Am I mad to want an Aga?

[lexie01]

My DH thinks my desire (obsession?) for an Aga is ridiculous given the fact that:

1. Despite having a kitchen/breakfast area which is just over 22ft it is quite narrow (10ft) and very oddly shaped making it impossible to have a backup oven/hob for the summer (I do have a large utility where where the combi microwave will be going)
   
   
2. I am not a great cook - my 'skill's' really only extend to trad family fayre like shepherds pie/stews of varying descriptions, the odd roast with a bit of pizza/fish fingers and sausages thrown in.
   
   Am I letting my heart rule my head? Will we absolutely bake (parden the pun) in the summer with the Aga left on? Will it be just a very expensive mistake that I will regret? Please help!!

[notskiving]

I LOVE MY AGA!!!
Its a gas conversion. We put it in about 13 years ago - turned back sitting room of house we moved into into a kitchen.
We turn it off when we go on holiday, but otherwise it stays on.
Never heard of AIMS but am off to google it!
We have flags on kitchen floor and it makes them warm as well!

[lexie01]

notskiving - do you have a really big kitchen or do you just open windows in the summer?

I have been to the local Aga showroom today and booked myself on a Aga & Rayburn demo. Had a look at the Rayburn 400G. Didn't look quite as good as an Aga (in my opinion) but may be a better option as it is more programmable. Does anyone own a Rayburn? I am slightly concerned about oven size & number. There are only 2 ovens and both are slightly smaller than an Aga. PLuse the hot plates were also smaller (I think). I was told that these 2 ovens were perfectly ok for a family of 4 but having never used them before I don't know if this was just sales patter!

[Julesnobrain]

We have a gas 3 oven in claret with Aims. We have no space for any other hob/ oven. My dh who does 99% of cooker really wanted it. I went on a course and am a complete convert. It is so easy it re heats ready made meals easily and has encouraged me to do ' proper ' cooking. It makes the whole house feel warmer. We have aims which we have not used in winter but will use in summer to turn down the heat

[Ohforfoxsake]

I have just noticed Aga have a sale online ...save up to £1,700 ... bargain!!

HTH

[lexie01]

Jules - did you use AIMS last summer? Does it make a difference in terms of heat reduction?

I have also booked myself on a taster course with the local Aga shop (and also on a Rayburn course as well). Can't wait! Hopefully it will also help me to make a decision!

[feedme]

We had a programmable Rayburn until we got tired of spending ££££ everytime it broke down - don't even think of it, IMO

As an earlier poster said. they are the equivalent of driving enourmous 4 wheel drives around. I'd love to have enough money or lack of imagination to think it OK to create all that heat and solve the problem by opening the window

[LemonDifficult]

Don't do it. We're getting rid of the aga.

It's a dream aga, if you like them - huge, red, heart of the home etc.

But

I can't cook properly on it because the hob heat isn't controllable.

It's too expensive.

Who wants to cook over a radiator? Making a white sauce is twenty minutes of sweating.

So it's going and we'll get a fab modern cooker for a fraction of what this would cost.

[lexie01]

Thanks LemonD - if I am completely honest with myself I think your comments are my fears written down (if that makes sense??). Most posts tbh are very positive about cooking with an aga but I worry that I will spend £7000+ and be left with a cooker which heats the kitchen in the winter but on which I can't cook properly! I have booked myself on an Aga & Rayburn demo so hopefully that will help but thank you for your comments.

[farming4]

I love my Aga! renovated an old property on the farm 12 yrs ago and put a new 4 oven Aga in and I can honestly say I've never regretted it. The kitchen is the hub of the house now - sofa and tv at one end and apart from a wood burning stove in our "good" room its the only heat we have. Don't have a tumble drier and all clothes are dried on it during wet weather and all winter - rarely iron as well. No real probs in summer - just leave all the doors and windows open for through draught. Probably is more expensive to run but my arguement is that we don't pay on top of its running costs for heating,drying, cooking, hot water, kettle, toaster etc -so saving money spent on electric so evens itself out iyswim - oh and its handy for putting poorly lambs in the bottom to warm up! Hth

[LemonDifficult]

£7K plus is a lot to dry your clothes over, though...

Even if you got a top-of-range Range you'd be looking at about 4K. That's £3K left over and you can pay someone to do much much washing, drying, ironing and putting away for that. And who buys a cooker to iron their laundry?

As for the 'it's a kettle, it's a toaster'

Electric kettles are a huge improvement on Aga kettles - they turn themselves off.

Ditto toasters. You don't need to stand and watch them to check the room doesn't fill with steam and the kettle boil dry, or that rubbish tennis racket thing blacken the toast on one side only.

[LemonDifficult]

this came out top in the Which? Best Buys

£1700 compared to a £7K plus with the Aga. You can get a lot of household gadgets and home help hours with that difference. And you can keep the door shut in the summer if you want!

[sophe]

You can just turn the Aga down in the summer manually, although remember to turn it up a couple of hours at least before you want to cook with it. You don't need AIMS.

As for the lady who wants an Aga but is not a keen a cook, do not go there. You not only need to be a proficient cook generally, but also absolutely love cooking enough to move stuff around between the plates and the ovens all the time, if you want to cook well with one.

You also need the sort of house that will benefit from having this sort of heat source. Otherwise you are throwing around about £100 a month on gas away.

[Chickensinthekitchen]

Have to say that agas are not that epensive to run IF you insulate to the max and keep all your heat.
We have a very large old house and she keeps us at an ambient temperature. Our heating is on for two hours a day ( plus real fire in the sitting room) we have friends with smaller houses and higher bills.

You can dry on them iron on them. Make your own bread.

Mine was a reconditioned old lady and i bet she will outlive us all.

Not a landrover at all.

[thebestisyettocome]

If an aga feels like cooking on a radiator, it isn't working properly.

[mindgone]

I have always lusted after an Aga, but when we did the kitchen we just couldn't justify that amount of money! Also I did worry about the heat in summer, having a long, narrow kitchen. Anyway, my compromise cooker is a Falcon Continental duel fuel in cranberry, and I love it! Looking forward to seeing how you get on, good luck!

[Soapsud]

I am hankering after an AGA having grown up with one. I am slightly put off by the above comments - I'm looking into Everhot which seem to be cheaper to run. Our household bills are enormous and heating is a luxury. Hence, the AGA queries so we can huddle around it in the winter. Currently have a Lacanche Cluny which is fantastic.

[Thinkingof4]

We have an electric aga with aims. We put it in 3 years ago, dh was not keen having never lived with one before. He was converted within 6 months and loves it as much as I do now. I find it very easy to cook on now, but it did take so getting used to. It's worth having some aga cookbooks to get you started. I'm a better cook now than I was pre-aga and a lot more adventurous in what I'll cook.
As others have said its also great for drying clothes- we have a line above aga where I dry nappies, and also a big pulley in the kitchen so definitely cuts down tumbling time! My boys love it too, we spend a lot of time in kitchen and it warms whole house- heating on max 1 hour a day in winter only, off for rest of year.
I don't know exactly how much aims saves us in terms of electricity but it also helps avoid house/kitchen being too hot. Mine is only on full power for about 2 hours a day during week, sl longer at weekends, and our electricity bill is about £175 per month (4bed house). Oil bill for water and heating about half what it was.
Demo definitely a good idea- let us know how it goes

[miffyt]

We got an electric aga with aims in February and I LOVE it! The house is about 15 years old and now needs a new kitchen due to the aga being put in but we wanted to live with it for a while to see what would work best.
The kitchen has always been a really cold room but now it's so lovely and warm we've turned off both radiators. I have found it great for all my cooking so far. I haven't used the microwave or toaster since the aga was fitted and only use a stove top kettle now. It's on for 1 1/2 hours in a morning and 3 1/2 in the evening during the week and all day at weekends. The electric bill went up last month by about £25 but the gas down by £60 so nothing to complain about there! It has lots of nice little uses too, like keeping butter soft enough to spread, red wine at a nice temperature and warming a wheat bag for my other halfs bad elbow! Plus put your clothes airer near by and things dry in no time. Oh and the cooking smells go straight outside, great when you're doing things like Yorkshire pudding which can really make the place stink. For me the aga is a real winner. I know that this is an old thread but if anyone is thinking of getting one then my advice is go for it!

[FairyTrain]

I put an aga in my new build last year ( on mains gas), it has AIMs, I LOVE it. I've grown up with an aga so have always been baffled by normal cookers, forgetting to turn them on, burning food constantly etc. I could rave about it all day. I have programmed it so that it's in slumber mode all night. If you can afford it, it will make you happy every day! (You can justify anything if you really want it!)

[Doubtitsomehow]

I like ours in the winter. The rest of the time...it is inefficient, very expensive and you have to really be prepared to dedicate time and energy to cooking.

It costs a bloody fortune. And needs servicing every 6 months (oil).

There are better and cheaper ways of cooking IMO. It does add a certain romanticism but after ten years with the bugger I would happily trade it in.

[cheesesarnie]

i had one, it was awful but oh so warm and looked pretty.

the bugger was tempermental, made loads of dust and took turns in burning/undercooking food.

i miss it like a first boyfriend- rose tinted spectacles of a pretty useless bastard.

[landrover]

We have a gas one, now 10 years old. Absolutely love it and wouldnt be without it. (By the way , you never have to clean it!!!!!!! just brush the insides out once every 6 months with a wire brush!)

We dry all the clothes on the airer above it, and use it for all cooking, dead easy to use, just go on a free cooking demo before it arrives and away you go. Its serviced once a year (something like £120), but you know its safe then, generally will go on forever!

Everybody congregates around it, only wish id bought the red one, not the green xxx

[Alwayscheerful]

Lemon- can you remember the which best buy please, your boots link has gone now.

[fifi3242]

I wouldn't bother unless you are buying a new one and willing to fork out for Aga servicing from Aga themselves. I have just spent the last 3 weeks without hot water and anyway of cooking as Aga don't hold the parts I need.

Thanks a bunch!