Choosing an oven was a big deal for us. Where do you start? We investigated more then 5 different manufactures. Most of the ovens we saw were very large, and we have limited space, so that was one deciding factor. Naturally, we wanted an oven that would make a great pizza, and although different pizzarolis have different opinions, for us, the traditional stone baked hearth style oven seemed the best choice. Even narrowing it down that much still left us with a hard decision, but ultimately, we settled on Ambrogi, an Italian company with a long heritage.
The oven is a massive thing (about 1.5 meters diameter) and weighs about 1,000kg. The only option for getting it into the house was through the roof because there is no way to break it down, and our doors are not wide enough. That created a bit of a mad rush to get it here because the crane is not being used anymore and will probably be taken away in the next few days/weeks. Also, the contractor has lots of work to do inside, and is very keen to close the roof as soon as possible.
They tried to deliver the oven last Friday, but we weren't able to get it off the truck. This morning we went with a flat bed truck to pick it up. In spite of a little rain, we were able to get it here without too much trouble, but then the nervous moment came... hoisting a 1,000 kg oven!
I know that cranes hoisting heavy things is not really unusual (it is, in fact, their 'raison d'être'). However, the thought of something going wrong was ever present. Not only is the oven very expensive, but if it were to fall onto the house, it would become a very effective wrecking ball, and possibly killing machine too.
It's safe inside now, although it will have to be moved into final position. At the moment it is on the first floor (yes, our engineer gave the OK that the floor can hold it). We will have to lower it (without the crane) into it's final position which is only now being prepared. Which reminds me... The oven wasn't the only excitement today, we also got the ground floor poured:
Finally, for anyone interested, a few videos:
