Do you or ever have owned an AGA ?

M0nica

We live in an old farmhouse and I have a gas range cooker. In other words a gas cooker that is wider than average.

I do not have an AGA and have never wanted one. Having grown up using a gas cooker, when getting a range cooker, gas was the only choice. Apart from familiarity, AGAs and the other cookers of that type are horrendously expensive £5,000 and upwards and I couldn't afford one, even if I wanted one, which I didn't.

I have used Agas on holiday, but never felt any desirre to own one. Quite honestly I think they are overrated in today's centrally heated homes.

Not if you live in a very large house. We have lived here for 32 years and the AGA was already here. It is gas fired and yes it is very expensive to run. It took some time to get used to using it and I would miss it if we ever move which I expect we will but not for a few years yet I hope.

The first thing anyone does when they enter the kitchen is to plonk their bum against it. It is wonderful for drying the socks.
It’s really lovely when you come into the house on a day like today. The dogs have always had a bed in front of it and it’s quite good for cooking on too!. It can be turned off for the summer months as we have an electric fan oven and an induction hob.

Franbern…..Mary Betty has one in her kitchen and she’s written loads of boots on AGA’s but maybe that was for the money as that was a long time before she became really famous???.

My DiL has a range cooker which I don’t like at all. I expect it’s what you’re used to.

There’s no doubt that once you get used to an Aga, you become bit of an Aga champion, as I said I loved the simplicity, I miss the coziness of the kitchen, I miss warming my hands on the covers, it was brilliant for drying piles of tea towels, and they didn’t need ironing.
I still have the habit of coming down in the morning and leaning against the cold range!

I have never owned an AGA despite my username. We had one at a holiday house we rented once and I loved it. No use now though in my
flat.

i inherited one in our last house - it was gas fired. i only used it during the winter as we had an electric oven as well. I absolutely loved it as the curry etc would be started on the hot plate and left in the bottom oven to finish cooking. The bit i did not like though was the gas bill. Best cooked toast ever .

"Years to use them well" though maybe the typo is accurate!

I have 2 friends who adore their Agas, but both reckon you only start to know them after 2 years, and it takes tears to use them well. I have 2 friends who inherited Rayburns and make shift with them
When we holidayed in a place with an Aga, I used my friends' accumulated wisdom and did OK.
When we built our house, there was no way I was going for an Aga! But I do have a deep warming drawer and an oven that goes from 30 to 250 degrees, so I have a great deal of flexibility.

loved being around!

My friend had an AGA which we all.poved being around, and enjoyed her lovely food from it. However, I do wonder if, for some people, the useful v status symbol might be slewed: there was an AGA shop in Marbella....

I have never had an AGA, don't know anything about them.

Yammy In the first few months of using my AGA I forgot things in the top oven and ended up with charred remains, now I put a ribbon on the front of the AGA to remind me. If cooking for a crowd I think ahead eg yorkshire puds get cooked before I put the meat and roasties in and I just heat them up before serving. I use the bottom oven to warm plates etc and keep food warm. I put several pans on a ring at a time and close the lids when I'm not using them except when I want to warm the kitchen up on a very cold day. We can adjust the temp on our AGA very easily so it ticks over most of the time, hot enough to cook but not at max, when I want a really hot oven it just gets turned up a couple of hours ahead, so we actually find it quite economical.

My gas Rayburn (AGA's little sibling) was condemned after a gas leak nearly a year ago after 45 years of loyal service and I have been surviving without it ever since.
I was going to convert it to electricity but it would have been £2k just for the conversion and it would not have heated the water so I now have a freezing cold kitchen and an immersion heater. I do miss it but am not sorry now that fuel prices are through the roof.
I am still waiting for my "new" kitchen to be up and running with a new duel fuel cooker and a radiator. Meanwhile I manage with a double electric ring, a microwave, a kettle and a toaster. I can't bake which is a nuisance.

The washing on the pully now takes several days to dry and the plants on the window sill don't know what's hit them!
I loved my Rayburn - like a warm friend.

We also cooked Christmas cake in the bottom oven overnight. Best cakes ever!

My first married home had an oil fired Aga. I hadn't a clue about cooking on/in it, but fortunately my mother in law had cooked on an Aga for most of her life and gave me lots of advice and instruction.
You can arrange all your pans around the hot ring when cooking a meal. The cooler ring is great for drop scones if you leave the lid up for a while to bring the temperature down a bit.
A Christmas cake bakes perfectly in the bottom (warming) oven overnight.
I was very sorry to leave it when we moved house.

We grew up with a solid fuel Rayburn too. Delightfully cosy but had to be kept going and cleaned. Loved having toast off it.

Thanks for all your answers and tips. I do have Mary Berry's AGA cook book maybe I need to reread it.
People seem to hanker after them and then like me who never hankered can't handle them.
Yes its great for slow cooking casseroles and I have accidentally forgotten about baking potatoes until they nearly disappear.
The one thing that sticks in my mind when we inherited it was a comment by a friend,"Oh no not an AGA" they had been brought up with one and pointed out the draw backs. Someone I know has had theirs taken out. I think DH would be more sad than me if ours was.
I'll try to get better using it and maybe even move a shelf without sitting on the floor.I'll have to practise in Summer after the big switch off.

My family home had an Aga in the 50s. Initially it ran on anthracite eggs but later was converted to oil which meant less work.
It was amazing and I still miss having one.
My parents had a hob for summer use when the Aga was allowed to go out and also a small rotisserie type oven thing for roasting/ baking if required.
I have cooked on a massive aga for a group of 100 but you do need to be very organised if you are doing mass catering!
Meats cooked slowly in the bottom oven are meltingly soft btw... Crunchy toast and toasties are made with the use of a mesh "grilling" rack on top.

The aga is a friend.

Like you Yammy. I inherited an oil fired Aga with this house.
It certainly wasn’t a selling point for me, I was terrified of it, really would have liked to rip it straight out.
But I grew to love it, I really liked the simplicity of it, and my favourite place was leaning against it.
But it was tricky when we had a house full, it lost heat very quickly when the tops were up, so reluctantly, having had it for about fifteen years, we got rid of it, and bought a range cooker.
A word of warning. It was an enormous upheaval, just getting it out was a big job, and then, as it had heated the water, there were major and expensive plumbing jobs to be done.
If money had been no object. I would probably have gone for a top of the range electric Aga.

My daughter had a Rayburn - I called it The Beast

I'd forgotten about it losing heat one Christmas Casdon, we had soggy roast potatoes.

Most of us in rural areas don’t have gas, it’s horses for courses isn’t it. You don’t have to leave an Aga on all the time though, you just need to put it on sooner to bring it back up to full heat if you want to cook something on a high temperature.

I am more than happy that other people should own Agas, I have no objections to them in principle, but we are away a lot and our kitchen is in a single storey extension and as far as I can see this type of cooker works best when it is on all the time, and as I said I grew up using a gas cooker, and just like Aga owners want always to have an Aga, I like to stick to what I know and am familiar with.

Quite honestly I think they are overrated in today's centrally heated homes

When we had ours installed Monica it was factored into the heating system: even in the hottest of summers we rarely even turn it down. We have a north facing kitchen so . it is perfectly situated. When we turn it right down for cleaning or when we go away, the kitchen loses all soul. If I want to bake a sponge or a batch of scones, the heat is there and ready, so super fast. They are not for everyone and yes, expensive to buy and run. But we live simply and make economies in other areas and I simply wouldn't be without it.

Not an Aga, but my Grandma had a Rayburn and loved it. I learned to cook using it when I was a teenager and enjoyed its gentle versatility in comparison to my mum's electric cooker. Would certainly prefer one to my current fan oven which seems to cook things with an intense heat.

We live in an old farmhouse and I have a gas range cooker. In other words a gas cooker that is wider than average.

I do not have an AGA and have never wanted one. Having grown up using a gas cooker, when getting a range cooker, gas was the only choice. Apart from familiarity, AGAs and the other cookers of that type are horrendously expensive £5,000 and upwards and I couldn't afford one, even if I wanted one, which I didn't.

I have used Agas on holiday, but never felt any desirre to own one. Quite honestly I think they are overrated in today's centrally heated homes.

Our AGA was put in over 40 years ago, we moved in 20 years ago and converted it to mains gas, we also had it renovated and it still looks as new. It heats the water for half of the house, is the only heating in our huge kitchen and I absolutely love it. We do switch it off during the summer as I have a combi oven and an induction hob but I really miss it and am so pleased when it goes back on. It cooks the best casseroles (bottom oven) and the best roasts (top oven) and does most of the ironing but I work with it and know it's strengths and limitations. I can put three saucepans on a ring if required but tbh if you are not a "cook" you don't need it. Just use a microwave and a hob but if you enjoy cooking, get to know it (I made lots of mistakes in the early days) and it will become your best friend.