wait: the Grande Pro Duo pizza oven has the mass to keep cooking, which is why ItaliaForno puts it at the top of the line and prices it there.

Cooking on the Grande Pro Duo

Preheat is 30 to 50 minutes on gas with the door on, until the thermometer in the front face reads 750 to 850°F and the dome has gone from black to pale. The oven will reach 1,000°F, and ItaliaForno asks that you cook at 850°F or below for the sake of the tiles and the gaskets; Neapolitan style pizza at 800°F takes about 90 seconds, a New York style pie at 650°F takes four or five minutes, and both come off the same floor once you learn to read the flame.

After pizza, turn the burner to low or let the wood fire fall to coals and the Grande Pro Duo pizza oven becomes a roasting oven. Skin on chicken at 450°F, a pork shoulder low and slow with the door on, bread at 500°F with a pan of water for steam, vegetables on a sheet pan in the last hour of heat. FoodSafety.gov puts poultry at 165°F and pork roasts at 145°F with a rest, and a probe is the only way to know a roast in a 700°F oven is there.

ItaliaForno's own walk through of a first pizza, from dough to the oven floor. The stretch, the launch and the turn are the same on every oven in the line.

The thing to unlearn from a small portable oven is speed. The Grande Pro Duo pizza oven is not in a hurry; it takes longer to heat and holds heat longer, so the rhythm is a long preheat, then pizza after pizza without waiting for recovery, then an hour of roasting on the heat that is left. Owners who plan the night that way get more out of it than owners who fire it up for one pizza.

Flame Control, Ignition and Propane

The Grande Pro Duo pizza oven is propane only. ItaliaForno does not offer a natural gas option today; if you need one, ask us before you order and we will check current availability with the brand. The oven ships with the adapter that mates its European inlet to a standard US propane tank. At full output the burner draws 1,601 grams of propane an hour, about 3.5 pounds, so a 20 pound tank is five to six hours at full burn and far longer on low. A tank covers a weekend of cooking; keep a second one for the night the first runs dry mid pizza.

Ignition is a pilot flame with a thermocouple, lit by a push button spark igniter that runs on a single AA battery in the back of the oven. Open the tank, turn the knob to the spark mark, press and hold it, press the igniter until the pilot catches, keep the knob held for about 15 seconds so the thermocouple heats, and release. The main burner lights from the pilot. If the flame ever blows out, the thermocouple shuts the gas, which is why the knob has to be held on the first light.

From there the knob runs the burner between its low and high marks. Low holds a preheated floor for as long as you like; high is for the preheat and for pushing the dome back to color between pizzas. The knob, the heat deflector and the adapter are all shown in the setup video further down, along with the dimensions of the adapter so a replacement can be matched at a hardware store if one ever goes missing.

The Cart and Where It Sits

The Grande Pro Duo pizza oven is a countertop oven that weighs 420 pounds, so where it sits is decided before it arrives. ItaliaForno makes a matching Grande Pro Duo cart, $795 and sold separately, sized for this oven and not the smaller ones: a welded frame with a middle shelf for the propane tank and a bottom shelf for wood, on locking casters. The cart page is coming to this site; until then, add it to your order by chat or email and it ships on the same pallet.

A block or masonry base works just as well, and for a permanent outdoor kitchen it is the better answer. The manual's clearances are 8 inches from walls on all sides, 20 inches clear on each side of the chimney and 40 inches above it, on a level, non combustible surface rated for the weight. A propane cylinder stored in a cabinet under the oven is limited to a 20 pound tank with ventilation; never a larger one.

Whatever it sits on, the oven itself is moved with the chimney, the door and the floor tiles taken out, and only when it is cold with the gas disconnected. That is a two person lift at best; on a cart it rolls, and on a base it stays put.

Pizza Trailers and Catering

ItaliaForno shows the Grande Pro Duo pizza oven in catering setups and pizza trailers on its own site, and the size, the hybrid burner and the fast recovery are why. The written warranty, on the other hand, covers residential outdoor use, and the manual says the oven is never to be run in a vehicle or an enclosed space. Those two facts sit side by side today.

So if a trailer, a pop up or a catering business is the plan, ask us before you order. We will put the question to ItaliaForno in writing for your specific use and tell you exactly what coverage you would have, before your card is charged rather than after. We would rather lose a sale than sell you a warranty you do not have.

Keeping It Outside: Cover and Care

The Grande Pro Duo pizza oven lives outdoors, and the warranty's corrosion clause is written for an oven left uncovered through a wet season. Cover it when it is cold, with a breathable outdoor oven cover that fits a 42 by 39 inch body 47 inches tall with the chimney on; ItaliaForno does not list its own cover yet, and we will point you to one that fits when you order. Remove the propane cylinder for long storage and keep it upright and outdoors.

Cleaning is a brush on the floor after each cook, a vacuum around the burner every few weeks so ash and crumbs do not block the ports, and a wipe of the stainless with a stainless cleaner. A thin film of food grade oil or petroleum jelly on the steel after cleaning is ItaliaForno's own advice against surface rust. Heat discoloration on the stainless is normal and not covered, and the door, the floor tiles, the gaskets and the igniter battery are consumables.

How It Compares to the Hybrids You Are Also Looking At

Anyone reading this page is also looking at the Gozney Dome, the Alfa Moderno and a Fontana, and the honest way to compare them is on three numbers rather than on photographs. Floor area decides how many pizzas cook at once. Burner output decides how fast the oven preheats and how fast the floor recovers after each pizza. Mass decides how long it holds that heat once the burner drops to low. The Grande Pro Duo pizza oven is a 31.5 by 31.5 inch floor, a 75,000 BTU burner and 420 pounds; write those three next to whatever else is on your list.

Most hybrids in this price range are built to cook one pizza at a time, quickly, on a floor sized for a 16 inch pie. That is a fine oven for a family of four. The Grande Pro Duo pizza oven is built for the night when eight people are waiting, two pizzas are on the floor at once, and the third and fourth go in the moment the first two come out because the tile has not cooled. The larger floor is not a luxury; it is what lets one person keep up with a table.

The trade is size and weight. A 420 pound oven does not go in the back of a car for a weekend at the lake, and it needs a cart or a base before it arrives. If portability is the point, the compact ItaliaForno ovens or the Maximus Mobile are the better buy. If a permanent outdoor kitchen is the point, this is the largest countertop hybrid we sell and the one we would put there.

Which Hybrid Pizza Oven

Crustify carries five ovens that burn gas and wood, and they are not the same oven in different shells. Here is the set, so the Grande Pro Duo pizza oven is chosen against the others rather than in a vacuum.

The short version: the Grande Pro Duo pizza oven is the largest floor and the biggest burner in a countertop hybrid on this site, the Ibrido and the Kokomo are the value hybrids, the HPC Forno is the certified one, and the Lume Alto Tudo is the brick oven for a buyer who wants mass over mobility. If two of them look right, contact us with a photo of the space and we will tell you which one fits it.

Buying the Grande Pro Duo From Crustify

ItaliaForno is a woman owned American brand whose ovens are built in Sicily by a family maker with more than sixty years of oven making, recognized in 2016 with the "Sicilians at Home and in the World" honor. Their line runs from three compacts through the Famiglia to the Grande Pro Duo pizza oven at the top, and their own line for it is "One of Italy's Finest Pizza Ovens, Now Made for Your Backyard." Crustify is an authorized ItaliaForno dealer, and every ItaliaForno oven, cart and accessory we carry is on the ItaliaForno brand page.

A private chef, on camera at the Grande Pro Duo, on why he cooks on ItaliaForno ovens. ItaliaForno's own clip.

The Grande Pro Duo pizza oven ships boxed on a 48 by 48 inch pallet, 470 pounds crated, from ItaliaForno's warehouse near Houston, Texas, in stock and usually on the truck within 7 business days. Freight is free across the site on orders over $750, and every pallet oven carries the $95 residential liftgate fee at checkout so the driver lowers it to your driveway; delivery is curbside, so have a plan and a second pair of hands for the last thirty feet. Inspect the crate before signing and report any damage to us within 24 hours, which is ItaliaForno's window.

Unused ovens in their original packaging can be returned within 14 days with return freight paid by the buyer. The oven is excluded from every Crustify coupon code because ItaliaForno sets a strict MSRP and enforces it, which is also why our price and theirs match to the dollar.

With the Grande Pro Duo pizza oven in the cart, the two things it needs are the Grande Pro Duo cart, $795, and a cover; the ItaliaForno infrared thermometer, $49.95, is the cheap upgrade for reading the floor rather than the air. All three are added by chat or email until their pages are live, and they ship on the same pallet. Everything else for outdoor pizza is in our pizza oven accessories collection. Chat and email go straight to the owner and are usually answered the same day.

In stock in Texas, ships boxed on a pallet with liftgate delivery. Strict MSRP, no coupons, and the same $4,995 everywhere; buy it from the dealer you would rather talk to afterward.

KEY FEATURES

• ItaliaForno Grande Pro Duo pizza oven, the one hybrid in the ItaliaForno line: propane burner, wood fire, or both at once
• 75,000 BTU (22 kW) propane burner along the left wall behind a heat deflector, with knob control from low to high
• 31.5 x 31.5 inch refractory floor, 21.65 x 8.62 inch mouth, 13.5 inch dome height; two large pizzas at once, roasting and bread after
• Reaches 1,000°F, cook at 850°F or below; 30 to 50 minute preheat with heat that holds pizza after pizza
• Pilot flame ignition with thermocouple safety, push button spark on a single AA battery, batteries in the box
• Stainless steel body, 42 W x 38.5 D x 23.4 inches to the top, 47 inches with the chimney; 420 lb
• In the box: oven, propane burner, chimney and cap, door, refractory floor, heat deflector, thermometer and the adapter for a standard US propane tank
• Propane only; no natural gas option offered today, ask us if you need one
• Countertop oven for the matching Grande Pro Duo cart ($795, sold separately), a block base or a masonry counter
• Made in Italy; 2 year residential outdoor warranty; cover required when not in use
• Ships boxed on a pallet from Texas, 470 lb crated, free freight with the $95 liftgate fee, in stock, 7 business days

SPECIFICATIONS

The factory drawing for the Grande Pro Duo pizza oven, in millimeters with inches in brackets: 980 mm (38.58 in) across the body, 1,032 mm (40.64 in) deep, 593 mm (23.37 in) to the top of the oven and 1,175 mm (46.26 in) to the top of the chimney, a 550 by 219 mm (21.65 by 8.62 in) mouth, and a 150 mm (5.91 in) chimney. ItaliaForno's published 42 by 38.5 inch footprint includes the knob and the rear fittings. Handmade, so expect small variations.

INSTALLATION GUIDE & USER MANUAL

ItaliaForno's setup video: the oven on its cart, the floor tiles, the propane adapter and its dimensions, the chimney, the igniter battery, the heat deflector and the knob, through to first light.

Unboxing. The Grande Pro Duo pizza oven arrives boxed on a pallet with the chimney, the door, the floor tiles and the accessories packed separately. Cut the box away, check every part against the packing list and photograph any damage before the oven moves; the claim window is 24 hours. Lift the body with two people, by the base, never by the chimney collar or the door frame.

Assembly. No tools. Fit the four feet, or set the oven on its cart. Slide the refractory tiles into the floor without forcing them. Seat the chimney in its collar on top of the oven and bend the four prongs of the cap inward to hold it. Push the control knob onto its shaft on the front. Inside the back of the chamber, hang the curved heat deflector on the two studs above the burner with its keyhole slots. Set the door onto its mounting points.

Gas. Fit the supplied adapter to the G1/2 inlet at the rear, connect a standard US propane tank through it with the tank upright and clear of the oven, and leak test every joint with soapy water before the first light. Never test with a flame. Close the tank valve after every cook and never store a cylinder, full or empty, near the oven.

First light. Knob off, tank valve open slowly, knob turned to the spark mark and pressed in, igniter pressed until the pilot catches, knob held in about 15 seconds, release. The main burner lights. Door on, 30 to 50 minutes to cooking temperature. The first firing will smell as coatings cure; that passes. If the pilot does not catch in 60 seconds, turn the knob off, wait five minutes and start again.

Wood. Build a small fire of dry hardwood on the right side of the floor, away from the burner, and let it burn to coals with a live flame before cooking. Never burn treated wood, charcoal briquettes or pellets, and never run a wood fire against the heat deflector or the burner.

Care. Brush the floor after each cook, vacuum around the burner every few weeks, wipe the stainless, oil the steel lightly, replace the AA battery when the spark weakens, and cover the cold oven. Move it only cold, disconnected, with the chimney, door and tiles out.

WARRANTY INFORMATION

Term. ItaliaForno warrants the Grande Pro Duo pizza oven to the original purchaser against defects in materials and workmanship for two years from the date of purchase, for residential outdoor use.

Conditions. The oven must be installed outdoors in the open, on a stable non combustible base, with the clearances in the manual, connected to propane through a certified regulator by someone qualified to do it, and covered with a protective cover whenever it is not in use. Proof of purchase is required for any claim.

Exclusions. Commercial use, installation indoors or in an enclosed space, use in a vehicle, modification of any component, fuels other than propane and wood, overheating past the rated temperature, corrosion from weather exposure without a cover, normal discoloration of the stainless, cosmetic wear, grease fires and neglected maintenance. The door, the refractory tiles, the gaskets and the igniter battery are consumables and are not covered.

Claims. Contact us first with photos and your order number and we handle the claim with ItaliaForno on your behalf. Shipping damage is separate from the warranty: note it on the delivery receipt or report it to us within 24 hours of delivery.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS - FAQ'S

Your Questions Answered Before You Buy

These are the questions we get most often about the Grande Pro Duo pizza oven, answered straight. If yours is not here, chat or email goes to the owner and you will usually hear back the same day.