Range cooker or hob/ovens

[Shah]

Hello All,

 

Could you please recommend a range cooker (90cm). Dual fuel or Gas only? What should I look for and any good brand names? I've only looked at Rangemaster so far.

Would it be better to have a range cooker or a hob with ovens?

 

Thanks,
Shah.

[dpmiller]

natural gas or LPG? Not much choice if you want all- gas on LPG.

[Shah]

Well we got natural gas

[Russell griffiths]

The choice is yours, will your house suite a range or would a fancy glass induction hob look nicer,only you can answer that. 

 

As for make I think we are having a mercury. Expensive but our friends have one and they love it. 

[ryder72]

It depends on what you expect from it and what you are willing to pay for it.

 

Rangemaster is at the entry level end of the market and the build quality is quite tinny. Mercury/Falcon are based on the same platform but with better build quality/finishing etc.

 

For me, Mercury/Falcon is that minimum you should be looking to get anything half decent and the next step up would be Lacanche/Aga for reliability.

 

Overall, built in appliances give better cooking performance, efficiency, choice etc over range cookers, but for most range cooker buyers its a look thing.

 

 

[Ferdinand]

12 minutes ago, Russell griffiths said:

The choice is yours, will your house suite a range or would a fancy glass induction hob look nicer,only you can answer that. 

 

As for make I think we are having a mercury. Expensive but our friends have one and they love it. 

 

I would prioritise how it cooks over how it looks  !

 

My subjective impression is that Range Cookers have better ovens than standalones or built-ins, and the hobs are more equal. We currently have a fairly basic Range Master Kitchener 90 range cooker which cost about the same as a decent hob + a decent pair of ovens (£999).  

 

At a previous farm-style listed house we had an umpteen oven hybrid Aga, which was eyewateringly expensive but we also needed the storage for heating and the house deserved it.

 

Ferdinand

 

Edited July 10, 2017 by Ferdinand

[Guest Alphonsox]

My own pet hate is having to bend down to floor level to get at stuff in the oven or to see how well things are doing under the grill. For me a separate hob with eye level ovens/grills is a far more workable solution.

[Shah]

Thank you guys.

 

Well thinking of redoing the kitchen (3200*2950) L shaped. So budget for range cooker is around £1-2k. Would like a good oven and grill which could heat evenly and make a good cake/roast etc!

 

19 minutes ago, Russell griffiths said:

As for make I think we are having a mercury. Expensive but our friends have one and they love it.

Yes a bit above the budget and also mercury doesn't do anything less than 100cm?

 

17 minutes ago, ryder72 said:

For me, Mercury/Falcon is that minimum you should be looking to get anything half decent and the next step up would be Lacanche/Aga for reliability.

Yes those look nice and Lacanche is nice but it is only available in 100cm! The max I could go to is 90cm. Falcon 900 is available for around £3K!.

11 minutes ago, Ferdinand said:

I would prioritise how it cooks over how it looks  !

 

My subjective impression is that Range Cookers have better ovens than standalones or built-ins, and the hobs are more equal. We currently have a fairly basic Range Master Kitchener 90 range cooker which cost about the same as a decent hob + a decent pair of ovens (£999).

Yes agree. Would like something which is practical rather than just for looks alone. Happy to consider just a hob and build in ovens etc.

But there is a chance if we move within next 3-5 years we could take the range cooker with us to a new place... won't have the option with built in appliances.

[Mikey_1980]

We have the range master 110cm Induction Nexus and it is great for cooking with, we have always had dual fuel but I now much prefer cooking with Induction hob. Roasts/Cakes etc turn out great.  we brought it through Quidco, got £150 cashback and a free set of high quality pans from the vendor who were alos the cheapest.  The only issue we had was we had a deliery slot of 6-8pm, and they hadn't shown by 8 we couldn't contact them to find out where they were, then a lorry turned up at 10:30pm with our cooker, they had been doing deliveries around Wimbledon this time last year so got majorly delayed.

[Ferdinand]

Agree on the price reductions. If you have a couple of models / makers in your price bracket and the one above, variations on prices should be around +/- 30% if you look around and can wait a couple of months.

 

Free delivery should be a lollipop that is always available, especially if you ask just before signing the order. If you are going for an Induction Hob then ebay is still swimming in £120 (allegedly) sets of Neff Induction pans which were being given away with Neff hobs until recently for about £40.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_odkw=neff&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR12.TRC2.A0.H0.Xneff+induction+pans.TRS0&_nkw=neff+induction+pans&_sacat=0

 

But you will shaft yourself if you then negotiate a free set with your new Range Cooker :-) . Ask for something else instead.

 

Free fitting may also be an offer, but that is more difficult if you are buying early for a discount to save a few hundred and storing it for a few months.

 

To my eye keeping it for 6-12 months is worth it if you are saving say 35-40%, as 25-30% off should always be available. 

 

Ferdinand

 

 

Edited July 10, 2017 by Ferdinand

[Shah]

52 minutes ago, Mikey_1980 said:

we have always had dual fuel but I now much prefer cooking with Induction hob

Wouldn't this be more expensive than gas? So the dual fuel these days has gas hob with electric oven/grill..

I will check out Quidco but I was thinking of getting cooker from John Lewis and they are not on quidco!!

[Ferdinand]

4 minutes ago, Shah said:

Wouldn't this be more expensive than gas? So the dual fuel these days has gas hob with electric oven/grill..

I will check out Quidco but I was thinking of getting cooker from John Lewis and they are not on quidco!!

 

You tend to get more cash off through employee benefits programmes (often 10% vs 3% for Quidco etc, but not John Lewis), though you should be able to nobble John Lewis via price match, which may help a little. Not an inexpensive supplier, though, generally - so if you have pre-decided to go there you may well pay extra for the privilege.

 

What you pay depends how hard you work at it.

 

F

 

Edited July 10, 2017 by Ferdinand

[Shah]

7 minutes ago, Ferdinand said:

To my eye keeping it for 6-12 months is worth it if you are saving say 35-40%, as 25-30% off will always be available. 

 

2 minutes ago, Ferdinand said:

What you pay depends how hard you work at it.

Yes true. Hopefully will decide on a range cooker with all your input and maybe keep and eye out for a couple of months.

 

Any recommendations on Kitchen supplier (thread is going to sidetracked a bit!)

[ryder72]

If you are budgeting max £2k for the cooker, buy Rangemaster. Its the best product in that price range. Not even worth looking at anything else.

[Shah]

@ryder72 ok cool although I could wait and see if there are discounts available. Lacanche looks very nice though!!!

[Mr Punter]

My brother has a Lacanche.  The control knobs get v. hot and the oven can be fierce, but it will outlast most marriages (as it did his).

[Temp]

We have a 100cm Britannia dual fuel (2 electric oven, 6 LPG rings). I think if I was restricted to 90cm I would consider a large single oven rather than a double - or at least go and see if the ovens on a double are wide enough for you.

 

My wife likes cooking and we have kids so ours has been in heavy use since we got it. Lasted 9 year before an element and a door seal failed. Both readily available online and was easy to fix myself. The door seals are pretty standard on all cookers.

 

Still cleans up like new. Think I would buy one again.

[PeterW]

I'd buy a pair of decent ovens and set them side by side at just above waist level. Add in a 3 zone induction that can take big pans and you will have spent your £1k but have something vastly more flexible. 

 

Unless you go £3-4K plus, domestic gas ovens are the work of the devil and as controllable as a 3 year old in ToysRUs.... 

[lizzie]

4 minutes ago, PeterW said:

I'd buy a pair of decent ovens and set them side by side at just above waist level. Add in a 3 zone induction that can take big pans and you will have spent your £1k but have something vastly more flexible. 

 

Unless you go £3-4K plus, domestic gas ovens are the work of the devil and as controllable as a 3 year old in ToysRUs.... 

I agree with this. I have a range cooker in our rental house. Absolutely hate it. I learned to cook on an aga eons ago never go back there either. Superfast induction hob and two good ovens at high level is for me the perfect set up. ( I might add I never thought I would convert from gas hob electric oven set up but having tried the induction at a previous rental I am totally converted). I do like to do 'proper' cooking too!

[Mr Punter]

While the 2 ovens at waist height sounds good I am not a fan of just a bank of tall units.  Unless there is some worktop adjacent to put stuff down on they don't work for me.  Also, range cooker is more space efficient.

[dpmiller]

"British" style gas ovens- burner at the back- are supremely controllable. The "continental" type with the burner underneath is in my experience crap. Personally, I wouldn't cook on anything but gas and nothing toasts quite like a gas grill, but I am very likely to go for one of those 90cm Rangemasters in gas, to get the handy extra fan oven at the side.

 

Truth be told, with only the three of us in the house the Panasonic combi microwave does a fair share. Superb for baked spuds, frozen pizza and the like...

[Ferdinand]

3 hours ago, ryder72 said:

If you are budgeting max £2k for the cooker, buy Rangemaster. Its the best product in that price range. Not even worth looking at anything else.

 

@Shah

 

If you have a 2k budget for a Rangemaster 90cm range cooker you are sitting pretty ... in Currys the most expensive (a 5 zone induction thing in a pretty colour) is only £2300, and it is childsplay to get another 20% or more off that in cash or kind if you are careful, which would bring your pots and pans and buttons and bows, and possibly a small dog to turn the spit, in at under the 2k, or let you get a nice coffee machine as well or a weekend away. 

 

At Currys you just wait for a 10% sale or voucher code, then put it through a Benefit Programme for another 8-10%, and buy the Benefit Programme cashcard with a Reward Debit Card for the last 1%. If you do not have an Employee Benefit Programme then enroll in Westfield Health cash grant programme (optical and dental grants alone cover the entire premium) which has a Reward Programme attached (Westfield Rewards) and get 8% off when you top up the Currys giftcard. The same programme gives you an extra 10% off at Wickes on everything - saves me £4-500 a year or so extra.

 

Or as you say use TCB or Quidco for 3% rather than 8-10%.

 

Compare John Lewis prices - but I do not know how to save another 20% easily there.

 

You may get lucky and do better. I currently have a new Rangemaster Professional+ Dual Fuel 110cm Range Cooker in storage waiting for a project. That is a £1600-1700 range which came up for £800+VAT new as I happened to be in the right place at the right time for once.

 

We find that our Rangemaster tall side oven heats up *very* quickly.

 

Ferdinand

 

Edited July 10, 2017 by Ferdinand

[Shah]

2 hours ago, Mr Punter said:

but it will outlast most marriages (as it did his).

 

2 hours ago, Temp said:

We have a 100cm Britannia dual fuel (2 electric oven, 6 LPG rings). I think if I was restricted to 90cm I would consider a large single oven rather than a double - or at least go and see if the ovens on a double are wide enough for you.

Yes ideal would be 100cm but we couldn't go more than 90cm. Even this I will have to get tall wall units to make up for the space.

1 hour ago, PeterW said:

Unless you go £3-4K plus, domestic gas ovens are the work of the devil and as controllable as a 3 year old in ToysRUs.... 

Well we got a 3 year old and I know the feeling  So not going there. I was thinking of a dual fuel if we go for a range cooker. I don't think I can convince the SWMBO for an induction hob plus we cook a lot and it will be expensive to run the induction hob.

 

2 hours ago, lizzie said:

Superfast induction hob and two good ovens at high level is for me the perfect set up. 

I agree but only two problems with the induction hob. One is expensive to run plus it will be scratched for sure!

1 hour ago, Mr Punter said:

While the 2 ovens at waist height sounds good I am not a fan of just a bank of tall units.  Unless there is some worktop adjacent to put stuff down on they don't work for me.  Also, range cooker is more space efficient.

Agree. Not going to work for us either. Some range cookers have electric Multi function ovens so probably better to get them.

2 hours ago, dpmiller said:

I am very likely to go for one of those 90cm Rangemasters in gas, to get the handy extra fan oven at the side.

As per my thinking above.

2 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

At Currys you just wait for a 10% sale or voucher code, then put it through a Benefit Programme for another 8-10%, and buy the Benefit Programme cashcard with a Reward Debit Card for the last 1%. If you do not have an Employee Benefit Programme then enroll in Westfield Health cash grant programme (optical and dental grants alone cover the entire premium) which has a Reward Programme attached (Westfield Rewards) and get 8% off when you top up the Currys giftcard. The same programme gives you an extra 10% off at Wickes on everything - saves me £4-500 a year or so extra.

Very good advice there. I will look up those.

2 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

You may get lucky and do better. I currently have a new Rangemaster Professional+ Dual Fuel 110cm Range Cooker in storage waiting for a project. That is a £1600-1700 range which came up for £800+VAT new as I happened to be in the right place at the right time for once.

Now that is one hell of a purchase

[lizzie]

17 hours ago, Shah said:

 

Yes ideal would be 100cm but we couldn't go more than 90cm. Even this I will have to get tall wall units to make up for the space.

Well we got a 3 year old and I know the feeling  So not going there. I was thinking of a dual fuel if we go for a range cooker. I don't think I can convince the SWMBO for an induction hob plus we cook a lot and it will be expensive to run the induction hob.

 

I agree but only two problems with the induction hob. One is expensive to run plus it will be scratched for sure!

Agree. Not going to work for us either. Some range cookers have electric Multi function ovens so probably better to get them.

As per my thinking above.

Very good advice there. I will look up those.

Now that is one hell of a purchase

I went for the bora induction hob and neff slide and hide oven (with extra steamer insert) and a combi neff oven micro too (have worktop next to ovens for ease). Not cheap as Bora alone probably more than range prices you are talking but its a fab piece of kit and on the ovens once you try slide and hide doors you wonder why it wasnt invented before its brilliant.  As I said I like to cook 'properly' so my set up is my perfect one.  I think ovens/hobs whole cooking set up etc is very much a personal choice and not necessarily cost driven. I wouldnt have a range cooker now if you gave me one for free but I have friends who love theirs.

[Shah]

42 minutes ago, lizzie said:

I went for the bora induction hob and neff slide and hide oven (with extra steamer insert) and a combi neff oven micro too (have worktop next to ovens for ease)

Bora is next level I guess (very pretty ). Why get an oven plus a combi as well? Why not just a combi? So Neff is good for built in ovens/combis? Any other brands?