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?

I'd love an aga but only if I also had another cooker. Things to consider-

• running costs are high (you can google exact figures- depends on what fuel you use)
• there's no grill. You can approximate a grill by putting something at the top of the top oven (where it's really hot) but it isn't the same
• needs annual servicing
• can make your house unbearably hot, especially in summer.

On the other hand they are wonderfully useful for lots of sorts of cooking, make your kitchen cosy, act as a lovely focal point, are a join to lean against, can dry and air your clothes etc etc. My mother used to put sickly newborn lambs in the warming oven of hers in order to revive them!

Have you thought about an Everhot? Lots of the benefits of an Aga but more easily controlled. They don't give out as much heat, I believe, which is a mixed blessing.

Also they can be pretty disastrous environmentally. Some people manage to use theirs efficiently but it takes some doing. Quite often you see people with the Aga blazing away and the window open to stop it getting too hot- all that energy and money wasted.

We have one because it came with the house. I hated it at first, but now I love it.

• It heats the water

-It means the kitchen is always toasty

• It makes the best roast chicken and stews.
• It's a good plate warmer
• You can dry clothes on it
• It looks great

However, we also have a conventional oven and hob and we turn it down in Summer so it's only ticking over and don't cook on it

Get the Everhot instead. Agas are only for big cold houses, certainly not your average semi, it’s way too big and hot. You can’t control the temperature as precisely as a normal cooker. It’s obscenely warm in the summer and not nice for little hands because the top is very hot. You can’t glaze carrots on it, for example, because too much heat escapes when the lid is up.

It’s below my childhood bedroom which is consequently stifling in summer. I’d never have one.

I love ours, even though I thought I would hate it.

• food somehow tastes better
• we have four doors so lots of heat options
• keeps big cold kitchen warm
• dries washing in a flash
• can cook huge meals without issue

But we have a separate electric oven that we use in the summer. Far far too hot to use in the summer, you can't even walk past it in the kitchen!

We used to have an aga which we re-enamelled and I adored it. I used all 4 ovens, had an airing stand to dry laundry on it etc. It was gas and quite economical.

Then we moved and have just installed an everhot as we can't connect to mains gas. I really don't like the everhot, it annoys me that the oven is hot at the bottom instead of the top, I don't like the convection hob either, looks grimy and annoys me that when I take a pan off it loses its heat.

That said, it looks good, I can still dry a bit of laundry on it and it has a warming oven. It bakes beautifully also, my xmas cake looked stunning when it came out, evenly brown.

We had no problem in the summer, not a huge kitchen, south facing but in a thatched cottage with cold cobb walls so no overheating in the kitchen.

Sorry, the answer is yes, the aga is totally worth it!!!

Im an agaphile - have had a conventional 2 oven one now for 18 years and dont have any other cooking facility. In summer i just open all the doors and windows and have a fan to cool me down - but i get very hot even no where near the aga 😥. I think the suggestion of going to a couple of aga demonstrations is a good one. I hardly ever have a problem dealing with the temperature of it. The roasting oven is very hot for roasting but the simmering oven is wonderful for slow cooking and keeping things warm. Conventional ovens tend to dry food out more. Baking cakes just needs some practice but if you get an aga cook book - mary berrys original one is good - you get good instructions. Sometimes i need to move deeper cakes down to the simmering oven to finish off rather than get over cooked in the roasting oven. Christmas cakes are amazing - just put them in the simmering oven for about 5 hours and they are perfect.

You can get 3 oven ones now as well which gives you a baking oven as well but its still the same size as the 2 oven one.

Hardly cook anything on the hot plates - bring to boil, drain, steam in the simmering oven for most veg - only do green ones on top which dont take long.

I love, love, love my 4 door Aga, but as someone said upthread they are insanely expensive to buy and run and we would not install one if we move on cost grounds.

I've never found anything you can't cook on an Aga, though sometimes it takes a bit longer. And it heats the kitchen beautifully.

They are expensive to run and you need to get used to a different way of cooking but I love mine.

When it was turned off this summer even in the very hot weather my kitchen felt like a cold dead place!

Oooh, a mixture of views then! I think I will have to go and look at some demonstrations to make up my mind. Our kitchen doesn't have a very high ceiling so the clothes drying would be minimal. Can anyone give me approx running costs please? Not really £5 a day surely!

I have had one for 15 years. If I ever moved, an Aga would be the first thing that I would buy. It is fab (no need for tumble drier either, you don't need an above airer (which I have) you can put an Aga airer directly on top which dries everything overnight. Cooker is always on so no need to wait for the oven to warm. You will learn how to use it correctly after a demo. (I think that some people on here are not using them to their fullest ability. Yes, you do need to learn how to cook on it, but then its amazing!

www.agaliving.com/aga-range-cookers/aga-running-costs

This gives an idea of running costs for the different types.

Im dubious about the modern ones because to me the whole point of having one is that it is a heat storage cooker, on all the time. They do need servicing every year like a boiler would but dont go seriously wrong very often as their inner workings are quite simple. I pay about £120 per year for servicing which includes a new thermocouple - in my experience that does need replacing every year. Whilst ive had mine 18 years friends have had 2 range cookers in that time because their parts stop being produced eventually.

Also agas are very easy to keep clean 😀

www.facebook.com/groups/64768442976/?tn-str=*F Worth going on here.

Ah yes forgot about Agas being so easy to clean (just brush them out once a year!)

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2010/mar/15/aga-cooking

I remember reading an interview of a famous 3-Michelin star chef. He occasionally does ‘charity auctions’ where he is auctioned off to go and cook at the winner’s home. He said as soon as he sees an aga in a kitchen, his heart sinks. That alone put me off.

I had one in last house - looked great but the cavities are soooo small. Literally had to squeeze Xmas turkey into oven. Completely ridiculous. Now have Falcon range which I would rescue in a fire 😉

How big was your turkey ?

A real Aga? The ovens are huge!

Im surprised at that interview Comey, lots of professional chefs have Agas.

The ovens are most definitely not small, we fitted a turkey big enough to feed 32 last year. They are just a different shape to a ‘normal’ oven (so you would put a turkey in length ways rather than sideways if that makes sense)

Yes, the ovens are very deep instead of wide, so you put things in to fit that way

My £410 a month gas/electric utilities bill says no. My heart says yes.

Depends on the type of cooking you do and how much time you spend in the kitchen. We both work and eat a lot of stir fires so a conventional oven with fast acting halogen hob is great. I also use our grill and fan oven a lot. We also want to keep our weight down so not much cake baking. Love my Panasonic bread maker though and wouldn't be without that.

We have an Everhot. I love it. Had Agas previously, there are pros and cons but I prefer the Everhot, now that I’m used to it. The grill is the clincher