Need a cooker - what would you do?

DaisyClaire

Would appreciate advice here as a 'what would you do' situation.

Moving into a new house on Thursday. There is no cooker, so will need to get one.

I would like a dual fuel cooker, but I don't have the money to get one up front. My lovely Mum started a savings pot for me and there is currently about £85 in there....but I need a cooker well before the savings pot reaches an appropriate amount.

I was going to get a 12 months interest free option, then use the savings from my Mum, plus my own savings over the course to pay off before the 12 months were up, but the only place I have ever used for interest free options is Bennetts online and ive looked at the cookers on there. They have some which are quite cheap, but not practical for my family and cooking needs and then they leap to around the £480 mark, which I don't really want to opt for as I may be biting off more than I can chew. They had some Indesit ones for around my 'budget' (would feel comfortable with about £370) but I have had some bad experiences with indesit so sort of avoided them!

Theres nothing second hand around at the moment in my area.

What would you do? Can anyone recommend anywhere that does interest free options?

ormus

get a freebie off freecycle for the time being.
then when your cash pot is full, replace it with a new one and put the old cooker back on freecycle?

Ben84

We too have had several bad expriences with Indesit items, so have to advise against them.

I currently have the best cooker I have ever owned, a plain old 1970s gas cooker. It cooks really well. It also cost less than £85 as we bought it used. We've had it about eight years now.

You could put a wanted advert in a few places. Try the local shops/church, and friday add too. Sometimes people just want rid of an old cooker, so you could get a bargain.

Ebay sellers are offering inexpensive used cookers, and you can search by distance/postcode, so may find something suitable near by.

You could also look in the yellow pages for companies who do house clearances and ask them what they do with old cookers.

Another option is the local dump. Anything nice that goes to our local dump is taken aside and stored in a building for sale. There are some very nice clean appliances there. No assurances they work, but for the low costs, I've taken some chances and have been lucky so far.

The one thing I would always do is have a used gas cooker inspected by a professional before using it. Even if it costs as much or more than the cooker, the total cost for the cooker and knowing it works safely is still a bargain.

moonrakermagpie

Yes join freecycle and place an advert asking for a cooker.

I have got some great stuff by advertising for what I need.

ormus wrote: »

get a freebie off freecycle for the time being.
then when your cash pot is full, replace it with a new one and put the old cooker back on freecycle?

Pennylane

I am sure some people will have good experiences with items from Freecycle but I have seen a lot of things which are complete & utter rubbish. A working (and safe) cooker is vital esp. if you have a family to feed and personally I wouldn't take the risk.

Thing is with cookers, they are normally disconnected, so you don't see them working. People will often say "it works fine" .... you take a look & the outside looks OK but that's as much as you know! There ARE people who get rid of a cooker just because they change their colour scheme, but they are few and far between!:rolleyes: Some people see it as a way of getting rid of their old junk without paying anyone!

You've got to move it, have it reconnected and then if it's no good, you then have to have it disconnected, dumped and start all over again.

My advice would be to see whether there are any service engineers or electricians in your area and ring around and see whether they sell secondhand appliances. You often get a small guarantee on secondhand stuff too.