WTF is the deal with Agas?

[PrincessNutella]

So this is a thing upper middle class British Mummier -than-thou people have? And it's an oven that stays on all the time, wasting gas? And you can cook stews and warm up your blankets in it? Why is this better than any other oven or dryer? Isn't it bad for the environment? Does it cause fractious rifts in families to discuss the pros and cons of agas? And if you don't have one, would you desperately want one? Are you pro aga Yes) or anti (no)?

I think we could buy an Aga here if we really wanted one but we would probably have to mortgage our home.

We have your standard North American "stove" with an oven a warming drawer and an induction cooktop. It suits us fine. I would never go back to gas, and really wouldn't anyway as it is being phased out.

We have electric heat which we basically never use as we wear sweaters etc. and have two gas fireplaces. What will happen to them I don't know.

Our electricity is all renewable because it is hydro generated. We are lucky.

We cannot hang laundry outside so use a dryer, but again, it runs on renewable energy.

I have watched family in England cook on an Aga and I see the attraction, but it would be a huge step backwards for us carbon footprint wise.

Ours came with the house (oil fired, as there is no gas supply here) but the previous occupants never used it and also had a modern oven installed. I hated the idea of it and only very reluctantly had it switched on in our first winter here and I honestly wouldn’t be without it now. It takes a wee bit of getting used to, but the engineer chap who comes has a real passion for them and gave me loads of tips and told me which cookbooks to buy! We switch off in the summer as it is far too hot but I really miss it and look forward to it going back on when the temperature drops. It may not be the most economical or environmentally friendly thing but when it’s on we use it for everything - including kettle and clothes drying - as well as cooking.

They’re good if you live in a draughty stone farmhouse with idiosyncratic heating. Ours heated the whole downstairs of the house, which had four foot thick stone walls and was otherwise freezing. Excellent for drying laundry and warming up preemie lambs. Adored by cats and dogs everywhere. Amazing for some kinds of cooking (roasting, stewing, some kinds of baking), hopeless for others. Beautiful looking and expensive, but last for decades if cared for. Not very environmentally friendly, but that’s mitigated if you use them for all your cooking, heating and clothes drying needs.

They are a bit of a status symbol because they tend to come with big houses (or you’d die from overheating).

*seen as a bit of a status symbol, that should say.

Ours was in my childhood home, I can’t imagine anything worse than having one in my normal sized, well-insulated house now.

I have many fond memories of Agas in my childhood and we're about to install one in our new house. The engineer's booked and it's currently in pieces in the sitting room.

We're putting in one that's been refurbished with an Electrickit system which means the temperature is controllable (and it was much, much cheaper). The plan is to leave it on low-ish continually and then set the timer to bring it up to full heat when we need to cook or when the weather gets cold. It isn't designed to constantly turn off and on though as it's cast iron and you're best keeping a degree of heat in it. In the summer it will probably go off altogether but this is Scotland and we live right on the seafront so my summer and your summer might not be the same temperature!

As the house will also be let out sometimes, we're putting in a thing called a companion module next to it which has two conventional ovens and a gas hob, so that people who don't fancy using the Aga can use that. Also, at Christmas etc, I'll have four ovens if I need them. The module sits next to the Aga and together it just looks like a really big Aga. It's enamelled to match etc - a cooker in Aga drag.

Ours will run on electric and we have a green supplier so all of ours is renewable. The Aga will also dry clothes on the airer above it, dry boots and the dog, heat that end of the house and so on.

They're not the ideal cooker for everyone - a waste of money if you don't cook much, and if you're out all day you'd be best with one of the controllable ones. But for us it's a good option and being able to drink tea and warm my backside on it while waves break over the house and the wind howls round this bit of coast, will make this winter more bearable than last!

Sigh So many posts on this thread fuel my fantasy life: sitting in a house in Scotland, warm and snug, while waves break over the house and flagstone floors in a farmhouse.

Erm - I should clarify that in my fantasy life I have these things; I'm not saying that anyone is fantasising.

So many posts on this thread fuel my fantasy life: sitting in a house in Scotland, warm and snug, while waves break over the house

@AlfonsoTheMango - Bits of it are lovely. The leaky single-glazed windows while the council argues about us replacing them with double-glazing that won't rot within a few years, not so much!