AIBU to get a gas aga?

[julietbat]

We're planning a kitchen renovation (on a budget!) and had been planning on a range cooker (secondhand probably) but we've just seen a local gas aga on gumtree for £395. We hadn't really considered an aga but it seems like a good deal (great condition, etc). Would we be mad to move from a conventional gas cooker to an aga or would it transform our lives?!

Grew up with one and hated it. No temperature control, Christmas/big dinner is difficult as temperature drops with extended use. Too hot to use in summer, and very expensive (oil) to run in winter. Good for warming your backside on, but then so are radiators. I don't know anyone that ONLY has an aga. They look lovely in the kitchen, but you need at least a gas stove to supplement it. Get a range cooker - they look almost the same, but you can actually cook on/in them.

Juliet, lots of people have second electric ovens for when the Aga is turned off. We don't. We have an electric hot plate, a microwave, a slow cooker and an air fryer. If the Aga is off for a period we could cope (although, like I said, we didn't bother to turn ours off last summer. It just wasn't hot enough)

Are you sure it isn't a modern gas hob Aga with two ovens 60cm across?

I have never heard of a Aga which actually works costing so little. And you would have to get someone to install it, reassemble it, do gas safety check etc, connection and it is old it will need a proper chimney flue which should be lined etc for safety reasons (which would cost you c £1000 if you don;t have one already) New Agas can be directly vented to outdoors with a powerflue or there's a third option, cannot remember the name (but we have it) which is just like the heat exchange on a boiler directly outside to open air.. If you go on the Aga website it explains all the options.

We have a gas fired two door cast iron two hotplate traditional Aga, and we love it. We have a separate gas hob from Ikea built into the worktop and a cheap oven in the utility room for the summer months, but essentially it only gets switched off 3 months a year.

Unless it is incredibly antediluvian it won't heat your hot water or do your radiators, they phased those Agas out.

There are secondhand Aga companies which would have warranty for a year and would install, much cheaper than buying new but not that much.

Running costs are high but we have the heating on less as a result. We also have to service it once a year which costs £100 a year (perhaps in country areas cheaper) from independent servicing co.

My kids cook on the aga (supervised of course). No naked flames. They seem to manage ok.

I have left food in there for days and it burns to charcoal safely.

julie We have a plug in induction hob and a combined microwave/convection oven which works fine. Plus we have a George Foreman grill. If we are entertaining in the summer we just put the aga on for a few days.
I would like to put in a proper separate hob and oven for the summer, but it would be difficult to make it work without redoing the whole kitchen. I have at least 2 sets of friends who only have agas and no alternative and in the summer they just open the windows a lot!!. Thing is, with an aga opening the window doesn't mean you use more gas because it isn't really sensitive to the room temperature.
The thing about temperature control is true but a bit of a red herring. On a standard cooker, you SET the temp, on an aga, you FIND the temp. Once I got used to it I've rarely had an issue. Easier on a 4 than a 2 oven.

Well I only have an Aga.

There is nothing I cannot cook.

And my cakes are legendary.

I wouldn't even view a house for sale if it had an aga. Total no no for me.

We had an Aga in a previous house. It odd take a while to get used to and in the end I loved it.

However, this was about 12 years ago when fuel was much cheaper. There's not a chance in hell I'd get one now, I'd rather spend money on other things!

It may only cost £395 but it will cost a fortune to install.

We got ours for £500 on ebay. My DH and DF dismantled it and brought it home... It then cost £2300 to install which was a little big of a surprise

oh yes, I forgot to say our kitchen is freezing (without aga, this was in days when it wasn't a kitchen and just had central heating) and east facing

I have an Everhot - like an electric Aga but modern & more controllable. It is my only cooker, other than the microwave. I luffs it

Great for ironing stuff if you fold it properly and put it on top of the closed hot plate. Yes, extremely hot, especially on top and on the oven doors.

Thanks everyone for your replies. I think our initial positivity at the price is waning quite a bit now! We certainly don't have money to burn and it sounds like an aga wouldn't be a sensible choice for us at the moment no matter how good the initial cost!

I've posted on this subject before.

I know people are devoted to Aga's (MIL is practically evangelical about it) but I hated the one I inherited with my house to the point I redid the entire kitchen to get rid of it.

It cost a fortune to run and have serviced.

The kitchen in summer was unbearably hot and whist I concede it does certain types of cooking very well (baking, pot roasts etc) it's very inflexible - you have to cook the way it wants, not the way you want.

The gas ones might be more flexible in terms of a hob but I still wouldn't be tempted tbh.

Getting rid of it was the best thing I did (goes to stroke my lovely monster Smeg cooker).

Your cold cooker.