# Brit Dopers: Tell me about AGA cookers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 1, 2009, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-tell-me-about-aga-cookers/491546 "2009-04-01T04:52:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-tell-me-about-aga-cookers/491546/1 "2009-04-01T04:52:58Z")
I just read in an interview that a particular person’s kitchen had an “Aga”. A perusal of Wikipedia seemed to indicate that this is [a type of stove](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AGA_cooker), although it could also be an[antique automobile](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AGA_(automobile)) or an [Ottoman officer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agha_(Ottoman_Empire)). I’ve read their web site and am baffled. The concepts are pretty alien to the American idea of an oven and range. Different ovens at different temperatures? Is it on constantly? ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-tell-me-about-aga-cookers/491546/2 "2009-04-01T08:26:40Z")
Traditionally you’d find an Aga in farmhouses etc, where they would provide a range of cooking options for a household and also provide heat / hot water for the home (wood or coal fired). And yes, they’d usually be on all the time, but in a draughty old farmhouse this was a Good Thing. These days cental heating means many Agas are just posh cookers, although you can get oil-fired versions which heat hot water for baths etc. They have acquired a strong social context - upper-middle class “posh rural”; owning an Aga says 1. I have a kitchen big enough to justify a massive range cooker 2. My wife is home during the day so she spends a lot of time baking 3. I can afford £1000s on a cooker There is a sub-genre of literature in the UK called the “Aga Saga”, which deals with “illicit rumpy-pumpy in the English countryside”, so lots of bored rich housewives getting jiggy with the gardener while hubby is working in the City (think Jilly Cooper etc). ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-tell-me-about-aga-cookers/491546/3 "2009-04-01T08:52:28Z")
I wasn’t aware of the snobby connotation to it. Several of my rural relations have or had Agas or similar devices. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one in a house in Dublin though. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-tell-me-about-aga-cookers/491546/4 "2009-04-01T12:54:01Z")
I have an internet friend who lives in Peterborough. When I asked him about Agas once, he nearly bit my head off about not being some rich bastard trying to impress his friends by buying an over-priced status symbol that would make his house unbearably warm in the summer. I put it on my list of questions never to ask him again. ---
**Author:** ![ColonelDax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@ColonelDax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColonelDax)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-tell-me-about-aga-cookers/491546/5 "2009-04-01T13:06:32Z")
As one might imagine, sales of Agas have suffered recently along with those of other large metal status symbols because of the world economic slump. [Aga Rangemaster Group Plc](http://www.agafoodservice.com/index.asp), maker of the stoves, [reported](http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=20090313070000P4393) an 80% plunge in annual net income on March 13, scrapped its dividend and said orders for 2009 were down almost 20%. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-tell-me-about-aga-cookers/491546/6 "2009-04-01T14:30:27Z")
I know people who own them here in the States, though I don’t really get the appeal. They’re damn good looking, but how in the world can you justify having one in your Augusta, GA kitchen? ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-tell-me-about-aga-cookers/491546/7 "2009-04-01T15:10:39Z")
FWIW my mother’s remaining ambition is to remodel their kitchen and include an Aga. It’s likely to be the first thing she does when my folks retire. I too would love one, but mostly because I would need a large farmhouse kitchen to put it in! ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-tell-me-about-aga-cookers/491546/8 "2009-04-01T23:31:00Z")
Moving thread from IMHO to Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-tell-me-about-aga-cookers/491546/9 "2009-04-02T00:16:02Z")
I remember one in our babysitter’s house, which was indeed far out in the countryside and a bit cold. It provided heat for the home in general and for cooking. Mum would love one herself, but in a town house, it just doesn’t seem to make much sense really. They’re big and a bit too useful (jack of all trades, when you only need one, cooking). ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-tell-me-about-aga-cookers/491546/10 "2009-04-02T02:16:33Z")
So I looked at the website, and an Aga is a sort of giant oven/range that also keeps warm _all the time_ and heats up the rest of the kitchen? I couldn’t find a diagram or anything, but it claims to replace toasters and laundry racks and kettles and all sorts of things–does it have a little toaster drawer? Are you just supposed to dry your clothes in front of it? A range that is warm all the time is definitely an English invention. It would be torture 8 months of the year here. Though I sort of gather that you can turn it off? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-tell-me-about-aga-cookers/491546/11 "2009-04-02T02:57:31Z")
> [@dangermom](#): > > So I looked at the website, and an Aga is a sort of giant oven/range that also keeps warm _all the time_ and heats up the rest of the kitchen? I couldn’t find a diagram or anything, but it claims to replace toasters and laundry racks and kettles and all sorts of things–does it have a little toaster drawer? Are you just supposed to dry your clothes in front of it? We used to put buttered bread into it and call it “bread in the oven”, the butter would melt and it was delicious, not really toast in the traditional sense though maybe if we’d left it in longer and without butter it would be. There’s a bar on the front where some clothes would be hung to dry sometimes. [![](http://theratandmouse.co.uk/weblog/20070913aga.jpg) ](http://theratandmouse.co.uk/weblog/20070913aga.jpg) This is the same or similar to the model in my auntie’s house. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-tell-me-about-aga-cookers/491546/12 "2009-04-02T03:27:20Z")
Some models can be turned on and off. (I wonder if there are any other products where “being able to turn it off” is a design feature available only on certain models.) ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-tell-me-about-aga-cookers/491546/13 "2009-04-02T05:49:00Z")
Oh, I see, there is a bar. That’s a better photo. Now, about the ovens–there are like 3 or 4 separate ovens? I can see where that would be great for large meals–roast in one, bread in another, etc., but they’re all sort of small. What if you’re baking 5 sheets of cookies–do you use 3 at once, each in a separate little oven or just one at a time? When I’m baking I generally put 2 sheets or pies in at once, so the ovens just seem kind of small. Still, the whole idea of an oven that warms the whole kitchen and possibly can’t even be turned off just blows me away. (We’re having sunny weather around 25 C right now, and enjoying the nice cool spring which will be over all too soon.) ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-tell-me-about-aga-cookers/491546/14 "2009-04-02T11:36:27Z")
It never gets that warm here (well maybe one or two days in July) ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-tell-me-about-aga-cookers/491546/15 "2009-04-02T12:31:31Z")
Agas are lovely & make sense in cold, damp climates. Especially in older buildings without central heat. But there are dealers in Texas. Where we need AC a good bit of the year! There appear to be models that work more like “regular” ranges, instead of staying on all the time. So they are just high end stoves. The classic Aga makes _no_ sense here. Obligatory [stove porn](http://www.antiquegasstoves.com/pages/pictures36.html)… ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-tell-me-about-aga-cookers/491546/16 "2009-04-02T16:55:29Z")
[QUOTE=dangermom] A range that is warm all the time is definitely an English invention. It would be torture 8 months of the year here. Though I sort of gather that you can turn it off? [/QUOTE] So there’s no way these things could be Energy Star certified. Seriously though - what is their impact on one’s gas bill to be on 24/7? ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-tell-me-about-aga-cookers/491546/17 "2009-04-02T17:18:04Z")
Some will run on multiple fuels - gas, paraffin, diesel, coke, electric, propane, for example ---
**Author:** ![MJinks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@MJinks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MJinks)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-tell-me-about-aga-cookers/491546/18 "2009-04-02T19:17:35Z")
My grandparents (in Peterborough, coincidently) have an ancient stone coal/wood burning AGA in their dining/living room. They use it in place of central heating and for making tea. They used to use it for heating food and an iron but not any more. It’s a wonderful thing to come in from the cold to a roaring hot AGA. Granddad has his equally-ancient chair sitting next to it so he can watch his HDTV in complete comfort. We’d love to have one but our house is a lot more open than theirs and we can’t really justify the cost. They live in a small 3-bedroom town house. The cat likes it too. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-tell-me-about-aga-cookers/491546/19 "2009-04-02T19:28:30Z")
> [@Mk\_VII](#): > > It never gets that warm here (well maybe one or two days in July) Well that’s not true. Most summers much of England has dozens of days over 25C, and usually quite a few over 30C. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2009, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brit-dopers-tell-me-about-aga-cookers/491546/20 "2009-04-03T14:17:49Z")
> [@dangermom](#): > > Oh, I see, there is a bar. That’s a better photo. > > Now, about the ovens–there are like 3 or 4 separate ovens? I can see where that would be great for large meals–roast in one, bread in another, etc., but they’re all sort of small. What if you’re baking 5 sheets of cookies–do you use 3 at once, each in a separate little oven or just one at a time? When I’m baking I generally put 2 sheets or pies in at once, so the ovens just seem kind of small. Two ovens as far as i know. One of those doors in the picture I linked to leads to the heating controls. At least in the model my auntie has. I dunno about relative size, I suppose they are kinda small. Several homes I’ve been in have one of these and a more modern cooker too.