Kiln Buying Guide: How to Choose the Right Kiln for Pottery, Glass & Raku

A kiln is a 20-year purchase, and the wrong one is expensive in both directions: too small or too cool and you outgrow it in a season; too big and you pay to heat empty space every firing. This guide covers the four decisions that actually matter — what you fire, how hot it has to get, how much space you need, and what power or fuel you have — so you can narrow the field to two or three models before you ever compare prices.

At Urban Supply we carry the full Olympic Kilns line — more than 300 kilns, furniture kits and accessories, every kiln built to order in Flowery Branch, Georgia, by a company that has been making kilns for more than 50 years. Prices run from about $1,235 for a small 120V kiln to over $40,000 for a large production kiln.

1. Start With What You Fire

• Pottery and ceramics — bisque and glaze firings for earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. Most buyers want an electric kiln; studios firing reduction glazes or very large loads look at gas kilns.
• Glass — fusing, slumping and annealing. You want a dedicated glass kiln with lid elements, which heat the glass from above for even fusing. Olympic's glass kilns fire to 1,700°F.
• Raku — fast firings where pots come out red-hot. A raku kiln is built for rapid heating and easy access.
• Testing, small work, jewelry or a first kiln — a 120V kiln runs on household-type power and costs far less to buy and run.

2. Match the Kiln to Your Firing Temperature (Cone)

Kilns are rated by the hottest cone they reach. Rough reference points on the standard Orton scale:

• Cone 06–04 (about 1,830–1,945°F) — bisque firing and low-fire earthenware glazes.
• Cone 5–6 (about 2,170–2,230°F) — mid-range stoneware and porcelain, the most common studio range.
• Cone 8–10 (about 2,300–2,350°F) — high-fire stoneware and porcelain.

Buy headroom. A kiln that only just reaches your working cone runs its elements at the limit every firing and wears them out faster. In the Olympic line the model suffix tells you the rating: an E model (for example the 2327E) fires to cone 8 (2,300°F), while an HE model (for example the 2327HE) fires to cone 10 (2,350°F). If you work at cone 6 and ever plan to go higher, the HE is the safer buy.

3. Size It Correctly

Kiln capacity is listed in cubic feet. As a rule of thumb, size for the load you will fire most often over the next few years, not your biggest one-off piece.

• Under 1 cu ft — test tiles, jewelry, small pieces. The Doll E / Test E is 0.3 cu ft, plugs into 120V, and still reaches cone 10.
• About 4–10 cu ft — the home-studio and classroom sweet spot. Top-loading stackable kilns such as the 2327 series (7 cu ft) live here.
• 10 cu ft and up — production work, schools and community studios. See our large-capacity kilns, including front-loading production models like the FL12E (12 cu ft, cone 10).

4. Top-Loading or Front-Loading

Top-loading (stackable) kilns cost less per cubic foot and are the standard choice for most potters. Because they are built in rings, they are easier to move and service. The trade-off is reaching down into a deep chamber to load the bottom shelves.

Front-loading kilns open like an oven, so loading shelves is faster and easier on your back — a real advantage for production studios, schools and anyone loading heavy work. They cost more for the same volume.

5. Check Your Power — or Your Gas Supply — Before You Buy

• 120V kilns are the only ones that run on standard household voltage. Check the amperage on the product page and give the kiln its own circuit.
• 240V and 208V kilns — most mid-size and large electric kilns — need a dedicated circuit sized to the kiln, installed by a licensed electrician. Confirm whether your building is single-phase or three-phase before you order; a 3-phase wiring option is available on many models, and we confirm your voltage and phase with you before the kiln is built.
• Gas kilns — such as the DD24 downdraft gas kiln — need a natural gas or propane supply sized to the burners, plus proper outdoor or vented placement.

6. Choose a Controller

Most Olympic electric kilns let you choose between two Bartlett digital controllers: the standard KilnStar, or the Genesis touchscreen, which adds more ramp-hold programs and on-screen firing information for about $150 more. Both handle delay start, preheat, cone offset and multi-segment programs; choose Genesis if you write a lot of custom firing schedules.

7. Budget for Furniture and Venting

A kiln arrives empty. You will need shelves, posts and stilts — a matched kiln furniture kit for your model is the simplest way to get the right shelf sizes — plus ventilation if you fire indoors. A downdraft vent such as the VentMaster pulls fumes out of the kiln and the room and helps firings heat evenly.

If you want everything in one order, the Freedom packages bundle a cone 10 kiln with 3-inch brick for better insulation, a furniture kit, stilts, an emergency repair kit and a VentMaster — for example the Freedom 2327HE package.

Quick Recommendations

• First kiln, small pieces, no electrician: a 120V kiln.
• Home or school pottery studio: a 7 cu ft cone 10 stackable such as the 2327HE, or the Freedom 2327HE package if you are starting from scratch.
• Glass fusing: a glass kiln with lid elements.
• Production studio: a front-loading or large-capacity electric kiln, or a downdraft gas kiln for reduction firing.

Why Buy From Urban Supply

• Authorized Olympic Kilns dealer — new, built-to-order kilns with manufacturer warranty
• Large kilns ship by freight; we coordinate delivery with you
• Expert support Mon–Fri 9AM–6PM EST · 917-540-6070 — tell us what you fire and where the kiln will go, and we will help you pick the right model

Browse the full range in our kiln collection, or shop by Olympic Kilns.