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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To get rid of an AGA

135 replies

Cookiedough123 · 08/08/2021 15:50

Can someone tell me whether they would swap an AGA for a range cooker for example..

We are possibly buying a house with an AGA. It's run on gas. Are they worth it? Apparently the gas bill is between 125-200 a month! These are people who have their heating on a lot though.. I am a bit more scrimpy. I am keen to keep but BF wants to get rid.

Can I have thoughts on an AGA please

OP posts:
BlankTimes · 08/08/2021 18:20

In flats they'll probably need to strengthen the load-bearing of the floor first, they weigh a lot.
They aren't delivered as a complete unit, they are in a million pieces and are built-in for you by one of their engineers.

I hated that it took more than 20 minutes to boil water
Mine boils a pint in a pan or kettle in 1 minute. Did you have a pan with the correct base for an Aga?

When it's over 23 degrees constantly outside, I switch mine off, apart from that it runs constantly. I'm in Yorkshire, so unless we have a tropical heatwave, it's off for about 2 weeks a year Grin

I second going on an Aga cookery course, it's effortless when you work with it. For a start, you don't have to switch it on and wait for it to come to temp.

DelphiniumTea · 08/08/2021 18:25

I second going on an Aga cookery course, it's effortless when you work with it

Agree. I got a free course locally when we bought it. Insisted my DH came too. He was the only man there. Shocking!

Lanique · 08/08/2021 18:30

I adore mine. The house feels so cold and soulless when it's off. It's an old house though, so it's well suited. I love the fact we have a permanent heat source - it's lovely to have warm tea towels etc at all times, and somewhere to dry things like shoes or damp washing from the line.

Our gas and electric bill combined is on average £150 per month and that's for a five bed house and family of four - I don't think that's too excessive?

Lanique · 08/08/2021 18:31

I learned to cook on my parents' one and quite enjoy the slow, intuitive cooking.

Chardonnay73 · 08/08/2021 18:36

Live with it for the winter and then decide. I love ours, we switch off on 1st April and back on 1st October. And I really miss it when it’s off. I have a fan oven and a plug in induction hob that I use in the spring/summer.
I was very dubious when we moved in but wouldn’t be without it now.

ThroughThinkandThing · 08/08/2021 18:39

We have one. We do have a toaster, kettle and baby belling for when it is being serviced, but otherwise no other stove and it does all the cooking, laundry drying, heats hot water, heating (no central heating in a 700 year old farmhouse). I love it, and find it incredibly easy to cook with.

Give it a chance, but if it isn't right for you, sell it second hand - ours is second hand and we've had it 35 years, so they definitely last!

DentonsFringeArnottsWaistcoat · 08/08/2021 19:21

I grew up in a house where the aga was 50 years old and going strong
When DH bought our house the sellers gave him a selection of documents and receipts, one of which was for the Aga (including a brochure and cookbook) dated 1954! It’s been well looked after and the ‘boiler’ updated in the last ten years but it’s still going strong - environmentally that’s probably a plus. Also on the environmental issue, it won’t be true for everyone but, for us, it actually cuts back on our electricity use and other gas use (for the heating for example). I would love to be able to replace our gas boiler with a heat source pump system in the future and, given the nature of an Aga, it’s highly likely that they can also be moved over to another energy source in the future. The heating parts for a gas Aga are basically just a back boiler, so no reason why it couldn’t be done. Probably would prove to be cost effective and re-use rather than chuck it out and buy a new cooker is also more environmentally friendly. Changing my house’s energy source is on the to do list after the windows update and insulation update.

PattyPan · 08/08/2021 19:21

I’d get rid of it, they are so inefficient you can’t really justify them nowadays IMO.

@dementedma we have a small radiator in our kitchen, we keep it turned down to the lowest setting though and when we turn the oven off we leave the door open which warms up the room Smile

theowlwhowasafraidofthedark · 08/08/2021 19:34

Definitely wait a full calendar year before deciding. We got rid of our gas one but I do miss it in winter. People
Have very strong opinions on this topic - you need to do what’s right for you!

VestaTilley · 08/08/2021 19:55

I’d love one.

Keep it. They’re not cheap, no, but you can use a specific kettle on them, make toast on them and all the different ovens allow you to do lots at once.

They provide heating (do some heat water? Not sure) and you can dry laundry in front of them. Don’t rip it out.

FinallyHere · 08/08/2021 20:07

Live with it for a year or so before deciding. Get some demonstrations from the company so you have some idea how to use it bits jot like other ovens. .

You have not lived until you have tasted toast made with the tennis bat. Enjoy.

Toomuchspinning · 08/08/2021 20:07

@AnnaMagnani

Ah, a fellow EH owner. Having had many AGAs in the years, the EH is a step above.

HairyToity · 08/08/2021 20:11

When my parents got central heating (old farmhouse) they sold the aga. This was about 30 years ago. Mum felt it was wasteful to run an aga all the time, once she had central heating.

I personally wouldn't have one. Range cooker yes.

jimmyhill · 08/08/2021 20:14

Agas are really efficient, no need to put the radiotors on in August with an Aga

bilbodog · 08/08/2021 20:17

Look on facebook at the ‘i love my aga’ group and read about what people are doing and how much they love them. If you do decide to get rid of it in due course you might find someone on there who will buy it.

MissLucyEyelesbarrow · 08/08/2021 20:18

@jimmyhill

Agas are really efficient, no need to put the radiotors on in August with an Aga
😁
mayblossominapril · 08/08/2021 20:23

I grew up with agas and similar unfortunately not had one of my own and I still can’t cook in an eclectic oven! We never had a separate cooker. I would keep it at least over winter. If you work from home it will be great. If you like it consider upgrading to an Everhot which are just better

olympicsrock · 08/08/2021 20:26

I grew up with one in the kitchen. It honestly was the heart of the home so warm and toasty. Very easy to cook on and my mum fired
Our uniform on it overnight. Would love one

tilder · 08/08/2021 20:27

For me an aga devalues a house.

Our house had an aga. When we moved in, the previous owners got through 5000l+ of oil per year. Aga, heating and hot water. We disconnected the aga and saved 2000l a year. Oil is currently about 42p a litre, was more than double that a few years ago.

Yes the kitchen is always warm. Because a great big leaky oven is always on. Hideously bad for the environment. When I cook, I want to control the heat. Not work with what's there.

MonsterMunchConnoisseur · 08/08/2021 20:27

I got rid of ours. Far too expensive to run, even doing the other jobs like drying clothes etc and it made the kitchen unbearably hot in the summer. Sold it within 24 hours on Facebook and then bought a lovely electric range cooker instead.

Unsure33 · 08/08/2021 21:01

We had a really old one in our house and separate cooker as well . No central heating at all. We used to run from the bath to dry in front of it . Happy memories .

Jarstastic · 08/08/2021 21:04

Another one saying try it for a year.

I had a gas aga maybe 20-30 years old in previous house and had a love/hate relationship with it. It was expensive to run. The £180pcm you think doesn’t sound unusual for me. Do get it serviced as soon as you move in. I didn’t turn mine off that much as it’s a bit damp where I live and theres always the risk of the thermocoupler going when you restart. (Which then means getting someone in) So I just turned it right down if it was very hot weather wise or i wouldn’t be using it for a few days.

I liked the way it looked and slow cooking. Only for some baking. The cold shelf thing was a faff.

I also felt given the expense of running it I couldn’t justify a tumble dryer so had to live with less soft towels than I would like! Also I would put a rack of washing in front of it
but i had to wheel it in and out around cooking as I didn’t want cooking smells on our clothes. I did have a separate toaster and kettle. (I never quite understood the aga kettle being better than an electric kettle when everyone says use hot plates as little as possible. Also for cooking I’d use my electric kettle to heat up water before putting on the hot plate. Maybe that wasn’t the right thing to do. ) good for drying shoes on a rack on top)

We are in a different house and have a range cooker now and actually miss the Aga a bit.

GhostCurry · 08/08/2021 21:16

@CruCru

I love ours. It’s currently covered in laundry, ready to be packed for a trip tomorrow.

Please keep it for a year before you decide for sure. Apart from anything else, a new one is at least £6k (do you have a two oven or a four oven?) and you won’t get anything close if you sell an old one.

However, please get it serviced.

It’s a different style of cooking. To do rice (say), you put the serving of dry rice in the pan then add just over the same amount of water. Cover and heat it on the hot plate then, when it’s boiling, put it in the back of the simmering oven. You can leave it there for an hour but it’ll be done in about twenty minutes (depending on your aga).

It’s a different style of cooking. The hot plates are only really for getting stuff started - if you leave them open, the main oven loses heat.

How is that way of cooking rice any different to cooking it on any other stove top?

Also not really understanding why the “replacement for kettle and toaster” thing is relevant - I don’t have an AGA but I have a stovetop kettle on my hob, and make toast under the grill.

SimonJT · 08/08/2021 21:19

You could have it converted to electric, it is a bit pricey, we have one for our little holiday home thats been converted, the controls are hidden away so it doesn’t look any different from the outside.

LocalHobo · 08/08/2021 21:27

Lanique is correct about it feeling like the soul of the house. I leave mine on all year, it is the only form of heating in my large kitchen and does all the hot water as well.
My DD had a shock when she went to Uni and found out standard ovens need to heat to temperature and there isn't a constant supply of jacket potatoes and slow cooked chillis on tap.