To ask is an Aga worth it?

[bobstersmum]

We have currently got a range cooker but it is on its last legs. When looking for a replacement I keep seeing Aga's. I don't know the first thing about them though, can you fill me in? We do have a very long cold kitchen extension so the thought of that being warm in winter is appealing! Are they a pita though?

Absolutely love my mum’s - it’s beautiful, it’s always warm in her otherwise cold kitchen, and it’s a dream for baking and slow roasting.

If you have a small or well insulated house it’s likely to be too warm, and it is far from ideal for precision cooking because you can’t adjust the temperature. But I still love it and would have one if my house wasn’t brand new and highly insulated!

When you say no good for precision cooking what do you mean? If I was to put a chicken in for instance, that would take 2 hours in my oven. Would it take a lot longer?

Lovely in winter, and a nightmare in summer. You will also need a conventional oven for summer use otherwise your house will be a furnace.

I love ours, it’s a wood fired one. You don’t have the fine control that you get with a conventional oven but I don’t think you can beat it.

It’s pretty efficient on wood too.

It just means you can't always follow the guidelines for cooking on packaging etc. You've got to be prepared to check, adjust and get used to it yourself.

A meat thermometer would be your friend.

A chicken is fine. Basically you have two roasting ovens. One is about 150c and the other about 200c. So if something needs to bake at precisely 180c, you can’t get that temperature. Similarly with the hobs, there is a cooler one and a hotter one but you can’t adjust the temperature except by moving the pan half off the plate. So if you want a gentle simmer it can take some careful pan placement to achieve!

Lovely in winter, and a nightmare in summer. You will also need a conventional oven for summer use otherwise your house will be a furnace.

This does depend on the house. My mum lives in a big draughty stone farmhouse so even in the height of summer hers is fine. But I imagine it would be too much in a warmer house.

I wouldn’t be without one, but they are an acquired taste. Ours is on all year round and we don’t have any other ovens. They take a bit of getting used to (like cooking rice in the oven rather than on the hob for example) but food just seems to always taste so much better from the Aga. It is totally invaluable to us to have the warming oven because during the summer, the farmers come in whenever they have a spare gap in corn carting, and need a hot meal immediately, so I can cook something and leave it in the warming oven for hours and they just help themselves when they’re ready for it.

We also use the hot plates for the kettle and for making toast so it frees up space on the counters too.

I love ours. It stays on all year. You do get used to cooking with it and it’s generally quicker to cook as no pre heating etc.
Ours came with a free cookery lesson which was good!

Oh and we do all the toast, water boiling etc on ours plus a pulley thing above which tries clothes. Dog loves it too!

We rented a house with an Aga. It put me off for life. It was a Victorian terrace and we were in it for 2 years. Large kitchen area. We had to turn it off in the summer because it was just too hot in the kitchen. So a second oven would be useful...if there is space. I got used to Aga cooking, but it really lacks any temperature control which was a challenge. I am a reasonable home cook and an avid baker. I managed but did not enjoy it. It was with relief that we moved again into a house with a electric oven that could be controlled. I completely got the Aga bug out of my system.

We've just turned ours back on, currently spending £5 a day on electricity for the f thing. We have installed a separate electric oven for summer but need the aga in the winter as there's no heating in the kitchen (and no way I'm digging up a stone floor to install it). The dog loves it but would I recommend one? Not really. The novelty wears off and they cost a fortune to run.

Dsis has one - think it’s love and loathe in equal measures. She did make sure that she has another ordinary oven for when it’s switched off or when she wants to bake things accurately.

They definitely turn it off in the summer as it’s too hot - their heating and hot water isn’t dependent on it - if it was they would have to have it on which would have been unbearable in an ordinary summer let alone one like this one.

Definitely make sure you are able to have another ordinary back up cooker and hob too!

If you're set on a true range take a look at Everhot models instead. They're programmable and have an overnight eco mode. They're electric and just plug in to a standard socket. Still cost a lot to run though.

No. Expensive clothes driers.

Researched it for kitchen but decided against it because of running costs.
( Could have got one at discount too ! )

We've just had the longest hottest summer and I never bothered turning the Aga down.

Love mine - I grew up with one and the last two houses I have owned I have had one installed.

I seethe inwardly every time I drive past my deceased parents' house as the new owners removed the Aga. idiots

I have no other means of cooking and I successfully bake fabulous cakes.

If you're new to Agas then I'd recommend going to a demonstration - Aga shops put them on regularly. I've had an AGA for 3 years and I love it, but seeing one in action is the best way to see whether it would work for you. It's a big investment to get wrong. I still use my gas hob for a few things and I prefer our conventional toaster to AGA toast, but I use it for everything else and it's brilliant.

Go to a demonstration evening at your local Aga showroom, that way you can see if it would be right for you.

I've had mine, 2 oven oil fired, 24 years and am still smitten with it.
In the height of summer when I have to switch it off all I do is moan until i can switch it back on again.

Temperature control on the roasting oven is achieved by using the cold plain shelf and/or altering the shelf position in the oven - it will have a couple of much bigger ovens than you are used to.

But, it's all the peripheral stuff you don't get with ordinary ovens.
A rack full of clothes above it will dry overnight if your ceiling is high enough. Background heat is superb, our stone floor in the kitchen is warm enough to stand on in bare feet unless the temp is well below freezing outside. All the towels and teatowels are nearby and warm and dry. All plates in the cupboard next to it are warm. Mine has the hot water jacket and so heats the domestic hot water 'free' 24/7.
Poorly children in the middle of the night can sit beside it and keep warm while you sort out whatever they need.

Neighneigh have a word with your Aga engineer. I'm old school and like mine on as we're at home all day, but there are now gadgets you can buy which are more like a thermostat so it's at its hottest when you come in from work and want to use it, then it drops its temp a bit at night.
I think new Agas have this option.

Love my 4 oven Aga. any temperature oven available instantly. You get used to knowing where the temperature is compared to a normal oven. Makes the best roasts, toad, pizzas. meringues, quiche ever. Keeps the kitchen toasty.
But...
They do take getting used to
They are very expensive to buy and run
Your kitchen may be too hot in the summer if it is a sunny room

The new models have a lot more control than the older ones.Worth a visit to your local aga dealer.

So it's a lifestyle and finance decision. love mine, but if I was starting from scratch, not sure I could justify the cost - mine was there when we bought the house.

I inherited one (mains gas) when we bought the house. As the only means of cooking it took some getting used to - named her The Bitch after many a tantrum!

Two years on I've pretty much got the hang of it. I scour eBay for Aga pans as they are SO expensive new. I'm not a baker so can't advise about cakes.

That said, a friend changed hers for an Everhot and LOVES it - its electric and completely controllable and heats the room like an Aga does.

Have to admit I'd be reluctant to part with her now - which, according to my OH is a bigger U-turn than Thatcher joining the labour party!!

We have one because it was already there in the house we rented for years (and eventually bought, slightly reluctantly, when the owners put it up for sale -- and getting an Aga out is a big and expensive job.

No, I wouldn't opt to have one. It takes too long to heat up if you've had it turned low, you need an alternative summer cooker unless your house is freezing (or you're fine with cooking in your bikini, dripping from every pore), and while it's fine for boiling and roasting, and I do now manage OK for bread and cakes, the lack of precision in oven temperature can be a pain, and there are some things that really don't go in an Aga.

DH and I sit there watching the GBBO contestants worrying about how long to leave in their technical challenges and shouting IMAGINE DOING ALL THAT WHEN YOU CAN'T DETERMINE OR CHANGE OVEN TEMPERATURE, SNOWFLAKES!!!

I realise that newer models solve some of these issues -- ours is ancient.