To Aga or not to Aga??

[Fairystepsthought]

anyone out there with a TC aga? we are currently designing our new kitchen and don't want to make an expensive mistake! i love agas and really want one but not if its going to be a disaster! any thoughts please!!

How big is your kitchen? would you have a space to also install a small electric stove where you can cook simple stuff? do you really like cooking? do you live in the countryside or are you city central? have you done the math re using the Aga for heating, overall running costs to keep it going? I would ask myself these questions

I have a friend who had the Aga dream, and she installed one in her cottage kitchen in Sheen. She found it a bit impractical, taking up too much space and probably not getting the most of it given where they live. I wanted to share this but hopefully you will also get responses from Aga users.

My DM had the AGA dream, she actually bought her house based on the fact it came with an AGA that was only a couple of years old.
After 18 months she stopped using it and kept it switched off completely because it just cost her far too much money to run, this may have been because she hasn't got mains gas and uses LPG 🤷🏻‍♀️, but I imagine whilst mains gas is cheaper it would still bump up your bill quite a bit.
She ended up replacing the AGA with a range that she loves just as much and it's not financially draining her to run.

Haven’t got an Aga but really dreamed of having one but now wouldn’t as they are expensive to run and energy costs are rising, if I had solar panels and electric Aga that would be different.

I hated ours. They look lovely, but really why would you leave your cooker rings and oven on all day? None of us would do it with a normal cooker, so why with an aga? I can see that if you are heating your house with one they make sense, but madness otherwise.

Also it was a nightmare in the summer, I cooked in swim wear some days! If you've got room for another normal cooker then maybe it would be ok, but I can't think of any reason you have one other than for appearance.

thanks all - large kitchen so i dont envisage the heat being too big a problem - im concerned that a TC isnt the way agas were made originally and therefore might not be as effective cooking wise - this is sooo hard - have dreamt of having one all my life (sorry if thats a bit sad!) and now i have no idea what to do...

You have to be a slave to an Aga, personally I would rather the cooker worked for me

We have a Rayburn in our new house, the current owners have had it for 29 years they had just bought a new one when they decided to sell the house. We're keeping the new one and they're having the old one . Apparently they're a bit easier to use than an aga, they only had the one cooker and they only had a window in the kitchen but they loved it. We went to view the house 4 times when it was v hot outside and you couldn't tell they had an aga. They also had installed a thing on the ceiling to dry clothes on it instead of a tumble drier. I think if you embrace it as a way of life it's all good :) have a look at the group 'I love my aga' On Facebook you'll get lots of advice :)

They are brilliant if

You have space for another stove to do your sponge cakes etc
You have a large family of large boys or large men whom you feed every day and always will
You live in the depths of eg Scotland where you get one week of roasting weather a year and the rest of the time you need to get warm, dry your clothes on the overhead rack warmed by the aga going full blast
You need to resuscitate newly born lambs.

So if you have a large sheep farm in the Borders, Galloway or Sutherland, go for it.

If not, get something that looks similar, has double ovens, lots of hobs, but which you can turn off.

Yes, Rayburns are a bit easier.

I live in the South East and have had an Aga for 15 years. It’s not a TC ( first thought was twin carburettor! but I realise you mean total control!)
I never turn mine off; it’s gas. I love it. It does cost money to run but so does a coffee habit etc. I’ve heard that total control don’t obviously give you the same warm feeling in the room as they’re not on all the time. I don’t agree that I’m a slave to my Aga. It’s just there and is very comforting and useful.

DM has one. She grew up with one (in a large house in the countryside) and never really got to grips with cooking on our family gas stove in our S London terrace. Eventually she had an Aga (gas) installed in this house, then moved out to the countryside after she retired and had an Aga (electric) installed in her new house too. She uses it seamlessly, and has the mindset to put pirtidrebin overnight, ur jacket spuds all day etc. She makes cakes in it too.

She turns it off in July and August though and has an electric hob and baby Belling for then.

She has bought both her Agas secondhand/reconditioned..

I love mine. On all year. Don’t have a separate cooker

We have one, we love it. It isn’t a total control one because we use it to heat the house. It’s gas which yes costs money but it’s not too bad.

We have a 200 year old stone built cottage though and when we moved in it wasn’t heated properly at all, was getting damp/condensation issues which the Aga has solved.

We dry our clothes on it, keep things warm on it and are definitely not slaves to it.

I have a gas powered 4 oven Aga. I love it.

As well as cooking It heats the large kitchen, living room and DDs bedroom (above) in all but the coldest months. Cooking is a dream and I miss it horribly when it's off. It goes off generally June to Sep. I then use an electric hob and table top oven - they suck. If I had my time again I'd have a cheap electric cooker installed for the summer months. Unfortunately it would mean redesigning the kitchen to do it now.

Yes it's expensive. We are with Ovo and pay £130 per month for Gas and Electric. The summer months payments (x4) pay for the excess that builds over the rest of the year. The worst bill I have seen was over last Dec/Jan when usage was around £200 a month because we had the heating on loads as well.

It's definitely a commitment. If I lost my job we'd be screwed, but it's worth it for me.

Also factor in servicing. We pay into a plan (£140/year) that gives us a yearly service and call out if needed. This year we had to have a seal and insulation replaced that would have cost us £3-400 without the plan.

I adore mine. People without them just don’t get it. It’s by far the most important thing in the house.

Oh, mine is oil and over 30yrs old. Yearly service is £65. I never turn it off.

We've had a couple of Agas in the past both oil fired, one was fantastic the other rather temperamental. Currently have an everhot which is an electric stored heat cooker. It's easy to cook on, each part can be individually controlled and it's cheaper to run than an oil Aga.

Hi, I have a TC and I really enjoy the flexibility it gives.
Good points: to switch on from standby is fairly quick and the programmable bit is useful
The food cooks beautifully
Looks very pretty
Bad points: the remote control facility doesn’t get used and costs.
I had a hot plate go after a lightening storm. It is obviously a known problem as the lady in the Aga shop asked specifically if it had gone just after a recent storm. Aga replaced the part under the guarantee but I had to pay for the labour. Read the small print on the guarantee - for a large company, they are very wriggly about problems.

All in all i’m glad I have one. Is it worth £10k plus - No, unless money is not really an issue.

We have an electric powered 3 oven Aga and absolutely love it and it's pretty much on throughout the year.

We also have an 2 oven electric Aga module stood/connected next to it so this gives us immense flexibility and all the cooking space you could ever want.

Not only is it great for cooking but we use it to dry clothes and it's lovely to come home to a warm kitchen and have instant cooking ability.

I have an Everhot - like a TC Aga; electric, on all the time unless the weather is very hot then a flick if a switch turns it off. Switch back on when weather behaves normally and it takes about an hour to heat up again. No servicing. I have had mine for 8 years, and wouldn't swap for anything else.

They are wonderful. They cook sponges perfectly and I certainly am not a slave to mine. I think the problem people have is they try to cook in the same way that have on a regular oven on their Aga. Go on a couple of demonstration days with Aga and you will learn the Aga way to cook!!

Yy to the Everhot suggestion above. I grew up in a house with a traditional Aga, now have an Everhot and it’s better!

They’re all electric, really easy to run and install and they cook beautifully. Plus they have nice flat lids which you can pile all the laundry on, much better than an aga. I recommend mine to everybody.

I have one. I love that it’s always ready to go with no preheating. I cook a lot though so having an oven ready to go 24/7 is convenient. I also have a regular range that I’ll use when I’m cooking for a crowd/Sunday roast.

I miss mine when it's switched off - we do have an electric oven and hob for the warmer months. You cook completely differently on it. Ours is a 4 oven gas, and yes, it does cost a fair bit to run - but we don't need the central heating on until about mid-November.

Another one singing the delights of the Everhot - they come in more sizes/colours than the aga and are cheaper to buy and more cost efficient to run (and give out less heat, though still enough to be comforting), the ovens and hot plates are both bigger, you get a grill, no servicing needed, super easy to control so you can switch individual ovens/rings off/on as required and easier to install with no base required, amazing customer service and they look beautiful. I promise I don't work for them - I just love my Everhot!