It’s not surprising that pizza is one of the most popular foods in the world, let alone in the US. It’s consistently voted as America’s favorite food and it’s hard to go anywhere in the world without being able to get a pizza from somewhere close by. Thankfully, enjoying fresh, homemade pizza is easier than ever with pizza ovens like the Cuisinart Indoor Pizza Oven.
It’s extremely simple to set up and use and Cuisinart includes everything you need to impress your friends and family — except the ingredients, of course. There’s even a built-in timer and suggested cooking times right on the glass to help you craft the perfect pie.
To test it out, I set it up in both my kitchen and on my back porch, my wife made a ton of pizza dough, and we ate way more pizza in two weeks than I ever thought possible. And we did it all for you. You’re welcome.
Read on to see if this pizza oven fed our appetite then, head to our best gas grills guide for grilling, searing and smoking more of your favorite foods.
Cuisinart Indoor Pizza Oven: Key specs
Cuisinart Indoor Pizza Oven: First impressions
One of the things I like most about this pizza oven is that there’s almost no setup involved. While the box is a bit large and heavy, and I would highly recommend having some help to move it, it’s not impossible to maneuver it by yourself if you’re in a bind. It’s packaged well without much styrofoam and was quite snug in the box.
There are two handholds on the side for lifting it which are immensely helpful, as again, it’s a bit heavy. Cuisinart also includes all the accessories you need to get cooking including a pizza stone, pizza peel (the giant spatula thing you use to get the pizza in and out of the oven), and deep dish pan along with the wire rack and crumb tray.
Once you find a spot on the counter — I was also able to set mine on my covered back porch and it worked just fine — open the door, slide the crumb tray in on the bottom, place the wire rack in, and lay the pizza stone on top of it. Then just plug it in and you’re ready to go.
Cuisinart Indoor Pizza Oven: Price & availability
The Cuisinart Indoor Pizza Oven sells for $399 and is available to buy from Amazon, Best Buy and Target.That’s not a bad price for what you get, but we’ve often seen it on sale for $299 which makes it even more compelling.
It's widely available in four colors, too. Choose from Black, Matte Black, Stainless Steel and Brick Red.
Score: 5 out of 5
Cuisinart Indoor Pizza Oven: Design
Honestly, once it’s out and on the counter, the Cuisinart Indoor Pizza Oven is nothing special to look at. It really just looks like a large toaster oven (which it basically is). There’s nothing fancy or unique about the design, except that it comes in a nice red color if you’re into that. But since this is meant to live on a kitchen counter, I’m happy that it blends in well.
The single door on the front has a nice big window so you can watch the pizza cooking in all its cheesy goodness, and there’s a small digital timer on the bottom left corner with the temperature knob and indicator lights on the bottom right. Again, much like a regular toaster oven.
Aside from the stainless steel color I received, you can also get a black or matte black color or brick red if you want a bit more pop. The stainless steel attracts all the finger and handprints so something to keep in mind, especially if you’ve got toddlers around who touch everything.
With the exception of the pizza stone, all the accessories are dishwasher safe, and the pizza peel even has a removable hand that also folds down for better storage. Fun fact: all the accessories can actually fit inside the oven at the same time when you’re done cooking for easy storage.
Cuisinart includes thorough instructions for cleaning the pizza stone, but just be careful that you don’t put it in the dishwasher as it will crack. Also, some burn in on the stone is perfectly normal and actually adds some great flavor to your pizza so don’t worry if there’s some black stains on there after a few pizzas.
Score: 4 out of 5
Cuisinart Indoor Pizza Oven: Performance
The first thing to note is that the preheat time is about 20-30 minutes depending on how hot you need it to get. Be sure to give yourself plenty of time before you actually want to eat so you don’t have hungry people (or toddlers) standing around waiting for food.
Thankfully Cuisinart includes quite a few recipes in the instruction booklet for reference, but my wife likes to make her own dough and sauce so we didn’t use the recipe book too much.
One thing I noticed while using the pizza oven was that it was a bit noisy. I wouldn't say it's a dealbreaker, but you'll definitely notice it's on. It made it a little difficult to carry on a conversation while in the kitchen, which is one reason we moved it to the back porch.
Cuisinart does not give any official statistics for how loud it gets, but I tested it using an app called Decibel X that showed it gets to around 67 decibels when on. That's perfectly within the range of healthy noise levels so nothing to worry about there, but you'll still hear it. Again, I wouldn't say this is a reason not to get it, just be prepared to move to another room if you want to chat while you're cooking.
And, thankfully, cleaning everything after a rousing pizza night is quite simple. Everything except the pizza stone can be rinsed off and put in the dishwasher, and the stone just needs a gentle wire brush to get any burnt crust off and a simple wash with soap and water. That’s all there is to it!
Score: 4 out of 5
Cuisinart Indoor Pizza Oven: Taste test
The first one we tried was a thin-crust, cheese pizza. We let it preheat to 700°F, placed the pizza in, and set the timer for five minutes. While it tasted much better than any other homemade pizza we’d ever done, we did notice that it seemed to be a bit more cooked on one half than the other. We tried rotating the next pizza around halfway through cooking time and that gave a much more even cook.
Next, we tried some different toppings like mozzarella cheese and pepperoni. Again, after rotating them halfway through, we found they came out nice and crispy with a fluffy crust. The cheese melted wonderfully and the pepperonis had that perfect little crisp on the edges.
We, of course, also had to try deep dish pizza as well, and we were quite impressed with how it turned out too. We set it to 500°F and let it cook for 15 minutes. Pro tip: the deep dish pan is heavy so you’ll certainly need to either use two hands or grip the peel right where the handle connects to avoid dropping your tasty ‘za all over the floor.
To be fair, we didn’t follow the recipe exactly so our pizza turned out more like focaccia bread, but that also means focaccia bread tastes great from this oven!
Lastly we cooked some broccoli calzones in the oven. Set to 500°F and cooked for 15 minutes on the pizza stone and they were good. The crust was nice and flaky and everything melted together on the inside just like a calzone should.
A few things to keep in mind:
- Be sure to turn the pizza’s halfway through cooking
- It takes at least 20 minutes to preheat so leave yourself plenty of time
- It gets a bit louder than I was expecting
- The top does get quite warm so don’t touch or set anything on top
Score: 4 out of 5
Should you buy the Cuisinart Indoor Pizza Oven?
Buy it if...
Don't buy it if...
How does the Cuisinart Indoor Pizza Oven compare?
While the Cuisinart pizza oven isn’t unreasonably expensive, there are some more affordable options out there. The East Oak pizza oven is about half the price and has some interesting features like a rotating pizza stone.
On the other end of the spectrum, the Gozney Arc is almost the “Rolls Royce” of pizza ovens. It’s beautifully designed and cooks delicious pizza in about 60 seconds. Just be ready to pay for the privilege because it’s also the most expensive one we’ve tested.
How I tested the Cuisinart Indoor Pizza Oven
I used this pizza oven in my own home for about three weeks. I cooked several pizzas in it and served them to my family and friends to gather a variety of feedback about the taste of the pizza. This also gave me plenty of opportunities to clean it and we even used it in both the kitchen and our covered back porch patio to see which location we preferred.
We cooked mostly Neopolitan and thin-crust style pizza using our own dough and sauce recipes with a wide range of toppings including extra cheese, mozzarella cheese, spinach, and pepperoni.
Read more about how we test.
First reviewed March 2024
