AGA for everything

[Fibrous]

Hello, we are looking at a house which has a gas AGA for cooking, hot water, and central heating.

Does anyone else have a similar setup? What are the running costs? The house has been on the market for ages and I think this is one of the things putting people off. I grew up in rural Ireland and we had a similar setup but it was solid fuel (turf) so I have some experience of the pros and cons but no idea of the costs.

It would also be very difficult to remove due to the terrain of the property - no idea how they got it in!

Thanks @Hedgesgalore I’ll take a look at that Facebook group, it’s sounds useful. Yes it must’ve been assembled on site, it doesn’t look ancient. I’ll get the model number on Wednesday.

@Octavia64 yeah we would definitely need another method of cooking as my DP is incapable of planning ahead or remembering things, which seems to be a crucial aspect of Aga cooking. I do pretty much all our cooking but he would need to survive if I was away. Although he’d probably just eat cereal and sandwiches like his dad who’s been divorced thirty years and barely eaten a hot meal since!

Well, we viewed the house and it had a small gas aga in it - two or three ovens I think? and the two plates on top. It was lovely and warm. Unfortunately, we are too late, a cash buyer has got in before us and it sounds like they are keen so unlikely to pull out. I am pretty sad as I’d really come around to the idea of having one.

It’s definitely put the idea in my head if we look at more bungalows in need of a refurb. My current kitchen is fairly recently upgraded and not very big so we couldn’t fit one in here, as I know our two dogs and cats would be vying for space in front of it and we’d be forever tripping over them!

Thanks for all your advice.

That's a shame. Not meant to be this time. Keep looking.

I have my own long story about waiting 15 years to be in our current house so keep in touch with the agent things do fall through.

We have an LPG powered Aga that we inherited. We only use it for cooking and heating the kitchen, but absolutely love it. I love the heat, the coziness, the way it cooks, the slow cook oven, the mega hot oven. the way it dries washing, the way dogs, cats and people gravitate to it, the lack of kettle, toaster, air fryer, slow cooker as it does all these things, the way it works when we lose power.

It costs around £4 a day to run in winter. Which compared to our huge electric and oil bill feels cheap. Gas is easy to order and we have a fixed price deal. We haven’t struggled with parts and we inherited the engineer that services it.

If this is a long term house and a rare find I really wouldn’t let it out you off. You can live with it for now and change it in the future when you need to. It’s one small part of the overall picture.

I have an aga: A 4 oven traditional gas aga.

I LOVE it. While my gas bill is pretty high (I also have gas central heating and boiler for hot water; my house is a very large 300 year old stone farm house, with 22 radiatiors, and 4 bath rooms) my electricity bill is pretty low.

I have no need for a tumble dryer or electric kettle. I have a toaster but often use the aga toaster.
I dont use an air fryer or a slow cooker, and for over a year i managed without a microwave (but have got one now, for ease of making hot chocolate without a sauce pan).

I live high up in the middle of the countryside in Yorkshire. Its gets COLD up here (really cold) and we have more than our fair share of snow, and my 300 year old house is not insulated, and has wooden windows (because its listed) and gets very cold very quickly
The aga keeps my kitchen warm all the time (and my wood burning stove in the sitting room ensures my whole downstairs is toasty, even when my upstairs is not!)

I like to cook from scratch so I get value for money for cooking.
I make all my own stocks (over night in the simmering oven)
and bake my own bread (and always have the warm conditions for my starter to rise and my dough to prove)
On days I work and leave at 7.30am i often plonk a les cruset dish (prepared 1 or 2 days before) into the simmering oven (straight from the fridge), and then have a casserole / bolognese / chilli / stew ready at tea time.
I make all my own soups, cakes / biscuits and cook all dinners from scratch.
I dont even have to think about turning an oven on, its always ready

You cant beat an aga roast, and the ability to get food ready then leave in the warming oven until you are ready

My aga dries a whole load of washing most nights (but not in the summer when i use my washing line)

My aga is 22 years old, almost as new, serviced every year (aka hoovered out and given a new thermocouple) and reliable.

I absolutely love it. (mine does not heat water, only the kitchen)

Yes my gas bill is high (also blame my 22 central heating and 2 teenage girls who have long showers) but my electricity bill is very cheap in comparison.

Its also great at drying football boots / trainers / hats and gloves / school books that water bottles leak on, and also I use it as a draining board to properly dry cake tins, plastic tubs and kids water bottle etc.

Dont get rid of your aga without trying it. You will probably learn to love it.

Join the facebook group, "I love my aga" for plenty of support and advice in the early days

I learnt to cook on my grandma's AGA. I am convinced I cooked better because I was reliant sight and smell rather than a timer

However, they had an AGA because they had no gas. It was oil fired and I think there was a connection to the oil fired central heating. It went off in the summer and there was an electric cooker for the summer months.

It was a v large farmhouse.

This is interesting. We have a 3 oven gas aga (just cooking) and doesn’t cost that much. First photo is summer when off. Weekly cost a couple of £. Second photo is when aga was on but no heating. Probably costs us about £3 a day. So might not be the end of the world.

@Fibrous

Apologies, I missed your update before I posted. Sorry that you missed out and all the best in your search

Thanks everyone. Food for thought for the future, for sure!

I wouldn’t live with an AGA as the only means of cooking.

We like ours (an old solid fuel* one), for winter stews and keeping the kitchen warm, but wouldn’t be without a proper electric hob/oven and microwave alongside it.

(*) Solid fuel is dusty, sometimes smelly, and can be a pain to light, but is reasonably forgiving when we let it go out for weeks at a time (which I know oil and some of the electric versions are not). No knowledge of gas AGAs.