Buying A Range Cooker - Best Advice

Buying a range cooker can be an expensive acquisition so you only want do it once; lets face it, If you were buying a car, you would take your time to research the market and get the best deal possible, however in reality that is not always the case when buying for the home. What actually constitutes the best deal? is it the cheapest range cooker?, is it the cooker with the most ovens? or the type of fuel it runs on. Comparing like for like is very difficult as most people have differing needs and ideas.

There are two different kinds of ranges the Aga Rayburn, which is constantly hot and requires no heat adjustment before placing food in the oven and the more conventional Range, which needs to be preheated to the recommended temperature before cooking.

The Aga - Rayburn

There is obviously a huge choice of ovens and cookers on the market and in general the more expensive ranges are usually at the professional end of the market, with one notable exception the " Aga Cooker " Aga and Rayburn ranges have been around now for over eighty years, yet looking at them there has been very little change in the Ags's appearance. Originally the aga was run on oil, however there are gas and very recently electric models on the market. Owning an aga cooker changes the mind set of people who buy it in a very short time. Firstly you never turn off the heat unless it has to be serviced as the cooker is so well insulated there is only a small amount of heat given off which helps to heat the kitchen and serves like an extra radiator.

The aga range cooker can be bought as a two oven or four oven range, however if you can afford the extra I would always go for the four oven as it has a far more useful set up than the two oven range. The ovens are set up to stay at a the pre set temperature i.e. the roasting oven will always be the hottest and is used for roasting and cooking consequently it has the hottest temperature. Below that is the Baking oven, which is cooler than the roasting oven and is used to bake bread, pies or pizza etc. Next is the simmering oven which is ideal for cooking casseroles and is obviously a more moderate temperature. Lastly there is the warming oven, which is ideal for keeping food hot and warming plates.

On the top of the four oven Aga there are two large hot plates cover by large chrome dome lids, the plates are also set at pre determined temperatures. The left hand plate is the hottest and will boil anything which is placed on it and the right hand plate is for simmering. It is very trial and error, however once someone owns an Aga it is difficult to persuade them to go back to a conventional range cooker. There is also a large warming plate which is always hot this great for keeping food hot and proving bread. On the positive side the build quality of the Aga cooker is second to none and there is a there is a host of accessories and cooking aids. It has a good residual value. The only negatives that I can see are they are very expensive and some people just prefer gas control.

The Modern Range Cooker

Over the last few years the modern range cooker has been growing in popularity and again the most expensive ones are to be found at the the professional end of the market. TV celebrity cooks have had a hand in their popularity. There are four main types of modern range cooker Gas, Electric, dual fuel and bottled gas.

Most of the ranges look the same, the obvious difference being the fuel it runs on. Peoples preferences are usually dictated by circumstance and the price of the given types of fuels i.e. gas or electric, however if you live out of town you will invariably be limited to bottled LPG, which is fine but only if you cant get town gas. Oil is the other possibility, however apart from the price the other drawback is that there is less choice of cookers in the market.

A Dual fuel range cooker is probably the most popular as it is very controllable. Dual fuel usually consists of gas rings on the top of the cooker and electric ovens. typically there will be one fan oven and one static oven with a built in grill although there are also a lot of range cookers with two ovens and a separate grill, however the latter can often mean a smaller oven.

My advice would be to shop around, look in the shops and get a feel of the quality and price of the different brands. Listen to your friends and family.
Look at the size of the cookers footprint and be aware of the amount of space it will take up in your kitchen. Lastly don't be afraid to barter, most shops will be willing to drop the price or include some free pans or similar if it is going to be a decent sale. Lastly compare the range cooker websites as there deals to be had by shopping around.

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