Anyone know about AGA cookers?

[wildeyed]

I was looking at a kitchen book form the UK, and it seems that they are all the rage there. Some heat the house, heat water AND cook! They look cool, too. Has anyone actually cooked on one? Any good? If so, I will add it to my dream kitchen. I want red.

[Stinky The Clown]

1. I have no experience on an AGA, but I have cooked on a similar range

many years ago in school. It was oil fired and was in the basement of one of the former mansions that served as the kitchen buildings. They are essentially a hot surface on which you place any sort of pot you wish. Think of the heat source as a cross between gas and electric.

I have seen pictures of the AGA and they look absolutely wonderful in a high tech/low tech, modern/old fashioned way. Very fusion.

While most restaurants use ranges that look like ranges, in Europe, and in some American restaurants, chef's like what are called island suites. In many ways, they're like the AGA in that you can sorta do what you want where you want without the bother of totally defined cooking areas. Like this one:

[WritersBlock]

2. I want! I want!!

Oh, MAN, that looks neat!

As far as AGAs are concerned, the thing that scares me away from them is that I'm not sure how accurately you can control the heat. I think there's one part of the cooktop area that's really hot, and one that's just "warming" hot. The ovens may be the same way. But again, I'm not sure. That's just what I remember hearing about them.

Since our kitchen came with a ceramic cooktop equipped with apparently random hot & cold spots on the elements, designed specifically just to add a little bit of excitement to the preparation of every dish, I'm really shy about stuff like that.

Edit: Oh, and the AGA ovens are too small for my liking. I want an oven you can put a real cookie sheet into. They aren't common over here. But it's definitely cut back on my cookie calories. Baking only 9 at a time gets real old, so I rarely make cookies anymore.

[Stinky The Clown]

3. "They aren't common over here."

Are you in Europe?

[WritersBlock]

6. Yes - UK

If you think of that as Europe. I have met people who say they've never been to Europe, although they've lived here all their lives. A perception thing, I guess.

[Stinky The Clown]

8. My German, French, Dutch and Italian friends think it is a US state!

My Brit friends like to think they're European!

[wildeyed]

5. The appeal, as best I can tell from the book I was looking at,

is they are 'homey'. They replace the hearth and heart of the home that many modern homes are lacking. Also, homes in the UK tend to be older, so there might be issues with modernizing the heating that the AGA could address as well. But there was no mention about how they actually cooked.

Maybe an AGA will be part of my dream kitchen in my dream mountain cabin. A cozy little space with a centralized heating and cooking center. It will be red, too.

[WritersBlock]

7. An AGA in a mountain cabin would certainly be handy.

Don't take my word on their cooking properties; I could be completely off-base. They must have lots of good things going for them or they wouldn't be so popular. Just the other night, I saw a TV show in which a professional chef was preparing dinner on one in his own house.

And they do make a room feel cozy!

[Stinky The Clown]

9. I love the look of that - particularly the red color.

Rich and inviting. Just the color for a kitchen!

[ernstbass]

4. I've read about them

in cozy British murder mysteries!