June 22, 2010 | by Lisa Mattson

Our Director of Facility Operations Tim Spence recently finished his latest design project: building a structure to house our new Mugnaini wood fired oven. (And his first video blog post.) Wood fired ovens have a long history in Italian cooking, and our executive chef yearned for a culinary tool that allowed for more traditional slow food cooking methods to complement his style of cuisine. Andrea Mugnaini’s ovens have become increasingly popular in outdoor kitchen designs for homes, as well as culinary schools and restaurants. Models were designed for both residential and commercial use. You can also find some online DIY guides for building your own oven.

Our biggest challenges for this project were identifying the right location, building the proper base to support the Mugnaini oven we chose, and designing a showcase piece that was both functional and complemented our existing chateau architecture from the mid-1970s.