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Original poster

Buying flat with Aga in it

43 replies

Muddle2000 · 28/10/2023 16:01

I have never had one of these is it an energy guzzler ? Also if i want to remove it will mean replacing the whole kitchen?

OP posts:
Daftasabroom · 28/10/2023 16:21

Definitely an energy guzzler x10.
Kitchen units are simple, doors maybe not so. No way should you need to replace the whole kitchen.

KievLoverTwo · 28/10/2023 16:28

We have a 150cm electric one. When we viewed the flat, our LL said 'I hate it, it costs a fortune to run and it makes the kitchen boiling.' This was last June. She said it was costing £70 a week. Then energy went up, and we figured it would cost £120 a week. Nope nope nope. They're also finicky to use.

So, we have a 60cm oven.

Agas run on 13amp, regular range cookers run on 35amp plus. So, if you want a normal range cooker, you WILL have to get the electrics done. That's not necessarily all that expensive to do, depending on access. We had the electrics changed where she had a 60cm oven to fit a normal range cooker; her electrician charged us about £35, now we can have any range cooker there.

Agas and getting rid of them: if it's in fantastic condition you might be able to give it away ('you must dismantle and remove), otherwise you're going to have to pay a specialist up to £400 to take it away. They're full of complicated stuff, come apart in various chunks, and are exceptionally heavy.

They're great if you have a crusty old, inefficient cottage, but don't really have a place in modern, insulated homes with today's energy rates.

GasPanic · 28/10/2023 16:28

Some people will say they love them. Others that they hate them.

Most will agree they are horribly expensive.

Plus they generally weigh a ton. So removing one from an upstairs floor is likely to be interesting.

ilsalund · 28/10/2023 16:32

Love mine.
But I'm on one of those aforementioned draughty stone walled old cottages mentioned previously.
Mine is oil and costs about £5 a day at current oil prices.
It isn't lit at the moment (job for tomorrow) and the kitchen and rooms adjacent are definitely in need of the heat.

It is a luxury and in a modern house I'd struggle to justify it but I love it.
It'll probably go on this weekend and stay on until April/May

KievLoverTwo · 28/10/2023 16:35

HOUSE

We do not have a 150cm aga in a flat! It's a bloody gigantic house. But it's also extremely energy efficient.

The other thing worth mentioning is they are awful to clean. The inside of the one we have (but never use) is basically a rust bucket.

MadeOfAllWork · 28/10/2023 16:39

Hmmm my mum had a Rayburn (similar thing) for many years, but in a country cottage. It ran the heating and the hot water. It was a sod to cook with, the only advantage being that it was always on so you could put stews or casseroles in it and they could slowly do all day.

She sold it a couple of years ago. It must have been 40 years old.

ilsalund · 28/10/2023 16:42

KievLoverTwo · 28/10/2023 16:35

HOUSE

We do not have a 150cm aga in a flat! It's a bloody gigantic house. But it's also extremely energy efficient.

The other thing worth mentioning is they are awful to clean. The inside of the one we have (but never use) is basically a rust bucket.

They go rusty inside the ovens if they are switched off and the oven doors aren't left open while they cook down as condensation forms.

I love cooking on mine. Have to admit it is a different skill to cooking on a normal oven. First few months in this house I hated it. Now I miss it during the summer months.

GreatShaker · 28/10/2023 16:43

I wouldn’t have an Aga in a flat. They’re lovely in an old draughty house where the kitchen becomes the only properly warm room. They’re also great to cook on. But they are definitely a massive luxury with current energy prices.

Sgtmajormummy · 28/10/2023 17:10

I saw one of those “rich people move to the country” TV programmes years ago and even they refused to install an AGA because the maintenance costs were £3000 a year, never mind buying and running it. Who knows nowadays…

The only use I would consider it for would be people like farmers who have a good supply of free wood, work from the home and cater for several people around the clock. I remember visiting a farmer friend’s house and there was a newborn lamb in a box in front of the bottom oven with the door open!

And don’t fall for the “it heats the radiators” argument. You need a sweltering kitchen to get the radiator water hot enough to even slightly warm the house. We had a Stanley range for several years but it was never used for cooking, more often as a rubbish incinerator and family room focal point.

fluffypotatoes · 28/10/2023 17:12

I wouldn't want one in a house. You'll just be heating up all the houses

MrsTerryPratchett · 28/10/2023 17:14

GreatShaker · 28/10/2023 16:43

I wouldn’t have an Aga in a flat. They’re lovely in an old draughty house where the kitchen becomes the only properly warm room. They’re also great to cook on. But they are definitely a massive luxury with current energy prices.

This. My gran was of the 'heat one room in the house' generation. With a coal fire not an Aga because we weren't from money Grin

Agas are just silly in a modern flat.

KievLoverTwo · 28/10/2023 19:53

Yes, agas are good for farmers. Maybe that's why my LL has one. If a sheep has a difficult birth, they are sometimes put in front of the Aga overnight to give them a constant heat source and a better chance of making their first night. Plus they must be useful for wet dogs and cold farmers.

OP, really I think an Aga in a flat is a liability. I forgot to mention that my LL did not realise she would have to get TWO upstairs floors pulled up to change the electrics for me to put a range there. It was cheaper for her to get the entire kitchen refitted for me to put a range elsewhere in the kitchen than to remove the Aga and rip two floors up and re-lay them.

So, you absolutely need to know re: electrics, and what you need to do to change them if you want to. If they remove the aga and you are left with a 13amp power source, you can only run a 60cm electric oven off that without getting them changed. You will not be able to put a bigger range in without risking blowing the entire electrics. Which will happen, I have no doubt.

If I wanted to buy a flat with an Aga in it, I would make it on the condition that it is removed before moving in. You are going to have a pretty bad time even getting rid of it for free if stairs are involved.

Original poster
Muddle2000 · 29/10/2023 07:50

Thanks for your replies I love the
flat but not the Range cooker Aga
or whatever It has 6 rings and they are badly marked The sink SSteel is also marked
Vendor been there 7 years young single and this is a one bed so I wonder just how long it has been
there

OP posts:
Original poster
Muddle2000 · 29/10/2023 07:53

Good point Kiev There is a lift and so I presume it was transported there in this lift (3rd floor)

OP posts:
Daftasabroom · 29/10/2023 07:55

Muddle2000 · 29/10/2023 07:53

Good point Kiev There is a lift and so I presume it was transported there in this lift (3rd floor)

@Muddle2000 are you sure it's an always on Aga? If it's a more contemporary range there's no need to worry? Any chance of a photo?

Lonecatwithkitten · 29/10/2023 07:59

@Muddle2000 it sounds more like a rangemaster (made by Aga) which is a standard electric or dual fuel range cooker. Actual Aga's have two or three hot plates. Rangemasters have 5-8 rings between on size.
Rangemasters are only on if you switch them on and use a fraction more energy than a standard cooker.
I grew up with an Aga, but as an adult would have one, but I love my rangemaster.

Original poster
Muddle2000 · 29/10/2023 08:21

Thanks No it could quite possibly be a RM not Aga,but was really hard to see as vendors relative was hanging about Even the EA was not happy about this

OP posts:
AnnaMagnani · 29/10/2023 08:24

If it has 6 rings, it isn't an Aga.

Original poster
Muddle2000 · 29/10/2023 08:30

Very helpfulxxx

OP posts:
Cognacsoft · 29/10/2023 08:36

That sounds like an Aga brand range cooker.
So a posh rangemaster.
Very different to a traditional Aga.

Ginmonkeyagain · 29/10/2023 11:15

Putting a Aga in a flat sounds like an absolutely insane thing to do.

For most flats a perfectly normal electric or gas cooker would suffice.

I grew up with an Aga but my parents were sheeo farmers and we lived in a large, chilly 400 year old farm house.

As others have said they are useful for that type of lifestyle as they are for cooking, drying wet coats and boots, keeping animals warm, slow cooking food in safe way when you out working all day.

Ours also heated the water but we needed a back up immersion heater.

Even with all those benefits it was a horrible, labour intensive, cash hungry beast.

AnnaMagnani · 29/10/2023 17:04

I have seen a flat with an Aga in it.

However it was the most massive flat I've ever seen and larger than a large house.

I did still wonder how on earth they got the Aga in.

Brin1960 · 29/11/2023 17:08

Once you have used an Aga (properly) you will never want a conventional oven ever again. I was a sceptic until I moved into a house with one and have never looked back. It would be the first item on my list in a new house or kitchen!

Brin1960 · 29/11/2023 17:10

You should never need to clean an Aga oven????

Brin1960 · 29/11/2023 17:12

£3000 per year maintenance? What nonsense. Try £150 per year. and about £30 per week to run and worth every penny!