If a pizza oven is recommended by the Pizza Napoletana Association, it must be good As the city where the world's most perfect food was invented, the Neapolitans are most particular about what makes a good pizza and the tools used to make it

So it should come as no surprise that when I started baking pies at Ooni Karu 16, I marveled, as did my Italian compatriots The largest (and most expensive) of Ooni's outdoor ovens, the $799 Karu 16 can use wood, charcoal, pellets, propane, or natural gas, has a large glass door, a built-in thermometer, and a taller chamber than the company's other ovens If you're having trouble deciding if this model is right for you, read the rest of my "Uni Caru 16" review to see why it's at the top of our Best Pizza Ovens list

The Ouni Kalu 16 is available for $799 on Ouni's site and other online retailers, and comes with a five-year warranty However, this is for wood-burning models only If you want to use it with propane or natural gas, you will need to purchase a propane gas burner ($119) or a natural gas burner ($149) separately

If this is your first pizza oven, you may also want to purchase a pizza peel; Ooni sells several models starting at $49, but you can find less expensive options on Amazon and elsewhere The Karu 16 has a built-in thermometer, but it doesn't hurt to have a separate infrared thermometer

The Karu 16 is Ooni's most expensive wood- or gas-powered oven (the company also makes a $1,000 electric model), so if you are looking for something cheaper, compare which Ooni pizza oven is best for you and see if there is a model that fits your budget to see if there is a model that fits your budget

The Caru 16 is similar in shape to Ooni's other pizza ovens: slightly rectangular when viewed from above, but tapering toward the back At the top, toward the front, there is a tall chimney, and a hatch at the rear opens to reveal a fire chamber, into which wood or charcoal is placed

Like all Oni ovens, the Cal 16 rests on three folding legs that support the oven at a height of about 5 inches

The front of the Cal 16 has a large glass door that allows you to watch your pizza cook without having to open the oven to let the heat out This is a very convenient feature indeed Just below the door is a small digital thermometer that measures the temperature from just inside the front of the oven While this is also very handy, it is recommended that you purchase a digital thermometer as well

Weighing 60 pounds and about 3 feet long, the Karu 16 is not as portable as the Ooni Fyra 12, which weighs a third of that

One of the biggest advantages of the Karu 16 is that it can handle the most fuels of any of Ooni's ovens The fire pan is large enough to use wood pellets, but there is also plenty of room for charcoal or chunks of wood I'm not sure what to expect, because there's something romantic about using the same kind of fuel that the pizzaiolo used in Naples

Of course, you can always get a gas attachment if you want convenience or if you are new to pizza making and want to keep it simple

The large door at the top back of the Karu 16 made it easy to get wood into the kiln, much more convenient than the Solo Stove Pi, which requires you to move to the back of the kiln to get wood in Also, because the Cal 16's firebox is larger, it took less time to add wood, and there was no need to rush to add wood in between baking pies However, the Cal 16 required the entire firebox to be placed in the oven, which made it difficult to clean up the ashes

The large glass door on the front of the oven is a real breakthrough It keeps the heat inside the oven and allows you to watch the pizza cook The door opens and closes easily, but the locking mechanism (you have to lift the door slightly before it swings open) was a bit frustrating at times

The performance of the Caru 16 was excellent, baking a perfect pizza in just a few minutes We also liked the large 16-inch cooking surface, which allowed us to make larger pies than the Fyra 12 In addition, the Cal 16 has a taller cooking cabinet, so I was able to bake larger items

For example, I was able to slide in a cast iron pan and cook a New York strip steak Ironically, the pan scraped the ceiling of the Karu 16, so we wanted an even higher cooking area For that, I would need something like the Alpha Nano, but that model costs $1,399

To make good pizza, one does not need Ooni's most expensive outdoor pizza oven First, there are more fuel options to use If you want to make large pizzas but don't want to use wood, the $600 propane-only Koda 16 is an inexpensive option

The Karu 16 can also make large pies and other kinds of food that won't fit in Ooni's smaller ovens And it has two excellent features: a glass door and a built-in thermometer These are not definitive, but they help make everything just a little bit easier The last thing you want when making pizza is to make a big mess If you can afford it, you'll love what you can do with the Karu 16