Only when written 窯
A heated chamber or installation used for firing, baking, burning, or smelting. 窯 is especially natural for pottery kilns, charcoal kilns, and bread or pizza ovens; the English gloss 'stove' is best understood as an oven-like or furnace-like stove rather than an ordinary modern kitchen range.
この窯で陶器を焼く。
We fire pottery in this kiln.
traditional cooking stove; hearth; stove
Only when written 竈 / 竃
With 竈 or 竃, this refers to an old-style cooking stove or hearth. The reading かま for these spellings is limited and old-fashioned; modern learners will more often meet 竈 as かまど for this object.
昔の家では、竈に薪をくべて料理した。
In old houses, people cooked by feeding firewood into the hearth.
This plate was fired in a climbing kiln.
新しい窯でパンを焼いた。
I baked bread in the new oven.
毎朝、パン屋は窯に火を入れる。
Every morning, the baker lights the oven.
炉 is a broader term for a furnace, hearth, or reactor, while 窯 specifically denotes a kiln or oven-like chamber for firing or baking.
Used for kiln (窯) when it is a fixed/installed structure, counted as 基.
pottery workshop; kiln site; pottery production center · potter; pottery maker
stone oven; masonry oven; brick oven
earthen kiln
charcoal kiln; charcoal pile
anagama kiln; hole kiln
potter's mark
kiln-equipped pottery workshop
kiln site; remains of a kiln
pizza oven
The standard modern spelling for a kiln, furnace, or oven-like heated chamber, especially for pottery, charcoal, bread, or similar uses.
Attested spelling for a traditional hearth or cooking stove. In modern Japanese this character is more often read かまど in this meaning.
Variant spelling of 竈; uncommon in modern writing and mainly useful for recognizing older or variant texts.
かま is a native Japanese word whose exact historical derivation is uncertain. The kanji 窯 is conventionally associated with kilns and furnaces, while 竈 and 竃 are associated with hearths or cooking stoves.
oven; kiln
climbing kiln; ascending kiln
removing pots from a kiln; unloading a kiln