The plug-and-fire kiln for home studios

If you're setting up your first serious home studio — or you've outgrown a bench-top starter kiln — the Top 45/L is the smartest small kiln Nabertherm makes. It plugs into any standard 13A UK socket, so there's no rewiring, no electrician visit, and no dedicated circuit to worry about. If you've got a well-ventilated space and a plug, you can be firing this weekend.

Nabertherm have been building kilns in Lilienthal, Germany since 1947, and the 45/L gets their flagship AC590 touch controller — the same one that ships on their professional models. That means real graphical firing curves, 50 programmes with 40 segments each, USB data export, and remote monitoring through the MyNabertherm app. It's the controller you actually want, not a stripped-down entry-level one.

The Top 45/L weighs 62 kg — manageable with two people — and sits on locking castors so you can roll it into position and lock it down. Insulation is RCF-free, meaning no refractory ceramic fibre, cleaner to live with and fully compliant with EU Regulation 1272/2008. A lot of cheaper kilns still use RCF. This one doesn't.