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 adore ours! We have a Rayburn so you can turn it up and down. It can do everything and more!

My mum has a Stanley solid fuel cooker. It runs her central heating and hot water too and she does pretty much all her cooking on it. The kettle is always ready to give you a cuppa whenever you turn up. It is a skill being able to use it properly, but she's had hers (same one) for 30 years with very few repair costs along the way. It is also really cheap to run but obviously being solid fuel you have to haul in coal.

we love ours though its coming up to 40 yrs old and going to cost 16k to replace,
we also have other ovens for the summer but its great for roast or jacket potaoes, stews, roasts, etc put it in the slow oven and ready in the evening.
drys all our clothes
heat our farmhouse kitchen
hot water.
defo the rolls royce of cooking/heating

I live in a big old country farmhouse, no mains gas, an Aga is a must. I do love it, but I wouldn't necessarily have one if I lived in a different type of house. If I lived in a town, or if I lived somewhere with mains gas I would probably choose something different.

Yes, yes and yes. I'm currently sitting tucked up against the Aga with a large mug of hot chocolate and whisky. Tis wonderful.

I love my aga Facebook group is fab

I love my aga lifestyle Facebook group is wonderful, full of really really lovely people, recipes and ideas, monthly cake baking competitions, lots of photos of dogs in front of agas ❤️

I found my Husband at home the other day after a hard day in the garden in the cold with his feet in the warming oven 😂

If you dry clothes above the aga do they not smell of food?

No, all cooking smells from the ovens go outside via the flue.
Anything on the hotplates is brought to the boil then finished in the warming oven so no steam, no smells.

My in laws have one and I have stayed in houses with them. They're OK for roast dinners and some cakes. The hot plates can get very hot, enough to fry, but unless you have a gigantic naturally cool kitchen you won't be able to keep it on at that temperature. They are beautiful machines but I don't think they're worth the money or the hassle, especially not as a complete replacement for a cooker.

@User12879923378 the boiling hot plate is always hot enough to fry, the simmering plate will always take longer..

The radiant heat is nice. We have a v small kitchen and it's not oppressive at all. I've actually lost weight since moving to a house with one in. It's so much easier to cook!

No waiting for it to heat up so tea with 20 mins when needed

Fish fingers take 5 minutes to cook in the toaster bat when on the boiling plate.

Don't need a toaster as the Aga does it

Don't need a kettle as the solid one on the Aga does it in seconds.

It irons so straight out of the washing machine, folded and straight onto the simmering plate lid.

Don't need to blind bake in a aga just shove the pie in raw and it'll be perfect

You cook veggies in the slow oven but you don't need to watch them
And the lids are down so you can just go and do something else whilst the whole of dinner cooks

Fried eggs, bacon etc on the simmering Plate on baco glide, fat free fried egg in seconds with no mess

Secret bacon sandwiches! Pop it in the roasting tin in the aga, and take out 6 minutes later.. it won't smell as the flu takes all the smells of cooking up the chimney

You can cook jacket potatoes and beans all day whilst at work so they're ready and perfect for you to come home to work from. Put both in the not so hot oven and open the lid of the beans- go to work. Come home and eat

You can do porridge on the back of the Aga all night. Shove it in a pan and leave it at the back.

Best way to clean the lids is shove some ice cubes on the hot plate and shut the lid. Then wipe any residue off.

Newyoiker, you've made it sound amazing I definitely want one now!!

@bobstersmum haha I'm a total convert! Join the Facebook groups I posted earlier. I learnt so much from them!

I love mine! I wouldn't be without it! The Aga lady website is also brilliant! It's where I got those tips from. I have them on my fridge to remind DH not to cook on the top!!

If I have just over a 100cm gap where it could be installed, would it be a two oven I would be looking at?

We had one for about 5 years - not through choice - moved house and couldn't afford to replace it.
Crazy expensive to run - ours was a 4 oven and cost about £120/month.
You can't control the temp so it's guess work when anything might be cooked.
You have to have an ordinary cooker and hob anyway because you can't have it on during the summer - it's too hot.
Completely pointless things.
We replaced it with Lacanche which is gorgeous. Same look and feel but a real oven.

Ive switched back to really wanting an everhot after reading this thread. Aga wouldn't work for us since we don't have a chimney in the kitchen and a flue would look dreadful on the outside in that location but an everhot would be lovely.

We rejected it when we did the kitchen five years ago but now I'm rethinking it for when the current range gives up...

I keep saying this but you can have it on in the summer. I have no other form of cooking - my kitchen/ diner is quite large but we also have no other form of heating in there other than a gas fire which we use probably twice year when the temperature drops below -10C. Even during this long hot summer I felt no need to turn it down.

@UrsulaPandress me too! Still have to eat! We just opened the window. And if you're cooking on it properly you don't need to be in the kitchen much whilst it's cooking ❤️

We never turn ours off except if we go away for more than a long weekend. Even in the summer, it was no more oppressive than the fact that we have a large highly insulated flat roof. The kitchen was still more pleasant to be in, with the Aga on than our bedroom was. We have the radiators in the kitchen turned off.

I have never understood people saying they can't control them and you have to guess when things are cooked. No, you don't have to guess. You just have to learn to cook differently to on a gas hob.

@user1981287 We've had our Everhot for over 9 years. Previously we had a mains gas fired Aga. Would never go back.

Our Aga customer service experience was dismal. Long story, very grim. We had a minor issue with Everhot and they sent someone from head office to the house and resolved it very swiftly. Agas need a service, Everhot don't, in all those years haven't spent a single penny.

I find the oven space much larger and more usable and likewise the hob space too with the square plates and lids. The temperature settings are also accurate rather than using the deflector plate and experience for cooking times.

We also have the induction hob, which is fantastic quality.

I did visit an Aga stand at a local show this Summer and was seriously underwhelmed by comparison. If I had to replace then I'd go for the same again.

My dad has one, it was in the house when they bought it. Although it's a nice feature and a novelty personally I wouldn't get one. Costs a lot to maintain, still need a convential cooker and hob and a bugger in the summer.
Though the kitchen in winter is always lush and warm x

the in-laws bought a house with one in it and they're taking it out they hate it. They live in a cold house so its useful for heating the house up but useless for cooking/baking

Father in law loves to cook and he cant get used to there being no specific temperature, his food is always incredible but it hasn't been up to standard since they move

Mother in law loves to bake desserts, and again, the lack of a specific temperature is a nightmare

It depends how into your cooking/baking you are. My friend has one and she loves it, but shes not a perfectionist when it comes to cooking like my in laws

Cant think of a dessert that can't be cooked in an Aga as opposed to a conventional oven

I would always have said yes - I grew up with an Aga and love cooking on them so when we built our own house we ordered the all singing, all dancing 5 oven total control model (cost more than my car)
And it's been fucking awful. It's less than 2 years old and we've already had two new hot plates. I'm currently waiting for a new hot plate and fuse board thing and have been without a working cooker for 6 bloody weeks.
Their customer service is appalling - they truly do not give a shiny shit.
Their labour warranty is only a year, and non existent on repairs, so you could pay for a repair, have the same thing happen two days later and have no comeback - you'd have to pay again. I've got a £13 grand cooker that doesn't fucking work.
It's utterly utterly ridiculous.

Save your money - buy an Everhot instead, my best friend has one and it's been tremendous.

went on holiday to a cottage once with an aga

didnt get it everything took ages to cook and it was too hot-suppose would be ok in a bigger house

went on holiday to a cottage once with an aga - didnt get it

It's a totally different way of cooking, the cottage owner should at least have left instructions. No wonder you weren't impressed