Chicago Brick Oven Wood-Fired Outdoor Pizza Oven, CBO-750 DIY Kit Review (2026)

Who the CBO-750 kit is for

This kit is aimed at homeowners planning a substantial permanent outdoor kitchen feature, not a quick backyard addition. The core provides a 38 by 28 inch cooking floor, over 1,064 square inches, large enough to bake several pizzas at once or roast bigger dishes, built from refractory cement reinforced with stainless steel fibers. It fits anyone working with a contractor or comfortable managing a real masonry project, and anyone who wants an oven that becomes the centerpiece of an outdoor kitchen for years. Cooks who want to bake the day the oven arrives, or who have a smaller patio, should look at a portable multi fuel oven or the smaller CBO-500 kit instead.

Specs and design explained

The CBO-750 kit weighs about 480 pounds in total, with exterior dimensions of roughly 34 inches wide by 41.25 inches deep by 16.25 inches high before any enclosure is built around it. Inside, the cooking floor measures about 28 by 38.25 inches with a 12.5 inch interior height, giving real headroom for larger cook items alongside pizza. Like the smaller CBO-500, the oven is rated to reach up to 1,000F and ships with an installation kit, an infrared thermometer, a pizza peel and a cleaning brush, so builders have the tools to finish curing and start cooking once the structure around the core is complete.

Living with a large built in oven

Building this oven starts with a foundation strong enough to support close to 500 pounds of refractory material, followed by placing the dome and hearth sections, then finishing the exterior in the builder's choice of stucco, stone or brick. Curing with a series of gradually hotter fires is necessary before full temperature use, the same as with the smaller CBO-500. Once complete, the oven's substantial thermal mass holds heat for extended cooking sessions, useful for anyone who wants to bake pizza, then bread, then a roast in the same fire over several hours as the oven slowly cools.

Trade-offs against the CBO-500 and portable ovens

Compared with the smaller CBO-500, the 750 offers close to double the cooking floor and correspondingly more capacity for entertaining larger groups, but it also weighs more, needs a bigger foundation and a larger footprint in the yard. Compared with a portable oven like the Ooni Karu 12, the CBO-750 trades portability entirely for permanence and scale, since once built it cannot be relocated without significant effort. Anyone torn between the two CBO sizes should weigh how many pizzas they realistically want to cook in a single session against the extra space and labor the 750 requires.

Verdict and who should choose differently

With our score of 8.1 out of 10, the CBO-750 is a serious, well specified kit for anyone building a large permanent wood fired oven meant to anchor an outdoor kitchen for the long term. It suits big families, frequent entertainers and anyone who wants professional level cooking capacity at home. Homeowners with limited yard space, renters, or anyone wanting pizza without a construction project should choose the smaller CBO-500 or a portable oven instead. For maximum capacity and thermal mass in a permanent build, the CBO-750 is a strong foundation to design an outdoor kitchen around for years to come.

Frequently asked questions