Owning an aga

[Lollypoppyflop]

Does anyone have one? I’m moving to a cottage and there’s a nook for an aga. I’m keen to have one but I need it to work for me cost wise. The village has no gas. The house is electric only. Any advice would be very gratefully receive. Tia

We have friends who have one and have to turn it off in summer and use a portable electric hob and the dual purpose microwave oven

As I understand it, you can control the newer models which means you don’t have to turn off completely.

Electric ones are phenomenally expensive, no matter how it's spun. We have one and installed a second, normal oven for summer use, so that we can turn the aga off. Pros: the dog loves it. I love it. Cons: it costs around £4 a day so you need to shop around for a suitable energy provider (ie with a high standing charge but low pence per thingmy). We are waiting to turn it on for the winter, probably this weekend, and it will make a significant difference to the warmth of the whole house but we do shudder each time we get an electricity bill. We use 11,000kwh per year, says dh who just popped his head round the door

I love mine (electric AIMS) but it is v expensive to run and we turn it off in the summer and use a separate normal cooker. It does cook beautifully and is brilliant for drying things like football boots, duvet covers and jeans, plus it keeps our kitchen lovely and warm in winter. Would I get another one? Probably, but I'd have a good hard look at the environmental impact compared to a normal cooker.

Ive had a gas aga for 20 years but just moved house and put in a 30amp electric 2 oven aga which is the cheapest electric model to run (on all the time). They dont make them any more so you have to find a reconditioned one or go for a more modern one. look at the blake and bull website - they have a good reputation. I never turn mine off - love it, just open all the windows in summer!

Try an Everhot instead? www.everhot.co.uk/
They are (a bit) cheaper to buy than Agas, and are better insulated so throw out less heat, but cost less to run. And are super controllable, need no service or plinth (just install and switch on), have bigger ovens and a grill, AMAZING customer service etc etc. Just look at the Facebook groups! I don’t work for them, I promise, but just very happy with ours

We have an oil fired AGA so the cost of running it fluctuates according to the price of oil.
We tend to turn ours off in the summer for a couple of months and it’s on for the rest of the year. We do have the accompanying electric module cooker.

It is an expensive luxury but it is lovely - when it’s out my kitchen feels completely different

Best things ever - get a reconditioned 30amp electric 2 or 4 oven. It'll last you a lifetime.

We inherited an oil one in our new (old) house. It took a bit of getting used to but now I love it. Switch it off from April -October and always love switching it back on again. It does use a lot of oil but a tip the guy who services it said was to keep it running lower than the guide temperature line, but still in the heating zone, ie thermostat on 2 not 4. It still cooks as it should, maybe takes a little longer but doesn’t seem to be drinking oil like if I keep it on 4.

Tulip you got me all excited then I nearly fainted at the cost of an everhot!!! £7plus k for a small one. Sadly that’s way out of my price range. I’ve seen loads on eBay really cheap. I’m wondering what’s wrong with them.

An Aga is more expensive than an Everhot!
We researched both and went for an Everhot 110i it has a hot plate, simmer plate and induction. Two ovens and a warmer drawer. Absolutely love it.
Reconditioned Agas and Everhot sold in Skipton, Nth. Yorkshire if you are in the north it is worth a visit. He is very knowledgeable as he has been selling them for thirty years I think he said. He has all sizes and models and second hand. I don’t know him and we bought ours locally as we had already looked at them there. I just wanted to compare the two and our local shop only sold Everhot. We bought ours as we were having a new kitchen and this is our forever kitchen and home so we splashed out. It has made a huge difference to the warmth in the house.

I've been lucky enough to own three! My first was a brand new first generation electric 2 oven in a dark blue. It was a nightmare, but lovely to look at. Seemed to take forever to reheat after a long session!

The second was already in the property, I was so excited to see it in the details - a four oven oil-fired in shiny black. It was a bit of a thirsty beast, but if it was turned off (for a service) it was as if the house had died...

My third was an original 1970's oil fired (bright red), bought second hand - not so thirsty, but when we moved and let the house out, the tenants hated it and said it had ruined their Christmas. It has languished in a garage for 5 or 6 years now and I am about to move house. It is coming with me and will be installed in the new house. If I didn't have that, I would be looking at an AIMS as they are reputedly very good...
Cooking with an AGA is an absolute doddle and turns a very average cook into a star (IMO)..

Ours came with the house. The people before us used it all year round and opened the windows of the very warm south-facing garden in the summer which is crazy! We put in a Neff and have the Aga off from April/May to some point in October - I'm currently hanging out to get further into the month but OH is itching to turn it on. It's great for warming downstairs as we hardly use central heating (I'm quite hardy!) and acting as a drying room. Cooking in the main oven is fine but I'd never burned a cake in my life til we moved here. The plates on top of the aga are OK but can't cook pasta as it's either not hot enough or too hot so I tend to resort to our ancient gas hob.

So, nice and warming but an expensive luxury and I think some people are natural aga cooks and some (ie me) aren't.

Electric aga owner here. Bought new but I'm sure you can get one second hand. Totally brilliant. You turn all of the ovens from standby to hot in 20 mins and hot spots in 5. So it's a year round aga. In the depths of winter I might leave on all day but otherwise all elements get used more like normal ovens. I would never ever ever go back to anything else now. You don't need a second cooking option for summer either

Agas are like owning a Range Rover - nice, but a totally unnecessary luxury. We disconnected ours when I discovered it was costing £20 a week in gas, and it didn't even heat the house, just the kitchen. Total waste of the earth's resources (although lovely for pets and for drying clothes)

Goodness, a real mix bag. My new place is electric only and I did wonder if it would save me putting heating on and save money in the longer term but maybe not.

We replaced an oil fired Rayburn with an electric Aga and a separate Oil boiler only because the Aga fitted the space in the kitchen. We always had a separate hob with the Rayburn and a microwave/combination oven for summer use.

When I moved house and replaced the kitchen, I fitted two normal sized ovens side by side and an induction hob instead, because I didn’t actually rate the Aga (or the Rayburn for that matter).

The ovens are a weird size (narrow width and deep) and they don’t have glass in the door so you can’t see the food cooking. I like to check the cakes rising etc.

I loved my induction hobs though and definitely recommend them over gas.

Another here with an electric aga probably on 6 months of the year and we get through 13,000kwh of electricity. We are with outfox the market and our electricity has varied over the years from £85 to £120 pm so say £100pm perhaps.

That is with the aga off 6 months a year and on energy saving mode (coming on twice a day) when on. We also have oil to actually heat the house.

Lolly it probably depends on the size of your house. We live in a cottage and our heating is from a multi fuel ( but mainly wood) stove which heats the hot water and seven radiators. We have had the multi fuel on a couple of nights this month because we were in the sitting room watching tv. The kitchen was lovely and warm. Our layout is kitchen dining room sitting room so if we leave the doors open it does filter through.

I have an electric dual control 3-oven aga. It's one of the newer models, so you can run the ovens independently of the tops - which means even if the ovens are switched off in the summer, you can still cook on the tops as they heat up in under 10 mins. I love it, wouldn't swap it for the world, it heats the kitchen (our underfloor heating in here never clicks on), but it was the price of a small car and I appreciate that it's not for everyone! There are a lot of different models and if you are looking at secondhand I'd do your homework or speak to the team at Rural Ranges or Range Exchange (both have good stock of second hand / fully re-furbished) as they'll also be able help with running costs of the models too.

Esse ranges are considerably cheaper than Aga (but still ££) and are made in the UK with a great UK customer service team. Worth exploring also.

Oil fired in our old house, ran the hot water off it and the bathroom radiator and used to keep a kettle on constant boil on the simmer plate.
The thing for us was that if we had a power cut we always had at least some form of heating and hot water - we're a bit prone to power cuts here!
As a PP has said though, it went off in the summer or we'd have died. Two ring boiling plate and a halogen oven on the worktop.

We have a gas aga, I'd guess we pay £2 a day for running costs. If you join the I love my aga Facebook group people on there are very knowledgeable about the costs of running the different types.

I love ours, we dry our clothes over it, it warms our kitchen and is on all year.

I have one, one of the old ones that is always on. It eats gas 24/7 but I absolutely love it, I also only use it for cooking, no heating water or powering the heating. For me I love the way it cooks - do the new ones cook the same way i.e. stored heat? To be honest if they are just a normal oven but look like an Aga then I don't really see the point of paying over the odds.

Happy Everhot owner here. Grew up with cookers from Rayburn, Stanley, etc.

Everhot think slightly cheaper to buy than Aga. Also much, much cheaper to run than Aga partly because Everhot better insulated, but for that reason Everhot throws off less heat.

Good in summer, because you don't have to switch Everhot off, though you can turn off ovens and hotplates as you wish, whereas Aga gets hot enough to drive you from kitchen. Conversely Everhot will not do as good a job of warming cold + draughty farmhouse kitchen as an Aga. You pays your money (literally) and you takes your choice.

Use Everhot here in modern well-insulated house, is effectively only heat source for large open plan living/dining/kitchen. There is one radiator, but is behind sofa at one end, and not really big enough, so previously needed central heating on frequently to keep that space warm. Now Everhot keeps it cosy throughout day, all year round, and no longer use central heating during day since the Everhot came (only quick blast last thing at night to warm up bedrooms). Just had very substantial refund from gas company as a result, as using much less than they expected.

Everhot customer service is very good, reports say dramatically better than that of Aga, which was taken over by US company some years ago. Everhot Facebook group gets steady flow of former Aga owners who can no longer bear running costs, or frequent breakdowns / need for servicing, or lack of care for customer. Plenty of former Aga owners on there.

I grew up with range cookers, knew what I was getting into, plus it worked for our specific situation. If you're not sure, Aga or Everhot is huge upfront investment without clear return. Cost-wise, doubt it would make sense. Kind of a lifestyle thing, though Everhot does cook nicely and the always-on aspect (and the grill!) is surprisingly handy.

@Lollypoppyflop

Tulip you got me all excited then I nearly fainted at the cost of an everhot!!! £7plus k for a small one. Sadly that’s way out of my price range. I’ve seen loads on eBay really cheap. I’m wondering what’s wrong with them.

Sorry @Lollypoppyflop - only just saw your comment to me! As a PP has said new Everhots are cheaper than new Agas (still not cheap I totally agree!). Relatively few secondhand Everhots come up for sale (which may say something about how happy people are with them) - NB there are fairly frequent scam sales on eBay which may also be the case with Agas, so be aware of that. Everhot HQ will always check a serial number with you, so you can ask the seller for one.