Grow Your Own Magazine

Peter · #1 (**permalink**) 03-03-2007, 08:02 PM

The OH and I are considering the purchase of a Range Cooker.

That is a freestanding, 1.0m or 1.1m wide, five or more gas burner, two or more electric fan oven, cookers.

Do any Grapes have such a cooker, if so what advice do they have?

Makes, models features to have or to avoid like the plague.

Thanks in advance.

nick the grief · #2 (**permalink**) 03-03-2007, 08:06 PM

I Don't Peter but I used to work with a guy who had one. It was a 5 burner job the 5th one being for a Wok, it also had a rotissary oven on it that started off OK but as the oven heated up the mechanism wxpanded & stopped!!! Eventually it burnt 3 motors out before he told them where to put it

I don't know the name but it was an Italian make

shirlthegirl43 · #3 (**permalink**) 03-03-2007, 08:13 PM

My only advice is before you order one, make sure you can get it into your house!! OH and I spent ages working out what size, model etc we needed to run the central heating and cook, then realised that we needed to hire a crane to lift it to the garden so we would be able to get it in the kitchen! Boy did we feel like a pair of muppets!

Mrs Dobby · #4 (**permalink**) 03-03-2007, 08:18 PM

When we bought our house 5 years ago the kitchen was trashed, the previous owners (before the house was repossessed from them) had let their dogs eat the doors and shelves, and removed the boiler without turning the water off, so it needed to be gutted and a new one done from scratch, plaster, flooring, units, elecy and decoration. (Probably why no-one had bought it before us and why we got such a good deal)

So, I made a list of everything I wanted, then we designed it and had it delivered a week after we moved in, fitted it ourselves, did the tiling (floor and half way up the walls), moved the plumbing, rewired and replastered, and now it looks great!

The center piece of the kitchen is a 110cm wide dual fuel range style cooker, stainless steel (a pig to keep clean and smear free), double electric oven (one fan assisted) / grills and 6 gas hobs, one of which is a double ring and has a wok holder to fit above it if you want to use a wok). Also got a matching hood and splashback, looks good and does a good job of extracting the fumes and lighting it up!

Have to say its fabulous! I love cooking, and having the range has made it much easier to cook as I want, plenty of hob space, lots of room in the oven, I really wouldnt be without it!

Ours is an ELBA branded one, havent had any problems at all with it, except that the marking on the front is now wearing off (which shows which hob is which), and the paint is coming off one or two of the hob rings, but cooks great and still looks good!

Make sure whatever you get is easy to strip down for cleaning, ours is and makes life much easier, especially when you spill something on it!

Only feature I'd like which I dont have is a clock that you could set for it to come on at a specific time, it does have a timer, but its only a countdown one, but other than that its fairly basic and brilliant to use!

Sorry to have gone on, but I love my cooker!

Lesley Jay · #5 (**permalink**) 03-03-2007, 08:37 PM

Peter I have a Rangemaster Toledo 1100. The build quality is great. Good solid properly weighted doors. Alot of the ones I looked at were flimsy.

Mine is all electric so I can't speak about the hob but there are two good sized ovens which take a 16lb turkey with some room to spare. One oven is fan assisted. The first setting on this is defrost and the next is for slow cooking. The other oven is convection and I'm not as keen on this one. The heat source is from the bottom and the top of the oven. The bottom element is covered but the top element is open. This is for browning dishes and it does the job a treat but it would be just as easy to put the dish under the grill. Because it is an open element the heat bears down so pastry and cakes get burnt. Then there is the small point about the element setting on fire! Not drastic just a bit of a flame, but fortunately I was there to put it out! It was only 10 months old so still under guarantee but Rangemaster took nearly two months to repair it. Apparently it is a common fault.

However, it's a damned good range cooker and I would buy another Rangemaster.

Alice · #6 (**permalink**) 03-03-2007, 08:55 PM

I wish I had your cooker Mrs D.

pigletwillie · #7 (**permalink**) 03-03-2007, 09:24 PM

Ours is a rangemaster toledo also, but with gas hob, gas grill, one large gas oven and one fan assisted electric oven. on the gas hob there are five burners one of which is a wok double burner plus there is a griddle pan. The gas oven would fit Mrs D's interesting bits in plus all the trimmings with a bit left over (it fitted a 24lb turkey in in 2005).

I am more than happy with it but would buy the 1200mm version next time. It is finished in Black which looks great and isnt a pig to clean like stainless steel is. It takes a hammering as I cook an awful lot and it looks like new even though it is 3 years old.

If you like cooking, it has to be a gas hob, far more controlable than electric.

Mrs Dobby · #8 (**permalink**) 03-03-2007, 09:25 PM

'Cook, Cook, Cook-ability, thats the beauty of Gas!'

pigletwillie · #9 (**permalink**) 03-03-2007, 09:26 PM

indeed tis

Hazel at the Hill · #10 (**permalink**) 03-03-2007, 09:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mrs Dobby

'Cook, Cook, Cook-ability, thats the beauty of Gas!'

Going back a bit, aren't you Mrs D?

Mrs Dobby · #11 (**permalink**) 03-03-2007, 09:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pigletwillie

The gas oven would fit Mrs D's interesting bits in plus all the trimmings with a bit left over (it fitted a 24lb turkey in in 2005).

Oi! Piglet, I dont want my bits roasting thankyou very much! (Tho Mr D adds that he would be happy to rub in the marinade!

)

I'm quite happy with where they are at the moment!

pigletwillie · #12 (**permalink**) 03-03-2007, 09:29 PM

Oh, I have bought two of those little chefs hats that go on racks of lamb as well, never mind

Mrs Dobby · #13 (**permalink**) 03-03-2007, 09:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hazel at the Hill

Going back a bit, aren't you Mrs D?

As I've now found some definitely grey hairs, about 10 each side
at my temple (Mr D recons I'm going for the 'morticia adams' look soon), then I guess its time I started to acknowledge that I am going to turn 40 this year!

And, yep, I do remember that ad, all too clearly!

shirlthegirl43 · #14 (**permalink**) 03-03-2007, 09:41 PM

Don't worry Mrs D, I remember it too - along with the 'Watch out, watch out' one.

Now, who wants to admit to being able to complete it?

Mrs Dobby · #15 (**permalink**) 04-03-2007, 10:37 AM

Ok, what about these then...........

Keep going well, keep going Shell!

Dont forget to tell Sid!

I'm a secret Lemonade Drinker!

Lesley Jay · #16 (**permalink**) 04-03-2007, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pigletwillie

Ours is a rangemaster toledo also, but with gas hob, gas grill, one large gas oven and one fan assisted electric oven. The gas oven fitted a 24lb turkey in in 2005.

If you like cooking, it has to be a gas hob, far more controlable than electric.

Piglet as we both have the same cooker then my ovens will also fit a 24lb turkey in!!

I love cooking but hate gas!!!

Hans Mum · #17 (**permalink**) 04-03-2007, 09:19 PM

hi, if you can hang on until later in the year we ordered ours at the Good Food Show at the NEC, at we saved over £600 and it was delivered very quickly its a Cannon 1000 with electric ovens (fan and conventional) warming/proving oven and grill with 6 gas rings its fab and a joy to use and keep clean

wellie · #18 (**permalink**) 04-03-2007, 10:37 PM

Peter, don't buy anything remotely stainless steel, and if you both adore cooking and have a big kitchen, or the kitchen may be 'extended' in the near future, and you can justify the cost, go for a Raeburn or Aga. Lots of people are frightened of these cookers, but the newer ones aren't rocket-science, being like ordinary gas-controlled ranges, and because they are always switched on (as in just ticking over kind of temperature) they keep the dog/kitchen/your bum warm....
And you can oven-dry your tomatoes, warm your gloves, sox, slippers and just everything.
Honestly, it' a purchase you'd never regret. I've got my squash seeds germinating on mine at the minute.....!

budmap · #19 (**permalink**) 05-03-2007, 02:01 PM

my oh bought the same cooker as hans mum also at the good food show and have to agree about how good it is we saw the same cooker in the january sales for 300 quid more than we had paid for it

Percy T · #20 (**permalink**) 16-04-2007, 11:02 AM

Hi Peter

dont know if you have purchased your new range cooker yet but thought I would let you know my thoughts

I spent six months looking for the right range cooker about 8years ago. I have a range master and I love it.

It has 5 gas burners one being a large burner great for wok cooking or a big pots of pasta, this burner is also has two gridle plates one flat make great pancakes and one ridged, great for cooking meat. It has a plate warmer and if you pot your coffee pot on it will keep warm for quited a while.

Electric grill that you can either heat the whole grill or only half of it, great for solo bacon sandwich's.

Two electric oven one fan assisted and its not stainless steel, cos I would be able to keep it smear free.

Many years ago when I was a little girl my Aunt had a simular cooker and had wanted one since then.

TPeers · #21 (**permalink**) 16-04-2007, 07:56 PM

We also have a range style cooker from the cheaper end of the market - a baumatic. It is stainless steel - a mistake

- and the fifth burner is a long thin job for putting a griddle on, which, on the rare occasions I want to make american pancakes, is excellent.

The ovens are electric, the main is fan assisted and their is a rotisery in the small oven - wonderful!

No problems with the motor or anything else but the clock is a pest as it has a remote oven control thingy which is highly irritating. I have a friend with the same make and model oven - hers did 'blow-up' (the main element fused) on Christmas Day

- so the oven has a good sense of timing!

The doors lift off so cleaning is not too hard, and generally I like it! The OH says it is too low down as he hates bending but that's where the floor is!!!