Agas- just why??

[oppossum]

House sitting for a friend again, she has an aga. I cannot fathom it. The house is hotter in summer. It’s crap at cooking most things. It used a shit ton of gas.

Why oh why do some people list after the things?

I agree. We stayed in a holiday cottage once with one and it was a nightmare. The house was like a furnace and it didn't cook anything properly.

Friend of ours had an electric aga installed a few years ago, despite living in coal village.

Every quarter she bleats on that their leccy bill is four figures.

I'm convinced she only had it to have the biggest bill. She never attempts to cook with it (it only does lamb shoulder well apparently) and uses it to keep things warm.

Nutters.

The ovens are the best ever. Produce the best baking and roasts. No fan flapping draughts around and drying the food, no drop in temp when you open the door (ok a bit but the heat is in the walls of the oven and roof and base and door come to that - not being generated by a gas flameor electric element. Also oven is very deep so takes giant roast and pots etc in one go.
Not cheap to run though.

We have an Aga but there’s no way it would be on now. We normally turn it back on end of September. It’s madness to use one in the summer.

The whole point of an aga is for drying your wet gloves when you come in off the yard and warming the cat!

I love my aga- always lived in aga houses- never seen an oven until I went to uni.

Instant cooking. Warmth. Centre of the home.

If it's part of the kitchen (I.e. was built to accommodate) then fair enough but retro fitting one is a bit like swapping my car for a steam engine.

She is insistent that any nay sayers are jealous but my issue is two fields away is a great big slag heap.
Perfectly good reason to have a coal aga, free fuel.
So they get electric

My MIL had an Aga, and, like @WillyTree, she switched it off over the summer - it would be madness to keep one on in this sort of heat.

But for the rest of the year, it made the most amazing food - she once put some game to casserole in the bottom oven and forgot about it for a WEEK - and when she remembered, she invited me over for supper - it hadn't dried out or spoiled at all - it was just the richest, most delicious casserole I have ever eaten, and the meat was so tender it just fell apart.

It made the best baked potatoes too.

I like AGAs / AGA type ranges, provided they are not the only form of cooking appliance you have. They do make wonderful casseroles, baked potatoes are heavenly, and the cool oven does great overnight porridge and meringues. They also help heat the kitchen and some of them even provide heating for the rest of the house. My Mum used to do what she called AGA ironing, whereby you just fold whatever it is neatly and bung it on top of the hob cover. It worked a treat! And it is really nice for warming towels etc. and for drying washing inside. However, having said that, it does get hot in summer so best switched off if you can, and I found that my Mum's old AGA didn't get hot enough to do nice crispy crackling and roast potatoes. It was an ancient oil-fired AGA mind you and the thermostat was a bit iffy. So ideally one would have a separate electric or gas fuelled oven and hob as well. Oh - and it doesn't do 'proper' grilling....

Useful for heating your huge farmhouse and saving the lives of orphaned lambs. Many years ago, working door to door market research survey, was invited into second floor 2 bed council flat by the recently bankrupted and rehoused tenant. Somehow she'd hung on to the damned aga and it was crammed into the kitchen. I don't think it was connected to anything but how they got it up the stairs -no lift - is a mystery. I was amazed it hadn't gone through the floor to the flat below.

My mum has one, she switches it off tho In the summer.

Agas are the best. Switched off over summer but I'm always so happy to switch it back on again. I'd marry it if I could

They only really work in big draughty houses to be honest!

My parents have one and it is amazing. But they live in a 300 year old farmhouse with a huge kitchen, cold stone floors and many draughts. In those circumstances it's a lovely beast and the absolute heart of the home. I imagine that selected as a fashion item in a small, well insulated house however it's a misery!

We have one, put in by the previous owner. I grew up with one, and it is a learned art to cook on them, but there is nothing I know of that I can't cook in it, that you could cook with a conventional oven. But, if you are only using it on an occasional or holiday cottage basis, it will seem crap as you won't have a chance to get to know it's quirks.

We don't have another oven, or I would turn it off in the current heat, but this summer is not typical. In the winter, we hardly use any heating, despite me being fully home based for work. So, the waste in the summer is outweighed by the benefit in the winter.

I would not have actively gone looking for a house with an Aga, but having found one, I have no wish to get rid.

Yes. Not a good look in a small council flat in Acton.

We have an old house which came with an Aga and I didn't get it at first, but now I love it.

It means the kitchen is always warm in Winter, it heats the hot water and it makes amazing stews and baked spuds

Love mine even though it is the only cooking facility i have - just throw open the doors and windows in summer. Hope i never have to live without one.

We're currently staying with in laws, I'm 38 weeks pregnant. The aga is on. The heat is unbearable

I worked in a place that had one, and a separate cooker. The aga was turned off for summer. It would have been unbearable otherwise!

My parents have one and it is turned off during the summer months

We have one but we turn it off in April/May and we don’t tend to turn it on until late September. I wouldn’t retrofit one but it is very useful in the colder months and is great because the back of our house is all stone and original doors and windows so gets quite breezy.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9MfDKJyoNY

My grandparents house had one when I was growing up, but it was an old farmhouse and the aga had been there for years. I don't see why anyone would have one in a modern house.

We have one and I love it. I learned to cook on my mum’s and grandma’s, so it made sense when we bought our old house to put one in. It’s amazing most of the year however it’s a nightmare at the moment because we have no other means of cooking! Tbf this is only the second summer in fifteen years that I’ve found it too much. Typical British summers combined with single paned windows and flagstone floors usually means that the Aga isn’t a problem!

Because they are awesome!!! That’s why, and if I lived in a more farmhouse like Home I’d have one in an instant.