Anyone got a Stoves cooker?

[glasjam]

And if you have, how do you rate them? I have one (a 61GDO) and am quite disappointed with it. It seems to heat really unevenly and it takes ages to heat up. I bought an oven thermometer and was shocked at how long it took. But the most annoying thing about it is the dial for the oven settings - it is really hard to decipher what Gas Mark you are setting it to because you have to line up the line on the knob with a mark on the fascia and it's very awkward to do (anyone who has one will hopefully know what I mean!) We've replaced a knob as well as it disintegrated and they do get incredibly hot to the touch.

Be interested to hear what other people think of them.

[Doyouthinktheysaurus]

We have a big range type one. I really like the slow cooker bit and the main fan oven is ok but the second oven is useless. I can't use it without an oven thermometer and it's no good for baking as it is so inconsistent in it's temp.

I certainly wouldn't buy another but I can live with it. The big gas hob is great, really love the size of it. It just seems a bit silly that the second oven is hardly ever used because it's so unreliable.

[DaisySteiner]

I just got rid of mine. It was absolutely shit. The knobs all fell off, the ovens basically only had one temperature - very hot and the doors had to be slammed shut. I hated it. I'd rather cook on a camp fire than have another Stoves

[partyhats]

I too have a stoves range type cooker. Its looks good and the gas hob part is great but the ovens not so good. Neither very good for baking as cakes rise unevenly and everything always burns on the right hand side in both ovens. I have only had mine a couple of years and it was v expensive so stuck with it for a while.

[glasjam]

Oh dear - so not alone in my disappointment. It's amazing that they can continue to manufacture what appears to be a sub-standard product. I mean, if you are going to make a cooker surely getting something as fundamental as a properly regulated, controllable, even-temperatured oven is a priority? We too have inherited this oven (well we paid £50)and it sounds like the previous owners had a few visits from the Stoves "engineers" to stop the oven burning a hole in the floor beneath it (they fixed that problem at least).

Hey Ho, better wait for the Euro lottery and see about getting myself a nice gas hob/electric oven.

[didldidi]

our Stoves was shit too - all the knobs disintegrated (you couldn't touch them if the grill was on - really got hot) and the catch went on the oven door. Got rid.

[Furball]

We had a stoves range cooker.

Every time the oven got up to temperature the door would pop open.

They replaced it after a couple of months - only for the new one to do the same.

I then asked for a refund.

We lived on hob cooked meals for about 2 months

[StealthPolarBear]

yes but ours came with the house. So far I think it;s the best I've had but that might just be because it's the cleanest. We've never actually bought an oven!

[mum3three]

My Stoves gas oven is less than 2 years old and I hate it. The useless 'foil' coating on all the knobs has come off, revealing the plastic underneath, which in turn has even melted to a bubbly blob on one and cracked clean in half on another!
I contacted Stoves to tell them how appalled I am with my purchase and even sent them pictures of the ruined control knobs...they just said I could buy new ones for £7 each!!
Why should I pay out £42 just for them to go the same way?

[snice]

All the knobs on mine have melted off too

nothing in the oven cooks properly -it seems to have only two temperatures -quite hot or so hot everything burns

it's the worst cooker I've ever had

[moomaa]

We recently moved away from ours and we hated ours too. Would never buy one.

Yes, the oven was too hot and uneven (had to use an over thermometer always), yes all the foil came off the knobs. The oven broke just before we moved out (was 6 years old I'd guess) and the people buying wanted us to mend it, I'd told them it was broken when they looked around, but really didn't want anymore to do with it. I just used the hob and second oven for a few months.

[Blackduck]

Glad not just me, but I have managed 5 years out of mine (it is now in the melted knobless state.....) Am about to get rid too...

[worldgonemad72]

Ive got 1 and i wouldn't bother again, we've had the engineer out a few times as when the grill is on it makes a really loud noise. Will get a different type if or when we sell the house.

[gdhaemployee]

I work for a GDHA Company, not Stoves I stress, and bought one of these from John L about 6 years ago. The first one they sent the glass lid didn't work and let flame still when shut- serious safety fault! After the third set of knobs on the replacement, I am seriously considering taking it to work and putting it, discreetly, in our client display centre (and I could!). I haven't read all the relevant posts yet but let me guess, brittle and snapping control knobs, caused by the heat of the ovens and grill being channelled up the front of the unit, apparently by design, by a gap in the door seals (I've looked at a newer model than mine as well, it's the same). A grill pan handle, like a pipe on a bit of metal that falls off when it gets hot.
I love Yorkshire pud. First year we had this, around Christmas, I tried some small individuals. ! Do you remember sherbet flying saucers, well that is the visual picture, wife and kids ragging me had to go and get Aunt Bessies.
So for the exercise I put a digital thermometer probe in it. The main oven struggled to maintain 240C with nothing in it. Imagine Xmas day, all hobs both ovens. not a chance.
The timers are rubbish as well. Son put a casserole on to cook. I came in from work as it finished. you would reasonably expect if you cancel a timer after the timed cooking time (assuming the oven was off anyway) that you cancel the alarm, let it cool a bit, get it out and eat it. No. Went and sat to watch news oven turned itself on flat out. As proof of that it properly incinerated a small joint a few weeks later, it looked like a meteorite.

These appliances and genres are not fit for purpose and, in my opinion, are unsafe -- I would never, ever, recommend anyone to buy one.!

[gdhaemployee]

And as a parting shot before we all should send a them a marketing slogan -Cook wonderfully well on a Stoves cooking appliance (mostly your hands that is!!)

Enjoy

[NanaNina]

I had a Stoves cooker some years ago that was shit and the oven took for ever (Christmas dinner needed to go in about November!) don't know why I kept it so long. Then our son gave us theirs when they moved house because there was one fitted in the kitchen. It was a Stoves and I knew it was brilliant because I'd used it, and my son and dil were so sorry to have to let it go..........it was brilliant and I used it for about 10 years - fan broke once but otherwise no problems. When we had a new kitchen we wanted one as much like the other one we could get and got a Stoves dual fuel (gas hob) fan oven - about £500 from John Lewis and it's FAB - the oven is really quick as is the grill and there's a big burner for a wok - stir fries so easy now. We've only had it for about a year but can't fault it. The oven cooks evenly and is super quick.

Strange really that some are ok and others not.

[Dont4get]

We too have have a Stoves cooker and agree with all of the negative reviews. This really was the worst purchase we have ever made. Yes, it too cooks our hands when touching the oven doors or surrounds. When it was new we called out the engineer because we said it was unsafe, they advised that the fan has to blow the hot air out of the front. How dangerous is this??Only 1 oven setting is needed, number 3. if higher everything burns, if lower nothing cokes. Top oven, forget it.
Now that we have a toddler grandson he is not allowed into the kitchen when the oven is on. It has to go; expensive land fill product, good for nothing else

[Flowboy]

Seems there's a general low opinion of Stoves cookers here! With a big variation in quality depending on model or day of the week they were made.. I call ours the Lancaster bomber.
We've had a touch control Genus oven for 7 or 8 years & it seems we've been lucky. The only oven we ever bought from new & bloody expensive it was too... but it's been pretty good in general. The Genus part has a kind of intense (semi-microwave? The manual doesn't say) function that bakes spuds or a loaf of bread in 15 mins, with 8 adjustable pre-sets for different foods/dishes. We use that a lot. Plus a smaller std oven. The one knob has survived with no melting problems... The control unit always displays it's own temperature, about 5 deg. warmer than the room (which makes me wonder how accurate it is when the oven gets hot) When we've had power-cuts it tests & re-sets itself to correct time - it once got stuck for hours half way through it's test but I just turned it off & on again a couple of times & it was OK after that.
The worst thing about it is the fan. A constant very loud whirring, hence the nickname. My bro' in law had a similar Zanussi & you could hardly hear the fan. I don't know how Stoves got that so wrong. Perhaps the tester was deaf.

[FaFoutis]

Mine is crap too. The knobs are now naked white plastic and the oven won't light without a (very long) match. The grill doesn't do anything other than on and off, it won't do low or high. It's not even very old.

[tubasinthemoonlight]

I have one and love it. Mine is a range cooker which is all gas except the grill but that is a third oven too, and uses gas in oven mode. I got it in December 2014 and the knobs are all like new. They don't seem to get hot either.

[tubasinthemoonlight]

Sounds like mine is the same as Nana Ninas. Range cooker, Big wok ring, two big gas ovens and the electric grill also is a small gas oven. Knobs are still intact almost two years after buying and they don't get hot. Mine was £500 and worth every penny. Love it.

[SteppingOnToes]

That's range cookers in general for you - they take ages to heat up as they have to heat the whole stove, not just the oven compartment - they're designed to be left on all the time and act like a radiator.

I love my Esse one though as it has a small oven not linked to the rest of it which heats up (almost) like a normal oven.

[INeedNewShoes]

Gosh I had a lucky escape! I wanted a Stoves cooker when I moved into this house four years ago and they had a beautiful autumnal orange colour mini range cooker. I was really pushing the boat out to afford it and would have been really upset to discover it was rubbish! Luckily their incompetence meant that after a month of me waiting for the cooker to arrive I ended up demanding a refund!

[Youremywifenow]

I love mine, dual fuel, grill bit is also an oven.
No problems with knobs, the oven heats up really quickly.
It's my second one, had one in our last rented property and they did a recall on it the day after it was installed (wrong metal in the knobs or something) and came out to replace it with an upgrade on christmas eve. The customer service was great.

[kingdarby67]

Just had my £600 pound Stoves cooker delivered and I have immediately noticed that one of the knobs has an in-built defect, which should have been easily detected at the final quality control stage. Instead, the company simply dispatched the appliance (disgraceful)knowing that it was already damaged. The on-line parts ordering process at Stoves was so complicated that the poor lady at Currys could not locate the correct replacement part, so we had too settle for a second hand item from one of the display units. That was two and a half weeks ago. Yesterday I wanted to use the grill for only the second time, as I opened the top oven/grill door the hinge attachment on the lower left corner completely detached itself from the main cooker body. The grill door is entirely unusable and hangs lower than the top of the main oven door, rendering the appliance totally obsolete. I'm livid. The company are complete cowboys.