What cooking accessories work best on a wood stove and how much does a stove-top oven cost in Ottawa?

Cooking on a wood stove is one of the genuinely rewarding aspects of owning one, and Ottawa's long winters give you plenty of opportunity to get good at it. The best accessories depend on how seriously you want to cook, but a few essentials make the experience both practical and enjoyable.

A heavy cast iron skillet is the single most useful piece of cookware for wood stove cooking. Cast iron distributes heat evenly across an uneven heat source, holds temperature well, and handles the high surface temperatures a wood stove can produce — often 250 to 400 degrees Celsius on the stovetop. A 10 or 12-inch skillet handles everything from bacon and eggs in the morning to searing a steak on a cold February night. A cast iron Dutch oven is the second essential — it functions as a slow cooker, soup pot, bread baker, and roasting vessel all in one. Quality cast iron cookware runs $50 to $200 per piece at Canadian Tire, Lee Valley, or kitchen specialty shops in Ottawa.

A stove thermometer is underrated but genuinely important. Surface thermometers that sit on the stovetop (magnetic or probe-style) let you know whether you are in the simmering zone, cooking zone, or dangerously overheating range. These run $25 to $60 and protect both your cookware and your stove's finish. A trivet or simmer ring is also useful — it sits between the stove surface and your pot to reduce heat for delicate dishes or to keep something warm without scorching.

For stove-top ovens, the most popular option in Canada is the Omnia stove-top oven, which uses a ring-shaped base that sits on the burner and circulates heat around a central baking pan. These run approximately $80 to $120 CAD and bake bread, muffins, casseroles, and cakes surprisingly well. The Petromax cast iron fire skillet with a lid and baking insert is a more robust option at $150 to $250 CAD. For a more serious setup, folding camp-style stove-top ovens made of steel or aluminum — essentially a collapsible box with a thermometer built into the door — run $100 to $200 CAD and sit directly on the stovetop surface. These are available through outdoor and camping retailers in Ottawa like MEC, Atmosphere, and specialty hearth shops.

One practical note for Ottawa households: if you are relying on your wood stove for heat during a power outage — which Ottawa ice storms make a real possibility — having cast iron cookware and a stove-top oven on hand means you can cook full meals without electricity. That is a meaningful advantage that gas or electric ranges cannot offer when the power goes out for three days in January.

Keep in mind that cooking on a wood stove does increase creosote production slightly if it causes you to burn at lower temperatures for longer periods. Maintaining a hot, active fire rather than a smouldering low burn is better for both cooking performance and chimney health. Annual chimney cleaning remains essential — if your stove sees heavy use including regular cooking, a twice-yearly sweep is worth considering given Ottawa's long burning season.