Range cooker advice...what make should I go for?

[Ellaroo]

I've just been trawling through the archives, but wanted some up-to-date opinions too. We need (or maybe that should be want!) to buy a 90cm range cooker and would like a stainless steel one (possibily with just one big single oven)...but would really like to know, as far a ranges go, which makes are reliable and well-made? I've been looking at Stoves, Smeg, Baumatic, Hotpoint, and Kenwood....any opinions would be really helpful (I've got the impression Smeg is unpopular!).

Thank you!

I've had a rangemaster for 18 months now and it's great. One of the best things is it has a fold down glass cover for the top which means the wall behind doesn't need a splashback, and you have a huge amount of extra worksurface when you're not cooking on the hob

rangemaster won the which guide too. FAB 90cm toledo model has 5 burners, 2 ovens and a seperate grill. Only one to have the grill sparate.

Love mine have had it 4 years now here

Lofra

I love them and at the risk of sounding highly pompous, I'm a Pro.

don't get a smeg

I have a stoves
tis v good

SIL has a rangemaster,again tis excellent

i would second not smeg

i have also heard similar of baumatic

ooh! Thank you for all your advice. I'd love a modern looking Rangemaster, but they don't do any single ovens (we just want one really big one). Has anyone else any experience with Stoves or Hotpoint or others?

We've had a Baumatic single oven range cooker for a year, it's absolutely fine. Can't vouch for how long it will last but no sign of any problems.

Had a Smeg oven and hob previously which were fine for several years, although the Smeg dishwasher was crap.

ellaroo, why do you want one big oven? I only ask as I use my small oven loads and loads for everyday things, my big oven as and when needs. ALso at Chrsitmas etc I can have both going at different temps. A big oven is more expensive to run for everyday use

Yes, I'm worrying about that Crunchie. My reason is that if you're making pizzas, tarts, cakes anything like that they are always ready at different times (because they cook more quickly on the top shelf), which is really irritating, particularly when you have lots of people over. And if we go for one big and one small...the small won't be big enough to fit a pizza in on a 90cm oven, will it? But you're right, I do worry about how much it will cost to run...does anyone know in monetary terms how much difference it is likely to be (I don't know how much it costs to run a standard size one, but say that's 50p per cooking session, how much would a single enormous oven per cooking session be do you think?)

Thanks. x

ellaroo with a fsn oven there is no real difference between top and bottom shelf. Also the small oven is perfect for racks of fairy cakes etc, you can do 4 trays at a time. Most narrow-ish trays fit perfectly (all 12 hole bun things I have anyway)

We do pizzas etc and they go on 2 shelves of big oven, how many times do you cook 4 big pizzas??

The main oven is as big as a traditional oven anyway and the tall thin oven is extra IYKWIM. I use the small oven for most stuff - fish fingers, chips, small pizzas (ys too small for BIG ones) all cakes etc,

Roast dinners/christmas I'll use both with the small one stuffed with 4 trays of potatoes/parnips, main oven turkey and bits, then my veggie option stuffed in wherever.

It is a great oven and the sparate grill is a bonus, if you don't have one and only have one oven which i also a grill you are no so flexible. I can grill bacon, roast a dinner and bake fairy cakes all at the same time (if I wanted too!!)

Thank you so much for all your advice, Crunchie. I love the rangemaster ones, but am also now thinking I might prefer one where it has legs...I'm steering towards a Stoves Gourmet 900DF which has no porthole (why?!) or a CDA range oven...really like the CDA but hadn't really heard of them before and wonder what they're like. The only downside is the CDA has stainless steel coloured plastic knobs...which is disappointing, but otherwise it looks good, particularly as it's all gas which I would love. Any thoughts?

We bought the Rangemaster Toledo 90. So far no trouble.