I bought this stone as a gift for my sister a few years ago, and it's served us well. At my house, I had a thinner/round pizza stone and it worked well enough. But recently I had to replace my oven, and the new oven doesn't seem to get quite as warm (both ovens supposedly maxed out at 500°F, but one was clearly warmer than the other). The first pizza I made in the new oven (with the thinner/round stone) came out all wrong. So I borrowed the 1"-thick stone from my sister, and used it on my next try. It did the trick! I'm now buying another of these great stones for my house. Highly recommended, especially if your oven doesn't get all that warm.

I did my research before I orderd this stone:
1. wanted something made in America
2. something rated to withstand 1200 degrees F at a minimum

I have used the stone twice with great success, once for a standard 18" round flat pizza, and second for one of my 2" thick Chicago style pizzas.
I will admit that I start my pizzas using a pan with holes in bottom for first half of cooking cycle, as this greatly simplifies loading since the stone need to ne preheated to 500F or more - I ususallu cook at 500F to 550F.

This is not my first stone; the previous stone was about 1/2 the thickness, but served me well for 10 yrs it got replaced due to a large crack that appeared one night while cooking a pizza.

This stone is heavy, so need to be careful moving it (and god help ya if you drop it on your foot!)

I use this stone all the time and only thing I use it for is to make high hydration artisan bread or sourdough.
The benefits are it cooks evenly and correctly no more overcooked or undercooked bottom on my bread.
I don't think it will ever crack it seems to get tough every time I heat it up and not one loaf has even stuck to it.
Because all I cook is bread cleanup is a snap wait for it to cool off and wipe it down with a clean moist towel and put it away.
This stone has improved the quality of my bread and now I have results that are professional quality.

It is indeed possible to achieve pizzeria results at home with the right tools and techniques. This is a proper Pizza Stone, but make sure you have the ability to cook hot enough to make good pizza! Many ovens and grills can barely hit 500 degrees. That's not hot enough! I use this on the grill and pre-heat the stone to 600 F. Note - that's the temperature of the stone using a pyrometer. Grill temp should also be around 600 degrees. It cooks perfect 10" pizzas in about 4 minutes. Getting yourself a $15 pyrometer to tell when it's up to temp is crucial, and please get a good book on making bread. Flower Water Salt Yeast by Ken Forkish is a great example of a book that will teach you the fundamentals, and there's a very detailed section on pizza dough along with recipes.

Works great for Bread too, or just adding thermal mass to your oven. My oven is 18x18, so the 16x16 fits perfectly in it. You will not be disappointed so long as you take the time to understand the basics, and have the ability to heat the stone to at least 600 degrees.

It was for my husband and he loved it.