Commercial Oven Buying Guide: Convection vs. Deck vs. Conveyor (2026)

Picking the wrong oven is one of the most expensive mistakes a restaurant can make. A convection oven that’s too small will bottleneck brunch. A deck oven parked in a kitchen that really needed a conveyor will turn a pizza-per-minute concept into a pizza-every-eight-minutes concept. And a shiny new combi bought before anyone did the gas load will sit unused until the plumber can come back.

This guide breaks down the three oven categories that cover roughly 90 % of what a commercial kitchen actually needs — convection, deck, and conveyor — how to size them by cover count, how to choose between gas and electric, and which brands are worth the premium in 2026. If you want the big picture across every category we sell, start at the full commercial ovens collection and come back here to narrow it down.

The three oven categories, in one table

Before we go deep, here’s the cheat sheet. If you already know which category you’re shopping and just need brand recommendations, jump to the section that matches your build.

Type	Best for	Typical footprint	Price range (new)
Convection	Roasts, casseroles, cookies, batch baking, general prep	38–40″ W × 39″ D per section	$3,500–$16,000
Deck	Artisan pizza, hearth bread, focaccia, low-volume bakery	50–60″ W × 40–44″ D per deck	$6,000–$100,000+
Conveyor	High-volume pizza, sandwiches, toasting at scale	55–80″ long × 40–50″ W	$12,000–$50,000

Everything after this is nuance — but the table above is what most operators actually need to internalize before walking into a spec meeting.

Convection ovens: the default answer for most kitchens

A convection oven bakes with a fan-forced circulation of hot air, which is why everything from your roasted chickens to your croissants comes out browner and faster than in a home oven. If you’re opening a fast-casual, a diner, a full-service restaurant that isn’t a pizzeria, or a catering operation, this is almost certainly the first oven you should be shopping.

Full-size vs. half-size

Full-size convection ovens hold five full-size sheet pans (18 × 26″) per section. They live under a hood, run on gas or 208/240 V electric, and are the correct spec for anything above roughly 60 covers per meal period. Standard footprint is ~38″ wide, ~39″ deep, ~57″ tall on 6″ legs.

Half-size convection ovens hold four half-size (13 × 18″) or three full-size pans and live on a countertop or on top of a range. They’re perfect for coffee shops, ghost kitchens, food trucks, and anywhere floor space is more expensive than throughput. Browse the current convection oven selection or the broader convection ovens category to compare.

Gas vs. electric convection

Gas gets to temp faster, recovers faster after long door-open moments, and is cheaper to run in most markets. Electric bakes more evenly, has slightly better temperature stability for delicate pastry, and doesn’t need a Type I exhaust hood — though your local code may still require Type II ventilation for the moisture load.

A single-deck gas convection like the Vulcan SG4 lands around $13,000 new. Its bakery-depth electric double-deck sibling — the Vulcan VC66ED — comes in around $16,000. Add a set of casters and a stack kit and you’ve got a two-deck platform that fits into a 38-inch-wide footprint. For a mid-tier alternative, the Garland Signature Master Series high-voltage electric is a strong pick where the utility runs 208 V/three-phase.

Brand shortlist for convection

• Vulcan — the default American workhorse. Overbuilt, easy to service, parts everywhere. SG4 (gas) and VC series (electric) are the ones to know.
• Garland — owned by Welbilt; strong electric line, thermostatic control is precise.
• Southbend (a Middleby brand) — the Platinum PRO series (see the PCG100B-SD gas double-deck) is the volume answer for bakeries and heavy-batch kitchens.
• Blodgett — the SHO series is a fleet favorite for chains and multi-unit.
• Admiral Craft — the countertop COH-2670W is a budget-friendly countertop pick under $1,200 for ghost kitchens and coffee bars.

What about combi ovens?

A combi oven is a convection oven with steam injection, and it can replace multiple pieces of equipment in a single cabinet. It’s outside the scope of this guide, but if you’re debating convection vs. combi, read our combi oven buying guide next. As a rule: if you’re running a menu that leans on precise doneness (fine dining, hotel banquet, healthcare foodservice), the extra spend on a Blodgett INVOQ or UNOX combi pays back within 18 months.

Deck ovens: pizza, bread, and anything that needs a hearth

A deck oven bakes directly on a stone or steel hearth. There’s no fan. Heat comes from below (and, in most modern designs, from an independent top element too), which is why a pizza cooked on a deck oven has a distinct char pattern on the bottom crust that you simply cannot replicate in a convection.

When you need a deck oven, and when you don’t

You need a deck oven if:

• You’re opening a pizzeria doing more than 30 % of your covers as pizza.
• You’re running a bakery that sells hearth bread, focaccia, ciabatta, or naan.
• Your concept explicitly sells the char/leopard-spot look on the crust.

You do not need a deck oven if:

• Pizza is a menu item, not the concept, and it’s served under 30 pies a shift — a good countertop pizza oven will do it.
• You want the pizza-out-the-door speed of a chain — that’s a conveyor, not a deck.
• Your bread program is enriched doughs, sheet-pan loaves, or anything you can pan-bake — a rack oven is a better answer.

Electric vs. gas deck

Most modern deck ovens in the U.S. are electric. Gas decks still exist — particularly on the older Bakers Pride Y-Series lines — but electric has won the argument on temperature stability, cleanliness, and the ability to run each deck at a different temperature independently. The tradeoff is amps: a double-deck electric like the Moretti Forni iDeck pulls 30–40 kW total and needs three-phase 208 V or 480 V service.

How many decks do you need?

Deck oven brand shortlist

• PizzaMaster — Swedish; the current benchmark for high-end electric pizza decks. See the PM 1131ED single-deck as a starting point.
• Moretti Forni — Italian; iDeck series is a favorite of Neapolitan/artisan operators.
• Bakers Pride (a Middleby brand) — the American classic; the Y-600 gas deck is still in kitchens 30 years old.
• Blodgett (also Middleby) — strong hearth-bread offering with the 981 series.

Conveyor ovens: volume, consistency, and the pizza-per-minute machine

A conveyor oven bakes with impingement — jets of hot air fired at the food from above and below as it rides through the chamber on a wire belt. The result is exceptional consistency, minimal skill dependency, and throughput a deck oven simply can’t match. The tradeoff is the crust: you don’t get true hearth char, and you don’t get variable bake times per pie. Whatever’s on the belt bakes for exactly the time set by the belt speed.

Who conveyors are for

• Chain and QSR pizza operations doing 60+ pies/hour at peak.
• Ghost kitchens where a $12/hour part-timer needs to run the bake station.
• Sandwich shops that need consistent toasting.
• Cafeterias, schools, and stadium concessions.

The two brands that own this category on the operator side are XLT and Lincoln Impinger (a Middleby brand). Middleby Marshall makes a heavier commercial-chain-grade unit that shows up in Pizza Hut and Papa John’s kitchens.

Sizing a conveyor by belt width

Belt width	Peak throughput	Typical use	Example model
24″	~40 fourteen-inch pizzas/hr	Small pizzerias, ghost kitchens	XLT 2440-1-E
32″	~60 fourteen-inch pizzas/hr	Independent pizzerias, mid-volume chains	XLT 3240-1-E
38″	~90 fourteen-inch pizzas/hr	High-volume chains, delivery-heavy shops	XLT 3870-1-2B-G
44″	~120 fourteen-inch pizzas/hr	Concept-scale/production	XLT 4455-1-E

Gas vs. electric conveyor

Gas conveyors recover faster and are cheaper to operate at high volume. Electric conveyors are quieter, install anywhere with the right service, and don’t require gas plumbing — the right call for ghost kitchens and second-generation spaces. Every conveyor oven, gas or electric, needs a proper Type I hood system per NFPA 96.

Sizing your ovens by cover count

The single most useful heuristic for right-sizing bake capacity:

These are peak-hour numbers, not daily totals. Design the kitchen around the busiest 90 minutes of the busiest day. If Friday dinner is what you’re staffing and equipping for, everything else will handle itself.

Utilities, hoods, and code — don’t skip this

Every commercial oven that produces grease-laden or steam-laden vapor requires a Type I or Type II hood per NFPA 96. All commercial equipment sold in the U.S. should carry NSF certification. Energy-efficient models often qualify for ENERGY STAR commercial food-service equipment rebates — worth a phone call to your utility before you buy.

Gas ovens need the right BTU service and a shutoff valve within reach. Electric ovens need the right voltage and phase — a 208 V single-phase circuit will not run a 480 V three-phase deck oven, and you’ll wait weeks for an electrician to fix it. Confirm the utility specs on your final drawings before you sign the PO. If you’re remodeling, our preventative maintenance checklist is a good companion read.

What we’d spec for three common concepts

Fast-casual restaurant (80 covers at peak)

• One stacked full-size gas convection (Vulcan SG4 pair, ~$26k).
• One 6-burner commercial range with a standard oven base for hot line.
• Type I hood over the whole cook line.

Neighborhood pizzeria (120 pies at peak, 60 covers)

• Double-deck electric pizza oven (PizzaMaster PM 1122ED or Moretti iDeck, ~$13–18k).
• One half-size countertop convection for prep, calzones, sides.
• Refrigerated pizza prep table at the make line.

Delivery-first ghost kitchen (200+ pies at peak)

• One 32″ single-stack electric conveyor (XLT 3240-1-E, ~$16k).
• Compact reach-in refrigerator for dough retard.
• Skip the hearth — the conveyor + a good dough recipe covers 95 % of the delivery-pizza market.

Keep reading

• Combi Oven Buying Guide: Boiler vs. Boilerless
• Commercial Range Buying Guide: Gas vs. Electric, BTUs, Burners
• Commercial Mixer Buying Guide (Hobart vs. Globe vs. Univex)
• Commercial Dishwasher Buying Guide: Door vs. Conveyor

Ready to spec your oven?

Every kitchen is a little different, and the right oven is the one that matches the actual menu, the actual peak hour, and the actual utility service in your building — not the one on sale this week. If you want a human to sanity-check your spec before you sign, contact our sales team and we’ll walk through it with you. Or browse the full USA-RS catalog and start narrowing down.