Rangemaster cooker - which variant?

snowscreamer

Hi all,

My OH and I are planning a new kitchen this year (after some rearrangement in the downstairs of our house). The main purposes of this new kitchen are:

• To be a solid, practical working kitchen for 3-4 years whilst we remain in the house (I enjoy cooking at home and entertaining)
• To be a cosy, welcoming environment
• To increase the value of our house: we would like to be able to trade up in 3-4 years' time

With the above in mind, we have already chosen (and got an excellent deal) on the cabinetry in the new kitchen; however I am trying to decide on appliances.

The cooker I would like is the Rangemaster Classic 90cm in cranberry, however this has 4 suitable variants and I am so stuck on which to go for!! Any experience, or helpful pointers to pros and cons to each option?

1. Classic with ceramic hob - John Lewis price £1599
2. Classic deluxe with ceramic hob - John Lewis price £1779 (+£180)
3. Classic with induction hob - John Lewis price £1800 (+£201)
4. Classic deluxe with induction hob - John Lewis price £2000 (+£401)

Advantages of classic deluxe over classic are listed here - http://www.cookersandovens.co.uk/blog/whats-the-difference-between-the-rangemaster-classic-and-the-classic-deluxe/

I currently cook on a basic Hotpoint electric cooker with ceramic hob. I find the long heat-up and cool-down times of the rings frustrating and my pans seem to be wearing out much more quickly than my parents' pans (which are the same set) - they use a gas hob. I don't know if this might be to do with the hob type? So I am keen to move hob type if induction is a decent improvement over ceramic. Additionally there are two ovens, main oven is fan and is pretty good - about 9 minutes to heat to 180, and good cooking results. Second oven is not fan and rubbish at keeping its temperature too; consequently I avoid using this unless the main oven is also on and I'm keeping things warm. Would be great to have a usable second oven, but I understand any of the above Rangemasters should provide a decent second fan oven.

Any thoughts on the value for money of each? Would either type of hob have pros/cons when selling the house or insignificant? And is it worth upgrading to Classic Deluxe to have the option of conventional oven rather than 2 fan ovens? At the moment I only use a fan oven but are there some types of cooking where conventional produces better results? Pizzas maybe?

Thanks in advance for help...
snowscreamer

Jonnyc43

Sorry I cant be of much use right now but I am also looking at Rangemaster and would be interested in general feedback. Good brand, worth the expense etc.

snowscreamer

Jonnyc43, at Christmas I noticed my OH's aunt has a Rangemaster (looked like Classic range) in her relatively new kitchen and my OH asked her about it. Didn't manage to get down to fine detail (OH not a cook!!), but apparently she was absolutely raving about it in general. Annoyingly also not sure which variant. I should probably email her and ask her though!

But anyway Rangemaster does seem to have a really good reputation and they certainly look fantastic.

J_B

We have a Rangemaster Classic 110 (induction)
I'm allergic to cooking but Mrs B doesn't rave about it.

The fan oven doesn't heat stuff evenly - you have to turn it round half way through.
The grill is a bit of a joke really:-
You can't adjust the height at all so, to cook sausages, you have to take out the mesh thingy and put it back in upside down, other wise it burns before cooking.
For a cooker that's quite large overall, the size of the grill pan is tiny. It is only about ½ the depth of the cooker and thus you can only cook 6 rashers of bacon at once

Just my (her) 2p worth!

snowscreamer

Hi J B, thanks for that, very helpful. What's the "mesh thingy" on the grill...? I'm used to grill in the top oven of a standard freestanding cooker. The temperature is adjustable but like the ceramic hob it's extremely slow to adjust the temperature in either direction.
I understand that the main oven can be used as a grill with fan - is this correct? Or maybe that's just on the Classic delux.
And you didn't mention the induction hob - would your wife recommend that over ceramic? Worth an extra £200?

CKdesigner

Hi

I would try and avoid Rangemaster range cookers if you are anything like an enthusiastic cook, they are a cooker that has been designed with the primary goal of looks over substance.

Rangemaster is a product at the lower end of the range cooker market, to get a decent range cooker then you really need to be looking at spending in excess of £3,000 for the likes of a Lacanche. Otherwise if you are looking to spend around £1,500 to £2,000 on cooking appliance / s for your new kitchen then you really would be better off spending that on mid range built in oven / s and an induction hob. Makes to look at would be Neff, Siemens etc.

Just out of interest, what has your kitchen designer advised you when you mentioned a Rangemaster?

CK

snowscreamer

Hi,

We don't have a kitchen designer? To be honest, looks are a big part of it (and will remain so). We are looking to sell the house in 3-4 years' time and the kitchen has to look good. That really is the number one requirement. I don't want to spend over £2000 on a cooker due to the need to add value to my house. Unless a potential buyer happens to know a lot about oven brands (I presume this a small percentage of people but correct me if I'm wrong) then spending a huge amount more on a cooker is going to lower the profit from our renovation.

In terms of cooking, I currently use a Hotpoint freestanding cooker and am mostly content with the fan oven but frustrated with the poor control on the hob and useless second oven. If I can get a decent improvement on that, including a usable second oven, that will be enough tide me over until the next house...

I don't think a non-range cooker is going to work for us due to the look we're going for.

CKdesigner

Hi

That's fair enough then.

I normally say to people a Rangemaster (or low end range cooker ) is fine if all you do is nuggets and chips for the kids!

Really don't expect it to be any better than what you already have. This is where my issue is with cookers in this end of the market. They concentrate on the look and then some models they print 'professional ' on the front and give the illusion that the cooker will perform as a chef would expect, but the reality is the cooker is just a very cheap free standing cooker that has had a makeover and a hefty price tag added to it.

Sorry to be so negative about these but spending the same sort of money on built in appliances gets you far better quality and functionality.

CK

gingernut352000

We had a stoves range for over 10 years till we moved and we had been pleased with it

just had new kitchen and stoves are now very poor quality so we've had a rangemaster toledo 110 all gas and can't fault it if it was me I would go with induction as I believe the heat is more instantaneous than ceramic

cddc

I work for a firm that sells them as well as kitchens and am not a massive fan. They tend not to get great feedback overall. Customer Service is not wonderful either.

However they look better than the competition at that price point, and if those are your criteria then you will not find a better looking Range for the price.

Serious cooks would be better off with built in separates though. The same money would buy you a couple of ovens and an induction hob from a decent brand that would outperform a Rangemaster by far...

Oh, and induction over ceramic all the way.

Owain_Moneysaver

Check the oven internal sizes. Two ovens side by side in anything less than 120 cm will be narrower than a conventional 60 cm oven.

It may well be a lot cheaper to have two built-in/built-under ovens (whether single or double) and a separate hob.