Range cookers, are they actually any good?

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Soldato
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I thought it best to post in here rather than the Home forum.

We’re renovating our kitchen and debating on a range cooker or not. Definitely want gas hob and electric oven. Problem is, we don’t have space for a 90/120cm wide cooker - and I think the 60cm range cookers look silly. I’ve found a few 70cm wide with the best looking one being a Lofra Dolcevita which has 5 gas rings and looks super nice.

Anyway, just curious if range cookers are *actually* decent for someone who does really like cooking, or do people buy them purely for the aesthetics? (Are they just for posers :p)

And anyone heard of Lofra? There’s a couple of Steel and Smeg ones but they’re too industrial looking.
 
I mean what do you actually want one for?

We have a 90cm dual fuel Rangemaster, coming up to 6 years old has been flawless, the separate oven has been really useful as is the extra large burner on top.

Have the wok ring and a griddle tray thing for the top, cook often, oven is very temperature consistent and the larger rings are great for stir-fry.
 
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As quoted, I got a 90cm Smeg around five weeks ago. I love it. The size of the hob is the selling point for me, having lots of room for pans, and baking trays is great. The one I have has two ovens and I used both for the first time today as I had six people over for food. Being able to cook in one and have the other keeping things warm is great.
day to day though I just use two or three hobs and rarely use the oven tbh. But that’s because most of my cooking is Asian inspired so lots of broths and wok work.

It looks great as well.

Not entirely sure I’d bother with a 60/70cm though, especially if you have room for a double oven in a wall unit..
This is the one I have:
https://ao.com/product/cg92px9-smeg-dual-fuel-range-cooker-stainless-steel-41229-16.aspx?&WT.z_PT=MDA&WT.z_AT=range cooker&WT.z_MT=Search&WT.z_MAT=Smeg&WT.z_FT=Free Standing&WT.z_PC=CG92PX9_SS&WT.srch=1&WT.z_KW=CG92PX9_SS&WT.z_DT=m&WT.z_RTM=PLA&ef_id=CjwKCAjwloCSBhAeEiwA3hVo_VNs6YgqHbBsoUTkZVIWIug6WuLP21iB4ci1ta6EmiRXmArh8SFiWRoCaXYQAvD_BwE:G:s&s_kwcid=AL!8149!3!538093296634!!!u!1435200455011!&&utm_medium=shopping&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=mda - range cooker - smart|range cooker - smart&utm_term=smartshopping|CG92PX9_SS&utm_content=pla-1435200455011|paidpla&gclid=CjwKCAjwloCSBhAeEiwA3hVo_VNs6YgqHbBsoUTkZVIWIug6WuLP21iB4ci1ta6EmiRXmArh8SFiWRoCaXYQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
 
Firestar_3x said:
I mean what do you actually want one for?
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I guess that's my question really :) Why do people choose them over 'regular' ovens and hobs? Is it just the size and/or aesthetics? the former being less applicable for me. Or do they actually perform better than say a decently spec'd Neff setup?

Having cooked on bog standard 4 rings, single ovens since forever, I'd like 5 burners with a double/triple crown wok ring (good for steak too I'm assuming), as I do a lot of that style of cooking. And a double oven would be nice too although not sure how much use I'd get out of both. On top of that, I love the aesthetics and it'll go really well with the shaker style kitchen that we're looking for (dark coloured cabinets, white quartz tops, brass handles).
 
You can technically cook more at once, you can get features not practical to have on smaller cookers.

Oh and if you like cleaning there's more of that too.
 
Scam said:
I guess that's my question really :) Why do people choose them over 'regular' ovens and hobs? Is it just the size and/or aesthetics? the former being less applicable for me. Or do they actually perform better than say a decently spec'd Neff setup?

Having cooked on bog standard 4 rings, single ovens since forever, I'd like 5 burners with a double/triple crown wok ring (good for steak too I'm assuming), as I do a lot of that style of cooking. And a double oven would be nice too although not sure how much use I'd get out of both. On top of that, I love the aesthetics and it'll go really well with the shaker style kitchen that we're looking for (dark coloured cabinets, white quartz tops, brass handles).
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Twin ovens and more gas rings, gives added flexibility for cooking and warming, oven will be no better than a normal oven from an equal brand.

The cooker layout just works for us, range is on a 6m long wall in a Shaker style kitchen so the looks played an important part.
 
Opposite view but I used to hate it for those big cooks when someone's helping as all you seemed to be doing was shuffling round each other to get in the ovens or turn something. That and you get roasted everytime you open the oven whilst cooking something on top. Much prefer ovens separate from the hob area.
 
Yeah we get that with our current setup. I’m not sure eye level oven would really work for us/our layout though. We’re well versed in getting out of each other’s way without too many arguments :p
 
Scam said:
We’re renovating our kitchen and debating on a range cooker or not. Definitely want gas hob and electric oven. Problem is, we don’t have space for a 90/120cm wide cooker - and I think the 60cm range cookers look silly. I’ve found a few 70cm wide with the best looking one being a Lofra Dolcevita which has 5 gas rings and looks super nice.

Anyway, just curious if range cookers are *actually* decent for someone who does really like cooking, or do people buy them purely for the aesthetics? (Are they just for posers :p)
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Depends on what you cook, doesn't it? Personally if I was renovating a kitchen I would very much be looking at getting a separate oven and hob, so that the oven can be mounted higher up rather than under the hob. The standard way of putting them together is simply an inferior design that comes from historic practices. That aside: I found have multiple ovens useful quite often, but I never made use of more than 4 hobs. If you find you do, then it makes sense.

I also encourage you not to dismiss induction as a solution for the hob - having used it I would choose it over gas everytime (unless you really like wok cooking or one of the few other things that gas is better at) having experienced it. It's much faster, and they're much faster and easier to clean and keep clean.
 
Mr Jack said:
Depends on what you cook, doesn't it? Personally if I was renovating a kitchen I would very much be looking at getting a separate oven and hob, so that the oven can be mounted higher up rather than under the hob. The standard way of putting them together is simply an inferior design that comes from historic practices. That aside: I found have multiple ovens useful quite often, but I never made use of more than 4 hobs. If you find you do, then it makes sense.
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Unfortunately we just don't really have space for an eye level oven. We'd be losing an eye level cupboard of which we don't actually have many, in fact without that it'd be none besides the larder cupboard (full height). So we probably need that as a cupboard for glasses/mugs etc.

Mr Jack said:
I also encourage you not to dismiss induction as a solution for the hob - having used it I would choose it over gas everytime (unless you really like wok cooking or one of the few other things that gas is better at) having experienced it. It's much faster, and they're much faster and easier to clean and keep clean.
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I haven't used induction but we had a good electric cooker at our old flat. I just prefer gas all round. I use a wok 1-2 times a week at least, and once we have a decent extractor I enjoy cooking a good steak as well (screaming hot). Aesthetically the house is going to be fairly traditional Edwardian stylings, and the kitchen will be shaker units etc. so I personally think gas looks the part too. And obviously that's why we're looking at the range to really make the kitchen look the dogs dangly bits :)

This is the bad boy we're looking at, just know nothing about the company! It looks like a piece of art though; https://lofrarangecookers.co.uk/product/dolcevita-cooker-70cm-with-2-ovens/
 
Scam said:
Unfortunately we just don't really have space for an eye level oven. We'd be losing an eye level cupboard of which we don't actually have many, in fact without that it'd be none besides the larder cupboard (full height). So we probably need that as a cupboard for glasses/mugs etc.
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Fair enough.

I haven't used induction but we had a good electric cooker at our old flat. I just prefer gas all round.
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Induction is simply another level. I always preferred gas, but there's no supply to my current house so we went for induction and - wow - it's fantastic. Better than gas for almost everything. It's certainly cook a steak at least as well as gas.

I use a wok 1-2 times a week at least
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But a wok, a proper round bottomed wok, is one of a handful of things induction can't do. Obviously it'll do the flat bottomed ones just as well but they're barely even woks really :)

This is the bad boy we're looking at, just know nothing about the company! It looks like a piece of art though; https://lofrarangecookers.co.uk/product/dolcevita-cooker-70cm-with-2-ovens/
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Looks good. The only function I notice it is missing is a steam mode if that's something you care about.
 
Mr Jack said:
But a wok, a proper round bottomed wok, is one of a handful of things induction can't do. Obviously it'll do the flat bottomed ones just as well but they're barely even woks really :)
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Yeah exactly. I love the sound of a triple flame wok burner. Rawr :D :cool:
Mr Jack said:
Looks good. The only function I notice it is missing is a steam mode if that's something you care about.
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Hmn probably not, but being new homeowners there's generally a lot of technology and "stuff" open to us that we're discovering. Like wiring up the house with ethernet, getting a smart doorbell etc. That's before you even think about decorating, or even the kitchen!

Been having a look at National Range Cookers. We're in London, they're in Wolverhampton... now exactly how much do we want to pay on the train to go and look at it in person! 2hrs each way :(
 
I recently bought a 110 Range Master Induction. The induction is amazing had a smaller Range Master before that was ceramic and it was a bit meh.

I really like have two full size ovens with this and the warming small slow oven is good.

https://imgur.com/a/5He8hsj
 
Found this pic of ours before decorator had finished

IMG-20210710-184904.jpg
 
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