Final update: I broke it. It did not break during use. I had it stored leaning against a wall and it fell over and shattered. My fault. I used it so many times at 550F to make pizzas, never had a problem. But you have to be careful with it. Im going to take the plunge and get a top quality baking steel of same size.Another update: 7 years later and I still love this stone. Has not chipped or cracked, has made countless loaves of bread, soft pretzels, and pizzas. You want one.UPDATE 2: 32 months down the road, and this stone is still great. It never gave me a bad smell, it never set my kitchen on fire, it never smoked. I use it all the time. Even if I switch it to a lower shelf and put something on an upper shelf, having the stone in there stabilizes the oven temperature and my food cooks better. I love this thing. It's the perfect size, and it really isn't all that heavy.UPDATE 1: 14 months later, this stone is still great. It gets a bit discolored here and there from food drips, but you just scrape off any burned on glop after it cools off. At first I was a bit worried that it might crack when I did steam infusion when baking bread ( place a latte cup of boiling water next to the loaves, and throw a coffee mug of boiling water into the bottom of the oven ) but that never happened. No worries.This stone works really well.*********This thing is amazing! I shopped around online, read a bunch of baking reviews, and picked this one. If the $150 stones are any better, they can't be better by much. This stone is the best deal out there, period.After reading some of the reviews here, I was a little concerned that it might smell or smoke the first time, so I heated it up in an empty oven. There was a very minor odor that went away after a few minutes. I took it up to 550 degrees, then turned the oven off. EIGHT HOURS LATER the stone was still quite warm, a bit over 100 degrees. Amazing.The stone fits my standard size 30 inch wide electric oven's shelf perfectly, leaving a bit more than an inch on all 4 sides. It's twice as thick as the round pizza stone I had been using, with at least 50% more surface area. I bought this more for bread baking, so I could make longer loaves. It's solid, but doesn't weigh a ton. Not hard to move it around if I have to.Kudos also for the packaging: My stone came in a box inside a box inside the Amazon box. The sturdy inner box has firm foam corners and top and bottom padding, so it will be great for safe storage if I decide to not leave it in the oven all the time.Yes, it takes a bit longer to get the oven up to full heat. I'm OK with that. In return I get a very even heat distribution and a major thermal buffer. Which means the oven holds temperature, even if I have to open the door a couple times. Now I have to start making bigger batches of dough, to bake several loaves in one session, so as not to waste any of that heat.

I really love this pizza stone, and for several reasons (detailed below).Shipping: although you are not supposed to talk about shipping on this forum, I think it is worth pointing out how carefully wrapped and protected it is while shipping. The stone was set up in a Russian doll box style (in a box that was padded in another box which was padded in another box). Stones can chip or crack, and I am sure shipping them can cause some damage, but this company goes the extra mile to make sure nothing happens and your stone is safe!Presentation: this is only really an issue if you want to give it as a gift, but if you do, the box is comes in (the final box) is really nicely presented. It looks neat and crisp and it comes with directions on how to "prime" your stone!Size: this is a really big stone. It fits perfectly in my oven (if you have a smaller apartment oven, I would check the dimensions before purchasing) and allows me to make a pizza big enough for my entire family in one go! I wasn't sure I would like the rectangular shape (I've always had round ones previously) but it works great! I love that I'm able to make two (sourdough) bread rounds at one time...this was never really possible with the round stones, not matter how big they were.Feel: I love that this stone isn't super porous (it is still porous and it still absorbs water, but the pores are smaller than in other stones I've had). Other stones are sort of like lava rock...feel rough to the touch. This one feels very smooth, which I love.Effectiveness: I used the stone last night and panicked after I put it in the oven because I realized I didn't use cornmeal to prevent sticking. But actually, I didn't have any problems. The stone worked perfectly and I had a wonderfully chewy/crispy crust. I can't wait to make all sorts of other things on it!Price: compared to some other stones I've seen, I think (for the size and quality in particular) this is a VERY good stone and I HIGHLY recommend it!Overall: great product! I would highly recommend for an avid baker or for someone who wants to make store bought pizza just a little more special. GREAT PRODUCT!

Pizzacraft 20" x 13.5" stone caught my attention because of the resistance to thermal shock, was looking for something that can be kept in the oven on the bottom rack 24/7. The unique size fits the rack in a 30" range perfectly allowing heat to still pass around all sides of the stone dispersing it(heat) evenly and catches anything that would otherwise end up on the bottom of the oven. Don't worry its not being neglected I use it for pizza too (home made and frozen) and various other cooking. The stone is off white and yes its going to stain, I feel this ads to the patina of the stone and adds seasoning. If your ever in a pizza joint, the stone in thier ovens is completely covered in these stains (can't wait for mine to look that way) so stop being squeamish. Making sure te stone is cool enough to touch I scrape all the burnt stuff off with a metal scraper, then use a stiff metal brush to i dont know what word to use "polish" the stone surface and finely rinse it with plain water. I think is a matter of preference when using heat clean the stone before or after scraping and brushing There will be a ton more smoke if you heat clean it first but it will clean more easily. I'm new to using a pizza stone so I really don't know what to criticize it on, some people might wine and cry about it sticking at first but like a quality cast iron skillet once its seasoned I doubt this will still be as much of a problem. There are things like cornmeal and parchment paper that help immensely but would take longer to get your stone seasoned. I havnt had my stone long but I'm including a photo of it dirty to show how well it fits and what kind of staining to expect. I believe this is an excellent quality product and I am highly recommending it.

Can fit 3 individual pizzas or a couple baguettes on at once! Nice and thick, heavy duty, appears durable.Somehow got a little chip in it on the edge when I brought it to my friends place. Don't remember hitting it very hard on anything so i'm perplexed how it got there.Doesn't like cheese! Got some cheese on it after trying pizza the first time and it doesn't really want to come off. Let's call it character.

I've been into bread making for a few years and recently have taken it up a notch. I'm able to make two loaves at time with this and the bread turns out great. Pizza turns out amazing as well. This was so worth it.

The price was high, but it fits perfectly in my oven (i measured first) and it works very well for baking baguettes and other longer breads. Of course it works well for pizza, too. Still, for pizza alone it's probably overkill and other smaller, more square and less expensive stones might be a better choice; however, for longer breads, it is an ideal size for most ovens to make the most of your available baking surface.

A little bit hard to clean but overall it makes fantastic pizza

It is exactly as hoped for. Fits the oven perfectly allowing for several small pizzas (for my picky daughters) to be cooked at the same time. I'm planning on trying bagels this weekend.I was a bit surprised, positively, at how thick it is. Clearly it takes a while to heat up to temp, but that is the whole point of the stone in the first place.BTW - as a cleaning trick, once to gets too dirty, leave it in the oven when you run through the self-clean cycle. The very high heat burns off all the grease and carbon, leaving you with a pristine stone and a bit of grey ash!