Discussion
We have an Esse, which is essentially a woodburning Aga/Rayburn. Although Mrs says it cooks beautifully and wouldn't be without it, I hate it as I'm the one lugging logs about to keep it going. Plus it creates lots of dust. And it's rusting because our chimney is leaking. I'd get rid in an instant 😄
CrutyRammers said:
I get the oldy-worldy appeal, and sure it's nice on a winter's day, but they're s
t to cook on.
Different, but not st to cook on.t. When you know how to use them, the food tastes better. What you can't do, to any sort of good effect, is treat them the same as a conventional oven.I grew up on a farm and we had a Rayburn in our kitchen. The farmhouse had been built in the 1640s and not much had been done to it since then. The only heating we had was the Rayburn in the kitchen and an open fire in the front room. Both would be blazing all day in winter.
We only cooked on the Rayburn when we were having a big Sunday dinner and the little electric oven couldn't cope. It looked to be very fiddly to cook on and my mum hated it.
The main reason that we had it, was that living on a farm there was always plenty of combustible material to chuck in it. We didn't order in kiln dried logs hand-cut from sustainable Scandinavian forests, instead, pretty much anything that would take a flame got chucked in
In fairness to the Rayburn, it (and the flue) survived this abuse for many years, and pretty much the only things that went into our dustbin were made out of metal or glass.
My main memory of the Rayburn as a child was lifting the lid on the hot plate and spitting on it. Hours of fun (it certainly beat playing in your bedroom wearing all your outdoor clothes)
I certainly wouldn't have one now. They seem like a lot of money and hassle for something that doesn't do what it's designed to do very efficiently. I'm not romatic about the old farmhouse way of doing things, I had enough of that growing up, and the reality isn't very comfortable.
We only cooked on the Rayburn when we were having a big Sunday dinner and the little electric oven couldn't cope. It looked to be very fiddly to cook on and my mum hated it.
The main reason that we had it, was that living on a farm there was always plenty of combustible material to chuck in it. We didn't order in kiln dried logs hand-cut from sustainable Scandinavian forests, instead, pretty much anything that would take a flame got chucked in
In fairness to the Rayburn, it (and the flue) survived this abuse for many years, and pretty much the only things that went into our dustbin were made out of metal or glass.
My main memory of the Rayburn as a child was lifting the lid on the hot plate and spitting on it. Hours of fun (it certainly beat playing in your bedroom wearing all your outdoor clothes)
I certainly wouldn't have one now. They seem like a lot of money and hassle for something that doesn't do what it's designed to do very efficiently. I'm not romatic about the old farmhouse way of doing things, I had enough of that growing up, and the reality isn't very comfortable.
miniman said:
Halmyre said:
My gran used to regularly clean up at the local show's home baking competition.
Well it’s nice to hear that she was fastidious. Was she any good at making cakes?
Halmyre said:
miniman said:
Halmyre said:
My gran used to regularly clean up at the local show's home baking competition.
Well it’s nice to hear that she was fastidious. Was she any good at making cakes?RTB said:
My main memory of the Rayburn as a child was lifting the lid on the hot plate and spitting on it. Hours of fun (it certainly beat playing in your bedroom wearing all your outdoor clothes)
Try an ice cube - even more fun!I put a Rayburn into my cottage back in 2004 - still running like new 15 years on, with almost zero work done to it (new set of burners which wasn't expensive). It does get used for cooking - esp. big groups for dinner / Christmas lunch - but also dries washing / keeps cups of coffee hot / used for slowly melting chocolate in baking / and generally is the heart / hub of the kitchen / house - dogs lie by it / people cuddle it / it brings a house alive
is it a sensible purchase - not necessarily, but it has cost me £25 a month to own for something that has brought a lot of enjoyment...
irocfan said:
I keep on seeing aga's as something desirable/a must have for the kitchen. Obviously I'm missing something here since I honestly can't see anything desirable about them. I realise that looks are subjective but, IMO, they even fail on that score so why are they so popular?
First of all, no one will take you seriously in key social circles if you don’t have one. It’s akin to being at a drinks party and discovering that the person you’ve just wasted ten minutes of your life talking at doesn’t even go skiing in Verbier. It doesn’t matter what island you winter on, what ski resort you attend or how many names you can drop in two minutes, if you don’t own an AGA then the rise is up. You’re not a PLO.
A key advantage from the husbands perspective is that it explains to others that your wife doesn’t have to work and that her interior design business is purely about going to friends houses and telling them that they are s
t people. We have an AGA.
It was in the house when I bought it and so we have learned to live with it.
The kitchen is large and opens up to an upstairs living area. This means it’s continuous heat is of use. It’s also nice to lean against in the morning while waiting for the kettle to boil. There is an electric companion oven so come April the gas it turned off on the AGA until the end of September. It is actually remarkably convenient as it’s always on and ready to cook and I do like the fact that you have absolutely no options so don’t need to think about anything. Something either cooks or it doesn’t.
People seem to dedicate a lifetime to mastering an AGA but it is totally idiot proof which suggests to me that these people are a different league of idiot.
Would I buy one? No.
Would I fit one in a space that wasn’t very big? No.
Do I find them difficult? No
Am I happy with it? Yes.
DonkeyApple said:
Would I buy one? No.
Would I fit one in a space that wasn’t very big? No.
Do I find them difficult? No
Am I happy with it? Yes.
This is exactly my position.Would I fit one in a space that wasn’t very big? No.
Do I find them difficult? No
Am I happy with it? Yes.
I have one - as it's always at 200 degrees, it means the oven is always ready. The hob is always full on - so instant cooking there too. It warms the kitchen and I dry clothes by it as I don't like tumble driers.
There's nothing special about it - it's just heat. As for 'cooking beautifully' - er, it's just an oven.
I like it - but as above, I wouldn't buy one, but happy to inherit one in a house that has one.
NDA said:
DonkeyApple said:
Would I buy one? No.
Would I fit one in a space that wasn’t very big? No.
Do I find them difficult? No
Am I happy with it? Yes.
This is exactly my position.Would I fit one in a space that wasn’t very big? No.
Do I find them difficult? No
Am I happy with it? Yes.
I have one - as it's always at 200 degrees, it means the oven is always ready. The hob is always full on - so instant cooking there too. It warms the kitchen and I dry clothes by it as I don't like tumble driers.
There's nothing special about it - it's just heat. As for 'cooking beautifully' - er, it's just an oven.
I like it - but as above, I wouldn't buy one, but happy to inherit one in a house that has one.
I’d never have installed one in such a small house (at ~£7k I could never have afforded such a stupid amount on an oven), it didn’t even have the luxury of a regular oven as there was no room, so I had to keep it on 12 months of the year.
it ensured the kitchen was always warm and I used to work from home a lot so spent a lot of time sat at my kitchen table beside. The dog and the cat loved it too.
All things considered though, I really liked it (but don’t miss the gas bills). I also think it helped massively when selling the house. New house has a built-in Bosch double oven - about as different as you can get from a grubby old energy wasting aga!!
Hoofy said:
Bit like those log burner stove things people stick in their living room. Why not have a band saw in the corner?
Because I’m not allowed by the Home Office. HO did want a log burner so there is now a 14kw MFer in the inglenook. Between that and the AGA in the other area the two parts of the house can be habitable without the central heating tripping on for much of winter. I shut the fire down at bedtime and then sling a couple of bits of wood on in the morning and it seems to potter along quite nicely.
Nothing about the set up saves money but I have much less ear ache, which is the the big win.
We had one in our last house, the previous owners had ripped it out and replaced with a modern cooker. Luckily they'd left the old one under a tarpaulin in an outbuilding.
I refitted it, a 1974 single-pot oil burner which didn't need an electrical supply, just sat and ticked over in the corner of the kitchen year after year with virtually no effort or maintenance required.
Yes, it wasn't a modern all singing and dancing piece of technology, but, along with a huge old table that would sit the family and half a dozen friends, it made the kitchen the heart of our home.
In a draughty old house, the cosy kitchen became the place where children and adults congregated and socialized regularly. My family grew up in that kitchen round that old Aga and I'm grateful for the 20 years of joy and comfort it gave us.
Saying that, we sold that house when the kids left home and look forward to retirement in out super insulated, draught proofed and heat pumped modern home that we can run for less than a third of the cost.
I refitted it, a 1974 single-pot oil burner which didn't need an electrical supply, just sat and ticked over in the corner of the kitchen year after year with virtually no effort or maintenance required.
Yes, it wasn't a modern all singing and dancing piece of technology, but, along with a huge old table that would sit the family and half a dozen friends, it made the kitchen the heart of our home.
In a draughty old house, the cosy kitchen became the place where children and adults congregated and socialized regularly. My family grew up in that kitchen round that old Aga and I'm grateful for the 20 years of joy and comfort it gave us.
Saying that, we sold that house when the kids left home and look forward to retirement in out super insulated, draught proofed and heat pumped modern home that we can run for less than a third of the cost.
DonkeyApple said:
Hoofy said:
Bit like those log burner stove things people stick in their living room. Why not have a band saw in the corner?
Because I’m not allowed by the Home Office. HO did want a log burner so there is now a 14kw MFer in the inglenook. Between that and the AGA in the other area the two parts of the house can be habitable without the central heating tripping on for much of winter. I shut the fire down at bedtime and then sling a couple of bits of wood on in the morning and it seems to potter along quite nicely.
Nothing about the set up saves money but I have much less ear ache, which is the the big win.
DonkeyApple said:
First of all, no one will take you seriously in key social circles if you don’t have one. It’s akin to being at a drinks party and discovering that the person you’ve just wasted ten minutes of your life talking at doesn’t even go skiing in Verbier.
It doesn’t matter what island you winter on, what ski resort you attend or how many names you can drop in two minutes, if you don’t own an AGA then the rise is up. You’re not a PLO.
mmm - I think that the serious social folks have kitchens where they have no idea what is in them as someone else deals with that It doesn’t matter what island you winter on, what ski resort you attend or how many names you can drop in two minutes, if you don’t own an AGA then the rise is up. You’re not a PLO.
and they probably don't ski in a specific resort, but are dropped by helicopter for a new powder run each day however, their kitchens probably have an Aga for Home and Interior magazine photoshoots, and a proper industrial cooker for houseparties / shoot lunches / etc.
I guarantee the everyone who has an Aga also has a Dualit toaster - both are overpriced and don't do the job as well as other options available. People buy them for the name and then spend lots of time justifying them.
Everyone I know who has an Aga also has a regular normal oven for doing things like normal cooking in. How does an Aga manage to be so huge and have such tiny ovens.
Everyone I know who has an Aga also has a regular normal oven for doing things like normal cooking in. How does an Aga manage to be so huge and have such tiny ovens.
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