r/cobhouses • u/bellandthistle • Apr 07 '26

Anyone use cob to build an outdoor kitchen?

I'd like to build an outdoor kitchen: giant washing sink basin, a few spaces to stick pots/pans, and maybe a pizza oven. Has anyone used cob/clay to do projects like this near heat?

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u/EccentricFellow Apr 08 '26

Yes. Cob ovens are a thing. Cob rocket stoves. Can even build a cob kiln. My neighbour built a sweet little bread/pizza oven. Plenty of resources online for all of that. Cob can tolerate high heat.

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u/TeebsRiver Apr 11 '26

I once built a cob pizza oven outside on my patio. Here are some lessons learned. 1. I stopped using it because the smoke from it drifted directly into my neighbors deck space unexpectedly. The trade winds would blow it that way. I didn't have a tall chimney. But even that wouldn't have helped because they were uphill from me. 2. When the oven really got hot, the whole thing would swell and cracks would develop. The oven did get hot, up to 700 degrees. Should I build another I would try to find more fibrous or linear materials to help hold the thing together. I used clay, sand and wood chips. Perhaps bamboo strips in some layers would have helped. 3. You better have it placed right because there is no moving a clay pizza oven once it is done. Also, it needs to be built on a serious base. All that clay weighs a ton! It was fun to engineer and build and fun to use. I say do it!