AGA Cookers - anyone got one?

[berries]

Hi, we are currently in the (very) initial stages of designing an extension with dining area & new kitchen. Am toying with the possibility of an Aga, but wondered if anyone had one, and what are they like to 'live' with.
Thanks in advance.

[WideWebWitch]

Berries no, but we are about to move into a house with an Aga and I haven't a clue about them so I'd be interested to hear from people who have them too.

[jasper]

I started a similar thread over a year ago, titled I think "anyone got an Aga or a Raeburn?" (try a search on mumsnet)
After looking into all possibilities, I bit the bullet and bought a 4 oven aga and it is absolutely wonderful. I just cannot praise it highly enough. It was shockingly expensive but has been worth every penny.

I can give you more details if you are interested. I found the aga company somewhat odd to deal with. They don't explain their product very well.

[robinw]

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[WideWebWitch]

Ks, yes! posted on the bad day thread! Thanks for asking. Will search on aga to find other thread.

[WideWebWitch]

Berries and anyone else who's interested, the previous thread on this is here

[miggy]

We had a rayburn in our previous house, moved here and had about 8mths with just an ordinary cooker whilst building kitchen etc. So missed my Rayburn-kept forgetting to warm up oven and taking ages even to cook chicken nuggets! Now have 4oven aga.(No other cooker/hotplate) I love my aga and keep it on all summer even though have to have all windows/doors open as it gets so hot (that would be a drawback in small kitchen) Its fantastic for cooking- you cook more because its always ready, lots of things taste better eg jacket potatoes. it keeps the kitchen warm, lovely in middle of night when come down to feed baby or something. Draw back is you have to push people out of the way to get to ovens as everyone just plants their bum on it. Always vaguely worried about being hot and children but has never been a problem, even with crawlers.
If you have a choice IMO 4oven aga is best, a frien went for the 2 oven with electric module (like seperate electic cooker on side) but wishes she had got 4 oven one.
I could rave about them all night- perhaps I could get commission! I would say better in large kitchen/kitchen diner as you do tend to live in the room.
Very good book "new Aga cookery" amy wilcock- available from the bookpeople- v.cheap (BUT i got mine from Amazon-Grrr!)

[Popparoo]

Agas are lovely but there will be a few weeks in the summer when you want to turn it off so would recommend having an alternative cooking method as well. A gas hob is a good idea, since this gives you control over the heat for recipes that need it!
Oil fired ones seem to make your kichen walls dirtier so that you need to redecorate frequently.

[pupuce]

My MIL has a 4oven one.... Gosh I envy her! It is fab... BTW she never turns it off in the summer and she lives in Provence... maybe it's because it's already so hot it woudn't make any difference!

[berries]

Wow - what a response. Thanks for the link - didn't think to look in old threads. The room we will hopefully end up with is a medium kitchen with a large dining/family room. Its North facing, & we live in the NW, so I want it to be really cosy. Currently in the process of knocking down old, large & draughty conservatory,(completely open to the kitchen) so the idea of a nice warm aga certainly appeals. Will look at the websites recommended.
Questions, I had read somewhere that Agas had to be serviced every 4 months, and had to be cold when they did it. Is this true, or is it only for the oil fired ones? We would have natural gas as gas supply isn't a problem. ALso, have seen adverts for the 'companion' cooker. Would it be worth getting a 2 oven aga plus cooker, or go for a 4 oven? Not sure if we can fit a 4 oven in where we want it though. Are 2 ovens big enough - they don't look very big. Any help gratefully received.
Jasper - how did you get on with yours this summer?
Thanks for all your comments
Berries

[jasper]

berries mine is oil fired and the recommended servicing interval is 6 monthly. We have a local chap who does it for £55 (AGA charge nearly twice that amount)and no, we don't have to turn it off, unless we feel inspired to give it a good clean (no worries on that front). I have had it for just over a year and there is no sign of our kitchen decor becoming dirty around it.
I was concerned it would be too hot in summer, but that was not a problem at all. Okay, it is not exactly tropical in the West of Scotland but on hot days we just kept all the doors in the house open and it never got anything approaching too hot. Our kitchen is big but not huge and if anything I had expected it to give off more heat. On really cold days we need to put on the kitchen radiator too.

Please don't even consider an alternative cooking source. It is totally unnecessary and defeats the whole purpose of an AGA.
If you can afford it, go for a 4 oven one. I doubt you would ever regret the extra capacity but you might regret getting one that was too small.
Agree wholeheartedly with miggy's ravings about life with an AGA.
There is nothing you can't cook on an aga, anything you care to cook has a place on the aga which is just the right temperature. It took me no time at all to get used to this idea.If you buy it new you get Mary Berry's cookbook which goes into detail about how to use the AGA as well as giving lots of recipes.
When I was in our local aga shop recently I got chatting to a couple who were considering buying one. By the end of the conversation they were signing on the dotted line

[robinw]

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[miggy]

All the books say you need to turn off before service and this was true when i used local firm, but now use Aga dealer and they dont need it turned off prior to service.
As far as I know oil fired needs 6mthly service and others need once a year. I actually have my oil fired one serviced about every 10 mths and seems fine.
No problems at all with smoke/decor. Agree with Jasper- go for 4 ovens for flexibility and skip the companion cooker. Remember though that even on 2 ovens, ovens are much larger than they look because they go back a long way.

[Tissy]

Jasper any chance you could let me have the details of the man who services your Aga? I assume he does Rayburns as well? The local Aga/ Rayburn dealers are extortionate and absolutely hopeless in an emergency. It took them three visits last year to work out that our Rayburn had stopped working due to a birds nest in the flue, even though I told them that I had hear cheeping! They kept replacing the flue safety device (that detects if the flue is blocked- durr!), saying that it was faulty. As the parts had to come from the Midlands we were without our oven for nearly 3 weeks. Its just as well the baby was being brestfed at the time

[CAM]

I've got a 2 oven aga, gas fired, love it and have never found it to be too small. Brilliant for drying clothes. I never switch it off as have a large kitchen which doesn't get too hot and anyway,I only have a microwave as an alternative.

[jasper]

Tissy his name is Jim Canon.
Tel : 01389 754793
or mobile 0775 922 4876

If you want him to he will even put your details in his diary and call you to remind you when your aga needs serivicing.

[Tissy]

Thanks!