To wonder why UK standalone cooker design is so crap?

[AlwaysSunnyInLiverpool]

DH and I are renting a place with a standalone (not built in) cooker for the first time. it's shit. there's no inbuilt splashback so I feel like i'm waging a constant war against fat, splatter on the wall at the back of the cooker (where clearly someone should have installed tiles or a panel or something). THIS is what ours looks like.

We keep seeing really nice standalone cookers on American TV shows where there's a little splashback thing installed as part of the cooker (like THIS.. but we plan to stay here a while and if our cooker dies (two of the knobs have fell off and it's so old i get the feeling it'll die on our watch), i'm going to ask the landlord to replace it with a similar one with the inbuilt thing instead.

i'm not sure if it's a CF request or not so i'd like to know how much they are/who sells them, if they're the same level of cost, that's the problem sorted.. but a quick google has returned nothing (after scrubbing dried curry from the light blue kitchen walls from last night where I didn't spot it ).

Americans - have you seen your types of standalone cooker in a UK home - if you've bought one, where did you get it from/what UK brands do them?

Brits - would it be cheeky for me to ask my landlord to fix the problem (or install proper cleanable splashbacks) if the cooker dies? We've only been here 4 months and the wall's going to be a mess by the time we leave (hopefully a few years down the line).

I would raise it as a problem now. If you log it in an email with either the agency or landlord, you'll have more of a comeback at the end of tenancy checkout (if it is raised as an issue then.).

Someone else may have a better idea from the landlord side than me though.

I'm not sure you can dictate what model oven is bought, but I'm sure splashbacks could be fitted relatively inexpensively?

If they're unwilling to fit them, you could ask for permission to do it yourself? I have a glass placemat /worktop saver propped up at the back of our hob, but I did raise this issue at the inventory check in and it was noted that the wall was already extensively splattered with oil stains (absorbent unsealed tiles, impossible to clean ).

Dictate may be too strong a word there, sorry!

We've had to have several appliances replaced since we moved in and we didn't get a say in what was bought.

We had same problem in rented house years ago. Solution was to buy a piece of Perspex and stick it on wall behind cooker. Et voila we could wipe clean! It was so much better. We were only there for a year mind.

I think the issue is that there is no splashback. Loads of people have built in ovens/hobs and without a splashback and would have the same issue (although they avoid food/grease/dust falling down the sides). I don't know whether a landlord would be willing to install one. I guess you just have to ask.

and

Just buy a place and get what you want.

nothing to do with your cooker being British! I have always had standalone cooker, with a lid, so when the lid is up it acts as a splashback, and when it's down it's an additional flat surface.

Are you one of those people who always assume everything British is shite?

Much cheaper and easier to just put a splash back behind the cooker. Like a pp said a clear bit of Perspex will do the. It’s wipe clean. I do t think you get a say in what the ll buys. Or you could buy your own and store the cooker that is already there and put it back in when you do move.

It's not because it's British. You've just got a very cheap cooker.

How do you turn the "flame" down on the American one during cooking without gettin your arms steam depilated?

Your picture of an "American" cooker was what most "English" cookers used to be like, but we generally moved over to knobs at the front so you didn't have to reach over steaming pans to adjust controls.

Actually the "little splashback" in your "american" cooker picture isn't a lot of use - the splatter zone extends a lot higher than this.

'Just buy a place and get what you want'. Helpful.

I used to have one like This the lid folds back when in use to serve as a splashback.

I had a cooker like that in my last place. Not fun when you have to reach over a boiling pan or one spitting fat to turn it down.

My cooked now has a lid so that works as a splash back.

I'd just ask for a splashback behind the hob. They aren't expensive.

you'd still have to clean the back of the cooker and the grease or whatever would get into all the knobs anyway. Much better to either get a cooker with a glass fold down splashback (which also acts as another surface when down like this or ask the landlord if you can put a glass splashback up in wall behind the cooker like these - fairly cheap and easy option

Just ask for a splashback, and if he says no then ask if he minds you installing one yourself! Just because some of the knobs have come off it doesn't mean the whole thing is going to die. They are fairly simple devices and usually last decades. If you're holding out for a completely new cooker you'll be disappointed!

Your cooker is about as cheap as is possible to get, OP. That's why why it has no frills, no fancy lid etc.

The easiest thing for you to do would be to ask the landlord if he/she would be happy for you to install a basic splashback on the wall (a sheet of toughened glass or stainless steel would do the job).

As it would be an enhancement to the property, I think you could reasonably request that the landlord pay for it - providing it's just a basic item and not unnecessarily fancy or expensive.

I've just bought a belling dual fuel cooker with gas hob that has a glass lid which serves two purposes - one as a safety gas shut off if it's closed but it also works as an excellent splash back.

I'm in a council property, I'm lucky that it had an eye level oven & built in hobs when I moved in. I'm waiting to move & I know that I will have to buy an all in one cooker to slot in the space left in the units which will mean that the oven will be almost on the floor. I'm disabled & will struggle to use the oven, I will have to buy a combi microwave or a halogen oven to stand on my worktop to save me bending.

oh I hadn't even thought about boiling pots and the knobs being at the back as part of the splashback, that does seem a bit dangerous now it's been pointed out.

I've never seen cookers with built in lids - thank you to those showing them!

i'll flag the problem with the landlord agency (I haven't done this, just been trying to clean it up if I can't prevent the stains). if they'd let me get one of those cheap splashbacks put up that would do fine (for now). thank you!