To think if AGA's really were that great

[rottentomatoes]

a lot more top chef's would use them. I hear people raving about their AGA's and how good food tastes from them but I can't help but think it's more about status than anything else. I am willing to be proved wrong but
AIBU to think they are just an expensive way to cook and heat a small area of a house?

Isabel my God... cooking for 150 plus!?!

You must have staff as well as an Aga!

I think the only reason my friend still has her aga other than the wonder of morning after fry ups is that her cat's favourite place in the world is in the warming oven. Personally, I love my modern range cooker but in winter it would be lovely to walk into our normally ice cold kitchen and have a lovely aga waiting!

Those who say food tastes different are being daft. There is definitely a 'way" with cooking with them so you might feel different but the food's the same. To whoever asked about cooking in vs on, agas have hotplates on top. I cook in my oven but on my hob. Same with agas!

I grew up with an AGA in an old farmhouse, my DP still have it and have mastered cooking on it, they don't have an electric oven as a back up just a microwave and a gas BBQ. It is perfect for the house, there has been a range of some description in the kitchen for years and years. It suits the house and my DP style of cooking.

I live in a modern house with a smart gas hob and large double electric oven which is perfect for my lifestyle and house, no way would I want an AGA in the kitchen.

I think Aga's are not just for 'posh' people. We have an Aga and live in a 1930's terrace house in SW London and are not 'posh'. Why? My husband grew up with one and when we redid the kitchen insisted on getting one. We do not have a module or spare hob but we do have a microwave. Nowadays Aga's have a system called AIMs which turn the heat up and down so that you do not boil in summer.

I am a complete convert. I am not a keen cook but the AGA is literally so easy I can see why professionals like it. My only negative is that it takes about 15 minutes longer to cook a full English than a convential oven but I love the fact you can fry eggs with no fat at all and you can roast / stew the cheapest Tesco's value meat and it tastes juicy and delicious.

It also makes our kitchen and the house warm and cosy in winter.

In response to the OP - yes they are quite an expensive way to cook, but ours pretty much warms the whole house if we leave both kitchen doors open in winter (to be fair our house isn't huge!). I grew up in a drafty old house with an Aga/prior to that a Bosky and they're very much the norm around here (rural, lots of old stone built cottages and farmhouses with shit insulation), rather than a status symbol. I'd be mortified if people thought I'd bought mine to make a statement!

I think meat does taste nicer when I use the Aga as opposed to our summer oven (electric), something to do with the juices...? But with a lot of dishes I can't honestly tell the difference. I remember going to a bistro somewhere a few years ago that advertised the fact that they used an Aga to cook and I did think how daft it was for a commercial outfit, given the easy heat loss/lack of instant heat controls...

We had one when I was growing up, it came with the house. There was no other cooker but I can't remember my Mum saying anything other than good things about it. A few years later we rented a house with one, it was awful - the house was always too hot, it was costing £50 a month in coal (this was about 25 years ago) and the hot water was always boiling so it wasn't safe either.
I'd never have one again, I'd go for a gas cooker with a range hob if I could.

We replaced an ancient oilfired Aga with a solid fuel Rayburn for cooking, hot water and central heating. We have no mains gas here and have fairly frequent power cuts in winter so for us the Rayburn is the best choice.
I would say there is a bit of a knack cooking with it, but its great for roasts and baking.
Would I have one if we had mains gas? No.

NutcrackerFairy my mother believes in the honourable institution of slavery - all her children are required to come home to cook/clean before parties (and the big ones only happen once a year, or once every couple of years). So yes, I suppose she does have staff!

We moved into a house with an Aga. I detested the bloody thing, its best use was warming your bum on winter mornings. It made the house so hot in the summer that I used to cook in my underwear.

Unless the Aga heats your hot water and/or does your heating, I cant really see the point. And lets face it, a normal cooker would keep your kitchen warm if you left the rings and oven on all day and all night.

I always think of AGAs and Rayburns in the same mind - 'the stove'.

Memories of coming in off the fields to a great pot of really stewed tea and warm socks. There was of course the downside of having to take a bath whether you wanted to or not because there was 'hot water that has to be used'.

I learned to cook from Mary Berry's Aga cookbook.

I grew up in a farmhouse on a working farm with an Aga. It's amazing because at harvest/busy times of the year you can have the family eat at the normal time and if certain members (here's looking at you Dad) can never make it in on time food keeps really well in it. For ages.

I can't cook a roast in a normal oven - I can never get the timings right, I need the cooler ovens in the aga to keep the meat warm that was ready an hour before the roasties.

It's the best place in the world when you've come back pissed from a Young Farmers do to sit on the floor, have a cuddle with the dog and have some aga toast. Then maybe a little nap before you can face the stairs.

I can't wait till I can boot the parents out and take over the Aga kitchen!

Isabelonatricycle are you my daughter? You have just described our home exactly. If you are Isabel. Put the kettle on and bring the washing in for me sweetie x

I was forever leaving food in the aga by mistake...baked potatoes would come out looking like christmas tree baubles.
I burned every cake I made because I couldnt smell it cooking and forgot it was in there..I gave up making cakes :o

I grew up with Agas (not posh at all - farmhouses) The only thing I miss is toast- either done on the top with lid down, or over the fire with a toasting fork

Afraid not Thecurlywurlymum! There's about 200 miles between me and home at the moment, so putting the kettle on won't do much good if I were!

"I think AGA's have become a middle class status symbol"

Nothing says "I live in a large, olde house and don't have to go to work" quite like an AGA (working farms excepted)