[mobilekat]

Heya

I am trying to decide upon a Range cooker to go into our kitchen, and I am getting very confused/frustrated.

I love to cook, and want to get a 100cm cooker that will last, will work fairly hard (but not be abused) and is not going to fall apart after a couple of years.
We are happy to spend the pennies to get the right cooker, as if we move it can go with us!

We have mains gas, so will probably go for dual fuel, as its quite hard to get just gas ovens- we have found one where we can have a gas oven and also an electric fan oven which I quite fancy!- as I loved my old gas oven before it died.

A couple of people I know have had Rangemasters and have not been happy with the build quality and reliability.

Has anyone had any experience, got any makes to avoid.
So far I have looked at most of the main brands and not been overly impressed, with some feeling very flimsy, and having realised that one make was actually 2x 50cm cookers badly bolted together - you could even see the join on the top!!!
So we are thinking towards some of the more expensive makes to get a system that will last.

I need help- I know its not a gardening question, so I thought cooking was a good place to start!

Many thanks!

[Runwell-Steve]

The only experience I have is of the Britannia Sigma range that was in our house when we moved in.  I know why the previous people left it behind now, it is absolute rubbish.
It cost nearly £4,000 and it 5 years old is about to be replaced.

We are currently looking for a replacement and have almost settled on this one.
I can't recommend it though as we haven't got round to ordering it yet.

Gas Hobs, Electric grill and ovens.

http://www.rangemaster.co.uk/range-cooking/professionalplus-100.aspx

[mobilekat]

Thanks Runwell-Steve

We had looked at Rangemaster, but because of the issues my aunt had with her dual fuel one, culminating in a scary near miss when the fan jammed in the fan oven, and the thermostat failed at the same time resulting in the oven getting so hot the metal was glowing red.... She has been told it is beyond economic repair at 5 years of age.

The more we look the less we know what to do. We went to one place at the weekend and even the sales guy admitted they don't like the Britannias, as they are a pain to clean (his words were not so polite!)

I am currently threatening to just stick to barbecuing- but gets a tad nippy in the winter!

[Val H]

We got this one and are really pleased with it but it is only 5 months old. It only cost just under £750 delivered. We're not on mains gas but Leisure sent us the LPG converters for the hob (free of charge) and they were easy to fit. Cleaning is easy and the glass lid very useful when you've got 6 cats (I shut it immediately after finishing cooking)!
Cookmaster range cooker

[Plottered]

This one is ours and ive been happy with it although i do miss a high level grill that we had before.

http://www.buyitdirect.co.uk/Flavel_Aspen_100cm_Dual_Fuel_Range_Cooker_AP10FRKP/version.asp

[Aunt Sally]

I have a stainless steel Britannia range cooker and am very pleased with the build quality.

http://www.britannialiving.co.uk/range-cookers/

[elibump]

When we lived in the UK we had the one Plottered mentioned, we couldn't bring it here with us and I have to say I miss it everytime I cook these days.  It was brilliant.

Eli xx

[Spana]

I've got a Britannia, electric double oven and LPG top, 6 round burns and 1 big long burner. I bought it 10 years ago and its one of the best bits of kit we have ever bought. 
I do lots of cooking so its had loads of use but there's not a mark on it, it still looks new even after 10 years.  It cleans the best and easiest of any cooker I've ever had.
It came with cast iron griddle stands to put over the burners and  a brilliant thing to hold a wok steady.  There's a big ceramic slab that fits on the shelf the whole width of the big oven - 32in- that does pizza's   to perfection but i leave it in all the time, it gives great bottom heat for pastry, cakes and casseroles. I've cooked a 30lb turkey in it with room to spare and it will take 6 big fruit cakes in one go just in the main oven. Could put another 2 in the small oven  
I think the guy who said they were a pain to clean wants to sell you a different make.

I dont know if the newer ones  have the same quality about them but the one i have I cant fault in any way.

[grinling]

I like to use revoo.com site to see what people say on products. I do use which, but as they said a chest freezer I liked didn't have a drain but the manual did, I do wonder how correct they are.

[compostqueen]

I had a big Smeg range cooker and it was total kerapp!  It was forever conked out and I was always having to get the menders in.  Smeg didn't give a toss. It burned out at the back in the end in dangerous fashion.  The first cooker I received could not be installed as the gas pipe was upsidedown so they sent another from Italy and it took months to arrive and that was getting too hot and the glass door blew out. The thermcouples were useless and they had to be redesigned so I had to wait ages again. It was a nightmare so you've been warned

I have an Aga Rangemaster and I really like it. the knobs and main oven handles though are plastic. At least on the Smeg they were steel

[GrannieAnnie]

The one I left behind in our last house was a rangemaster, and I loved it!  It was all electric though as we had no gas in the village!

[thedigalots]

We got this one and are really pleased with it but it is only 5 months old. It only cost just under £750 delivered. We're not on mains gas but Leisure sent us the LPG converters for the hob (free of charge) and they were easy to fit. Cleaning is easy and the glass lid very useful when you've got 6 cats (I shut it immediately after finishing cooking)!
Cookmaster range cooker

We recently bought this cooker as well (in black though), we wanted a range because we were finding it really hard to cook a sunday roast in our old cooker because of the space.  We went to the normal electrical stores to have a look at them all in real life, we were really surprised by this cooker (it retails at about 999 in the high street) because the doors, fixtures and knobs on it felt about a million times more sturdy and substantial than more expensive ones in either the leisure or rangemaster ranges.  The reviews online seemed positive about it, so we ended up buying from dixons online (of all places) as they had a discount code that weekend which made it cheaper than anywhere else on the net and included free delivery.

Only thing we can't quite get used to (yet!) is the grill (we seem to burn everything!), but everything else performs wonderfully!

High street electrical retailers do have a use it seems, they allow you to go and open and shut doors on things before you go back home and purchase on the internet for hundreds of pounds cheaper!

Sarah & Adrian

[shokkyy]

Last winter I became the proud owner of a Stoves Sterling 1100E range cooker and I love it to bits. It's fantastic to cook with. It's got 4 ovens, 4 induction rings, 2 ceramic rings and a hotplate. They do have 1000 wide in dual fuel. The only small criticism I have of it is the ovens aren't the easiest to clean, but I'm not sure any of them are really. It seems very robust and comes with a 2 year warranty, which we extended to 5 years for not much cost. We did look at Rangemaster but I felt the Stoves looked and felt better built, was much better value for money and had the mixture of rings on the hob, which I've never seen any other manufacturer do.

[sunshineband]

Four ovens 

[thecakebaker]

You could always go for a commercial one as these are built for heavy use.