AGA cookers

Omega_1

Am renovating my house and am being pestered into getting an AGA and am really seeking 'impartial' advice - if that is possible as in my experience current AGA users I know always swear they are the best thing since sliced bread and rarely have a poor word against them (despite my experience of sweltering in their kitchen heat at all other times except winter).

I do not have mains gas so will be restricted to oil or electricity.

Question is :- Do I or don't I install ? - HELP !!! - your honest views will be appreciated and valued - thanks

Waterlily24

If you can afford to go with it.

PasturesNew

How much do you LOVE cooking?
How many people do you really cook for?
How often?
What do you cook?
Will you really get the use out of it or will it be a pain in the butt/a liability as you feel tortured by the fact that, for you, it's simply never being used as it's too big .... to make your regular cheese on toast?

ryder72

The first question to ask is why do you want an Aga? Is it because you have had one and like it? Or because you like the look? Or because you have eaten food cooked in an Aga and liked it? Or because people have told you it was good?

If its the first or the second, then there is no argument. Just get one.

If its the third, I would beg to differ because modern steam oven are better.

If is the last, then go try one out for yourself.

While Aga's are part of the British heritage, for the purposes of quick efficient predictable cooking they are as relevant as small pox. They are inefficient, expensive, slow and bulky so I cant see what an Aga can do that a modern steam combination oven and induction hob cant for less upfront and ongoing cost.

POPPYOSCAR

Love love love our Aga.


It is more than a cooker.


It is the heart of our home.


It cooks our food, dries our washing and we snuggle up to it when we come in from the cold.


Our daughter is worried when she moves out that she will not be able to afford/have a big enough kitchen to have one herself and she will really miss it.


Yes it was expensive but cheaper than a new car and I would rather have it over a new car any day. But you can buy a second hand one for a very reasonable price, and you will hever have to buy another cooker again.

POPPYOSCAR

ryder72 wrote: »

The first question to ask is why do you want an Aga? Is it because you have had one and like it? Or because you like the look? Or because you have eaten food cooked in an Aga and liked it? Or because people have told you it was good?

If its the first or the second, then there is no argument. Just get one.

If its the third, I would beg to differ because modern steam oven are better.

If is the last, then go try one out for yourself.

While Aga's are part of the British heritage, for the purposes of quick efficient predictable cooking they are as relevant as small pox. They are inefficient, expensive, slow and bulky so I cant see what an Aga can do that a modern steam combination oven and induction hob cant for less upfront and ongoing cost.

I do not know what Aga you have used but our Aga is none of those things.


And food tastes better cooked in an Aga- everyone who eats at our house tells us this.

theonlywayisup

Aga and induction hob, best of both worlds.

Jonesya

If you're conscious of your utility bills, or eco-friendly, worth checking out the energy consumption as these things get through some serious amounts of electricity/gas/oil.

Davesnave

POPPYOSCAR wrote: »

But you can buy a second hand one for a very reasonable price, and you will hever have to buy another cooker again.

Ours was available at the end of last winter when we finally shut it down and ebayed without a backward glance.

No one wanted it, but we kept the ad going, and eventually a dodgy guy who was renovating a cottage and wanted "a stove that looks original," bought it for £200. Luckily, he had 3 heavies, who removed it skilfully, without wrecking the house.....

Yes, at times it was nice to have, but I came to resent opening the back door and windows on sunny days in February just to let our expensive heat out!

I also hated it when we'd put a roast on, only to find that the wind had got up and the temperature had fallen out of the normal cook zone.

Finally, it heated one towel rail and made water in our main tank luke warm. That just wasn't good enough.

POPPYOSCAR

Davesnave wrote: »

Ours was available at the end of last winter when we finally shut it down and ebayed without a backward glance.

No one wanted it, but we kept the ad going, and eventually a dodgy guy who was renovating a cottage and wanted "a stove that looks original," bought it for £200. Luckily, he had 3 heavies, who removed it skilfully, without wrecking the house.....

Yes, at times it was nice to have, but I came to resent opening the back door and windows on sunny days in February just to let our expensive heat out!

I also hated it when we'd put a roast on, only to find that the wind had got up and the temperature had fallen out of the normal cook zone.

Finally, it heated one towel rail and made water in our main tank luke warm. That just wasn't good enough.

Was it an Aga or a Rayburn?


We have had our Aga for 20 years and the only time we have had problems with the temperature dropping was when it was due a service. Perhaps you might have had a problem because you were heating a water jacket as well? Ours only cooks.


If you have an oil Aga because of the EU changes to the oil you do have to add an additive to the oil now and have them serviced every year which costs around £140.


My OH now services it himself, very easy to do, basically cleaning the carbon deposits off the burner, following a you tube video and then every couple of years we get the Aga people in.

MX5huggy

Don't.

I have one, it came with the house. Totally overrated hunk of iron. Ours has now been on continuously for 16 months, I would turn if off for some of the summer but we did not have one. It's a 2 oven one, the bottom oven is completely useless for anything other than warming plates maybe you cook some sort of stew in it. The top oven is like a furnace so you have faff about with sheets of metal to try to regulate the temperature for cooking sponge cakes etc.

The ovens some how are small yet far too deep at the same time.

The hot plate can't boil 5 medium pans at a time (give me 5 gas LPG rings any day).

It uses over 3000 litres of oil a year, the price of oil has halved in the last 2 years that's the only reason it's saved from the chop. It was 64p per litre last delivery as 32p, I'll leave you to do the maths.

I could go on.

Look at some of the nice wood stoves with ovens for a heart of the home feel plus a modern oven / range.

On the other hand if you want a 2005 limited addition cream AGA I'm open to offers!