Do you or ever have owned an AGA ?

Thanks for all your answers and tips. I do have Mary Berry's AGA cook book maybe I need to reread it.
People seem to hanker after them and then like me who never hankered can't handle them.
Yes its great for slow cooking casseroles and I have accidentally forgotten about baking potatoes until they nearly disappear.
The one thing that sticks in my mind when we inherited it was a comment by a friend,"Oh no not an AGA" they had been brought up with one and pointed out the draw backs. Someone I know has had theirs taken out. I think DH would be more sad than me if ours was.
I'll try to get better using it and maybe even move a shelf without sitting on the floor.I'll have to practise in Summer after the big switch off.

We grew up with a solid fuel Rayburn too. Delightfully cosy but had to be kept going and cleaned. Loved having toast off it.

My first married home had an oil fired Aga. I hadn't a clue about cooking on/in it, but fortunately my mother in law had cooked on an Aga for most of her life and gave me lots of advice and instruction.
You can arrange all your pans around the hot ring when cooking a meal. The cooler ring is great for drop scones if you leave the lid up for a while to bring the temperature down a bit.
A Christmas cake bakes perfectly in the bottom (warming) oven overnight.
I was very sorry to leave it when we moved house.

We also cooked Christmas cake in the bottom oven overnight. Best cakes ever!

My gas Rayburn (AGA's little sibling) was condemned after a gas leak nearly a year ago after 45 years of loyal service and I have been surviving without it ever since.
I was going to convert it to electricity but it would have been £2k just for the conversion and it would not have heated the water so I now have a freezing cold kitchen and an immersion heater. I do miss it but am not sorry now that fuel prices are through the roof.
I am still waiting for my "new" kitchen to be up and running with a new duel fuel cooker and a radiator. Meanwhile I manage with a double electric ring, a microwave, a kettle and a toaster. I can't bake which is a nuisance.

The washing on the pully now takes several days to dry and the plants on the window sill don't know what's hit them!
I loved my Rayburn - like a warm friend.

Yammy In the first few months of using my AGA I forgot things in the top oven and ended up with charred remains, now I put a ribbon on the front of the AGA to remind me. If cooking for a crowd I think ahead eg yorkshire puds get cooked before I put the meat and roasties in and I just heat them up before serving. I use the bottom oven to warm plates etc and keep food warm. I put several pans on a ring at a time and close the lids when I'm not using them except when I want to warm the kitchen up on a very cold day. We can adjust the temp on our AGA very easily so it ticks over most of the time, hot enough to cook but not at max, when I want a really hot oven it just gets turned up a couple of hours ahead, so we actually find it quite economical.

I have never had an AGA, don't know anything about them.

My friend had an AGA which we all.poved being around, and enjoyed her lovely food from it. However, I do wonder if, for some people, the useful v status symbol might be slewed: there was an AGA shop in Marbella....

loved being around!

I have 2 friends who adore their Agas, but both reckon you only start to know them after 2 years, and it takes tears to use them well. I have 2 friends who inherited Rayburns and make shift with them
When we holidayed in a place with an Aga, I used my friends' accumulated wisdom and did OK.
When we built our house, there was no way I was going for an Aga! But I do have a deep warming drawer and an oven that goes from 30 to 250 degrees, so I have a great deal of flexibility.

"Years to use them well" though maybe the typo is accurate!

i inherited one in our last house - it was gas fired. i only used it during the winter as we had an electric oven as well. I absolutely loved it as the curry etc would be started on the hot plate and left in the bottom oven to finish cooking. The bit i did not like though was the gas bill. Best cooked toast ever .

I have never owned an AGA despite my username. We had one at a holiday house we rented once and I loved it. No use now though in my
flat.

There’s no doubt that once you get used to an Aga, you become bit of an Aga champion, as I said I loved the simplicity, I miss the coziness of the kitchen, I miss warming my hands on the covers, it was brilliant for drying piles of tea towels, and they didn’t need ironing.
I still have the habit of coming down in the morning and leaning against the cold range!

M0nica

We live in an old farmhouse and I have a gas range cooker. In other words a gas cooker that is wider than average.

I do not have an AGA and have never wanted one. Having grown up using a gas cooker, when getting a range cooker, gas was the only choice. Apart from familiarity, AGAs and the other cookers of that type are horrendously expensive £5,000 and upwards and I couldn't afford one, even if I wanted one, which I didn't.

I have used Agas on holiday, but never felt any desirre to own one. Quite honestly I think they are overrated in today's centrally heated homes.

Not if you live in a very large house. We have lived here for 32 years and the AGA was already here. It is gas fired and yes it is very expensive to run. It took some time to get used to using it and I would miss it if we ever move which I expect we will but not for a few years yet I hope.

The first thing anyone does when they enter the kitchen is to plonk their bum against it. It is wonderful for drying the socks.
It’s really lovely when you come into the house on a day like today. The dogs have always had a bed in front of it and it’s quite good for cooking on too!. It can be turned off for the summer months as we have an electric fan oven and an induction hob.

Franbern…..Mary Betty has one in her kitchen and she’s written loads of boots on AGA’s but maybe that was for the money as that was a long time before she became really famous???.

My DiL has a range cooker which I don’t like at all. I expect it’s what you’re used to.