I am a restaurant chef with over 10 years of experience at my restaurant, Dequte Restaurant LironBoylston. In this article, I will compare the Cru Oven Model 32 and the DeliVita pizza oven, since I’ve personally used both extensively in my kitchen. I compared their quality and materials, temperature control, shape, first-time usage impressions, power source, size, ease of cleaning, and I also conducted a real pizza cooking test to see how long it takes to produce a finished pizza. If you’d like to dive deeper into my evaluation methods, you can also check the thorough process I use to test pizza ovens in my separate article.
The Cru Oven Model 32 is a versatile stainless steel wood-fired oven designed in Portugal for a wide range of outdoor cooking.
The DeliVita is a handcrafted fiberglass and clay oven made in Yorkshire, known for its elegant design and ease of use.
I’ve put the Cru Oven Model 32 and the DeliVita pizza oven to the test, and this article covers the detailed comparison.
As a quick note, I will be using referral links in this article—if you decide to purchase through them, I’ll earn a small commission at no cost to you. This helps tremendously to keep my blog alive and continue sharing detailed reviews.
Cru Oven Model 32 VS DeliVita: Quality and Materials
| The Cru Oven Model 32 is built in Portugal with premium 304 stainless steel, robust ceramic fiber insulation, and thick Cordierite pizza stones. The materials feel heavy-duty and purpose-built for consistent high-heat cooking over many years. The oven’s dual-layer steel construction stands out as particularly durable. |
The DeliVita uses a fiberglass outer shell and a clay-lined interior that retains heat effectively. It feels thoughtfully designed and beautifully handmade, but the lighter build, while stylish, doesn’t feel quite as substantial or solid as the Cru Oven Model 32’s all-metal construction.
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Cru Oven Model 32 VS DeliVita: Temperature Control
| The Cru Oven Model 32 reaches around 900°F in about 40 minutes, and maintains heat with decent consistency if you preheat long enough. The removable dome helps manage heat and makes it easier to recover temperatures between batches. A built-in thermometer helps gauge when to bake. |
The DeliVita heats up quickly (15–25 minutes) and gets to 550°C (about 1000°F). However, it relies entirely on adding or reducing wood manually. Without a built-in thermometer, you have to use an infrared gun to know your exact cooking temp, making control more hands-on and less predictable.
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Cru Oven Model 32 VS DeliVita: Shape
| The Cru Oven Model 32 has a barrel-shaped dome with a wide front opening (11.8″) and deep interior. This shape circulates hot air evenly, prevents hot spots, and gives plenty of room to move food or rotate pizzas. |
The DeliVita has a compact, traditional dome shape with a smaller interior. While it also distributes heat well, the narrower space feels less versatile for baking larger items or shifting fuel placement compared to the Cru Oven Model 32.
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Cru Oven Model 32 VS DeliVita: First-Time Usage Impressions
| The Cru Oven Model 32 took me about a minute to set up—the dome simply lifts onto the base, and it’s ready. Preheating took longer than advertised, but the first Margherita came out evenly cooked with excellent wood-fired flavor. The removable dome made cleanup easy right away. |
The DeliVita came fully assembled and looked great straight out of the box. Lighting the fire was easy, and the oven heated up quickly, but it took practice to manage the peel and rotating the pizza in the compact chamber. The first pizza tasted great, though the edges were a bit scorched.
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Cru Oven Model 32 VS DeliVita: Power Source
| The Cru Oven Model 32 uses wood or charcoal. This flexibility makes it easier to adapt to different fuels depending on what flavor you want or how easy it is to start the fire. Wood gives a classic smoky character. |
The DeliVita relies exclusively on wood. The wood flavor is fantastic, but requires frequent refueling with hardwood to keep temperature consistent, which is more hands-on work.
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Cru Oven Model 32 VS DeliVita: Size
| With a 20″x16″ cooking surface and wide opening, the Cru Oven Model 32 can handle pizzas up to 15″, large bread loaves, or multiple dishes. At 56 pounds, it’s portable enough for two people to move but still stable. |
The DeliVita is lighter at 66 pounds and compact (internal space 54×50 cm), suited to 12″ pizzas or smaller dishes. While portable, its size makes it less ideal if you want to cook multiple larger items side by side.
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Cru Oven Model 32 VS DeliVita: Ease of Cleaning
| One of the Cru Oven Model 32’s biggest strengths is the removable dome. After the fire dies down, you simply lift off the dome, brush out ashes, and wipe the stainless interior. This design makes thorough cleaning fast. |
The DeliVita is also simple to clean—just sweep out ashes and brush debris once cooled. However, because of the lower front opening, it’s harder to reach the back, especially if you’re taller or have large hands.
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Pizza Cooking Test
When I tested both ovens side by side, the Cru Oven Model 32 took about 40 minutes to fully preheat to around 850°F. Once it reached that temperature, I baked a classic Margherita pizza. The cooking time was impressively fast—just under 90 seconds—and the crust developed a beautiful balance of char and crispness while the center stayed tender. The flavor was rich with subtle smokiness from the wood fire, which I personally find hard to match with other ovens.
The DeliVita heated up more quickly, reaching its optimal temperature of about 900°F in roughly 20 minutes. I baked another Margherita in this oven, and it cooked in just about 2 minutes. The result was also excellent, with a golden crust and bubbling cheese, though the edges charred a little faster due to the smaller chamber and higher heat concentration. The taste was delicious, with a very clean wood-fired character, though I felt the Cru Oven Model 32 imparted a slightly deeper, smokier flavor overall.
Both ovens produced pizzas that could easily rival those from a professional pizzeria, but the Cru Oven Model 32 had the edge for me in crust texture and the subtle complexity of its wood-fired taste.
How We Tested
To evaluate the Cru Oven Model 32 and the DeliVita, I followed the same thorough process I use for all my pizza oven reviews. I set up each oven outdoors on a level, heat-safe surface with plenty of ventilation. For consistency, I used the same high-quality hardwood fuel, identical dough batches prepared the day before, and classic Margherita toppings with fresh mozzarella and San Marzano tomatoes.
I preheated each oven until the baking stones reached their optimal temperature, verified with an infrared thermometer. Once hot, I timed how long it took to cook each pizza and observed the way the crust developed, how evenly the toppings cooked, and how easy it was to rotate and manage the pizza inside the oven.
After baking, I also tested how quickly the ovens recovered heat for a second pizza, and I took notes on any challenges like heat loss, smoke output, or handling. Finally, I cleaned both ovens fully to see how practical maintenance was after a full cooking session. This approach let me compare the Cru Oven Model 32 and the DeliVita under realistic conditions, just as any home cook or professional chef would use them.
Conclusion
Ultimately, it’s your choice whether you prefer the Cru Oven Model 32 or the DeliVita for your outdoor cooking. Both ovens have unique strengths and can help you create incredible wood-fired pizzas at home. If you decide to buy one, I’d really appreciate it if you use my referral links below—these help keep my blog going, and I earn a small commission at no cost to you:
Make it a point to see the best pizza ovens list.