Please help me decide whether to go for an AGA

maryb

We need to have some structural work done on our kitchem which means the time has finally come to do a kitchen refit (just as the original 1970s brown and cream was becoming fashionable again).

Anyway the point is that if I am ever going to get an AGA now would be the time to do it - second hand that is. I have always dreamed of having one but my rational half thinks it can't be OS. I calculated that based on their figures for fuel consumption it would cost about £35 per month to run. I have been trying to find out how much it costs to run a conventional cooker and it is surprisingly hard to find out but I have seen figures quoted like £55 per year for an electric cooker. Presumably gas would be even cheaper.

All the information you read about AGAs is about how wonderful they are. I can't seem to find a more balanced view but it seems to me that even if they are ever so well insulated, with that level of fuel consumption they must be contributing a lot to CO2 emissions. Also the ovens look small notwithstanding they are deep. Is it actually all that easy to fit stuff in? Especially as my back feels its age some days and I wonder how easy it would be bending down to get food right out of the back of the bottom oven.

Plus some people seem to suggest that it loses a lot of heat just cooking an ordinary roast dinner which makes it difficult to get really crisp roast potatoes or yorkshire puddings.

I have a suspicion that it's just not sensible - but I have always yearned for one. If anyone can point me in the direction of a balanced assessment I'd be grateful

sal

Hiya,

I'm no expert here, just a few things that came to mind reading your post.

I had an oil-fired Rayburn in an old cottage once. Boy, did that thing have character, I learned to love and hate it.

It pounded heat out but didn't heat the central heating, so that seemed like a waste to me. As the property was rented we couldn't make any changes. Much better to heat your house from it instead of just the kitchen.

It really is a different cooking experience, I bought a new set of cookery books to help me along. As it was old, the top lid was all-in-one, the problem was that when you lift it to put saucepans on, you lose heat from the oven. The idea is to cook as much as possible in the oven. The bottom warmer can be used like a slow cooker, also for jacket potatoes and porridge overnight, very yummy. Unfortunately I also had to use an electric oven to bring veg to the boil before transferring to the Rayburn.

But you can also dry all your washing on it and around it for free! Cats and dogs love it and so do my feet and lower back after digging the garden. Keeps the teapot warm too.

Ah, one day I'll have another Rayburn, but it will be a bit newer!

sal

Magentasue

I think if you have one, you love them. I considered one when our kitchen was done but there was nothing going for it financially. My SIL has a brand new one that looks gorgeous and she doesn't have a conventional oven, just a hob. Things seem to take a long time to cook and there's a lot of juggling to fit everything in. It also heats the hot water but they always seem to be running out.

I would love one in addition to my cooker - it is nice to have that oven on and ready all the time. But I can't see that it's moneysaving. My SIL will have none of it - she will defend it to the end!

Newbird

There is a big difference between Aga's and Rayburn's. I'm pretty sure that Aga's, especially the older ones, while looking fab, and heating the kitchen etc, do nut run central heating. My friend has an old original one in her house, converted to oil - but has an oil boiler as well to run the heating. It does cater for ALL the cooking tho, with no problems. Hers is the big one, 4 ovens. One is merely a plate warmer, the hot oven, is HOT, tuning out baked pots with crunchy skins in an hour or, you have to watch em. Med oven great for slower cooking.

If you have more than one lift up top it helps, one is faster heating than the other.
Fast side, will boil a kettle in not much longer than an electric kettle, and the other side simmers pots. Their large kitchen is always warm, too warm in summer, but then you fling the door open!

Rayburn's will do hot water and central heating, which seems more sensible to me. Perhaps AGA have come around to this with their new models, but they are expensive. The kind of investment to make perhaps if you never want to move!

If you look at it as tho its a central heating system that you use for cooking while its on, then that seems useful and OS to me.

Can be run cheaply if you want to go the wood burning way, but its a lot of work and needs feeding regularly. Auto fuel types much easier to run, butthen you pay for that, in cash and enviromentally.

I think another cooker in the kitchen as well gives the best of both worlds, and is helpful in the summer.

HTH

coffeebean

My sister has an oil-fired AGA, but it only cooks, the oil-fired boiler does heating/hot water. Their oil bill is about £350 every 4/5 months. It has to be on all the time, if you let it go out it takes up to 3 days to come back up to temperature again. It has to be serviced annually by an AGA Engineer. In her area there is only one, and he's very busy! (A good job for someone!)
In the summer when the weather is hot the kitchen is absolutely unbearable to be in. In the winter it's wonderful.
The bottom oven is great for slow-cooking things, the top oven is quite quick but you have to keep an eye on it, you can't smell the food cooking so can't tell if it's burning. You can get loads in both ovens, but the bottom oven I find is quite awkward to reach into to get things out of the back. One of the top plates is quite fast, the other isn't, and if the wind is in a certain direction the whole AGA cools down a few degrees.
It dries her washing great, and if you fold things in a certain way it irons too!
My BIL puts his boots in the slow oven to warm up before he puts them one, and his socks!
As they live in the country it suits their purposes, especially as the only gas supply is in bottles. She has also been known to forget to check the oil level in the tank so not ordered a delivery, and as she doesn't have any other means of cooking has had to borrow by camping gaz stove!!

windym_2

I love my Aga :A

If you want one then be prepared for a change in cooking habits. Throw out all the cookbooks that tell you the temperature to cook at and for how long, this is back to basics! You get to know your own Aga like a member of the family.

Despite what some have said in this thread, I DO turn my Aga off in the summer and rely on a combi microwave, it more than serves the purpose. In the winter, you get the added bonus of the warmth, it really makes the kitchen a wonderful place to be.

You can reduce costs by utilising your Aga for tasks usually taken up with other electrical appliances - no more kettle, toaster, sandwich maker, steamer (albeit I use them in the summer). I can put my kettle on the slow hob at night and in the morning it is just at boiling, perfect for that instant cup of tea!

Because its on all the time, I find I cook more. I cook in batches and freeze.

In the winter months I reckon ours costs about £40 per month to run (oil) we don't have mains gas and I would not entertain an electric one. Ours only cooks, albeit you can buy Aga's that heat water but NONE heat the house. Do not confuse them with Stanley, Rayburn etc, which are more dual usage cookers.

Aga is the original, the best and in my opinion your NEXT love!

You can buy perfectly good Agas secondhand from reputable dealers, who will fit and service. The secondhand ones from good dealers are usually re-enamelled and in my opinion look as good as new.

My friends Aga is over 60 years old and still looks great.

Good luck in choosing. It may just make your house a different home!

P.s. It makes the best roast potatoes and IT IS A SENSIBLE option.

jcr16

my parents have an aga, it was coal which cost them about £150 a year to run and now since my dads triple heart by-pass it is gas. i doubt it costs very much to run as my parents don't waste anything.

the aga is a real investment. they bought it 16 years ago for £100 and when they got the house valued the estate agent said your house is worth x amount and if u leave the aga it is easily worth another 10k. how fantastic.

the aga's heat your water and house and u can cook on it. very beneficail ,and also a wonderful piece to have. we want one but just don't have the room and i'd only want an old aga. my parents is about 50 years old or soemthing like that

Alfietinker

This may not be much help as I have no experience of one (except somebody once boiled a kettle on one in what I would call an acceptable time).

Depending on what type of house you have, would the AGA not warm the house with it's residual heat? I don't mean connected to radiators. My neighbour doesn't have central heating, just a gas 'woodburning' stove. Because the house has 'open' stairs and all the rooms interconnect, this warms the house anyway.

We're thinking of getting a wood stove in our central room so we don't have to have the heating on too much.

Failing that, if you don't want an AGA could you not go for one of the gas/electric range cookers? Rangemaster do some lovely ones if you are only after the looks.

katieowl_2

I just got my gas bill (Powergen)- now the Aga seems to be running at about £40 a month, it's the only gas appliance we have so all that bill is AGA. Ours heats the water, but I have a back up electric booster for the water tank (for heavy bath use days)

Ours is 1960's, we bought it reconditioned about 10 years ago. I would rather pull my head off than cook on anything else. and when we move I will not go anywhere that does not have/ or can't take an Aga (you know they need a pretty solid floor?). I use it to air washing, have slow dried tomatoes in the bottom oven this year, make soup by cooking stock for hours in the bottom oven. You can cook drop scones directly onto the cooler hotplate. My resoloution this winter is to only use the Aga kettle, I am filling it after use and standing it on the edge, it does't take long to boil - don't know why I got out of the habit of using it. Aga's also bake wonderful breads and Pizza. Oh and they make great toast - infact on the special tennis racquet toaster you can make four toasted chees sandwiches at a time. It's a great place to drape yourself over on cold days..... (I promise I do not work for AGA!)

We do not have central heating (hardy beasts that we are ) and the Aga provides good back ground heat for the house. My bedroom which is over the kitchen is appreciably warmer.

When we were looking at ranges, I decided that the hotplate on the top of the Rayburn wasn't big enough for us (we are family of five) which I think was a sound move. We cook pretty much everything we eat from scratch, so if you cook you will appreciate it - I can't see it would be much so joy for a fast foodie family - but if you are on here I presume you are frugal My only criticism is that it doesn't deep fry well, as having the lids up tends to make the temperature drop, but eating deep fried food is bad for you (so my husband keeps telling me when I eye up the electric deep fryers) so it naturally limits my consumption of samosas.


It can be expensive to have the Aga repaired, and on ours the thermocouple is prone to going if it gets switched off for any reason, but the old ones are pretty basic inside and shouldn't be beyond a competent gas plumber who can get hold of the parts

Next time I am holding out for a 4 - door Aga ........

Regards

Kate

windym_2

katieowl wrote:

I would rather pull my head off than cook on anything else. and when we move I will not go anywhere that does not have/ or can't take an Aga (you know they need a pretty solid floor?). It's a great place to drape yourself over on cold days..... (I promise I do not work for AGA!)


Kate

Kate, we need to start our own Aga appreciation thread!! :rotfl:

Magentasue

windym wrote:

Kate, we need to start our own Aga appreciation thread!! :rotfl:

Don't even think about it. Didn't I tell you I've already resisted temptation? Can't afford one!