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Hello, I’m in the market for a range style cooker 90 – 100cms, all electric with a ceramic or halogen hob.
I’ve been doing a bit of surfing and have come accross a lot of brand names that i have never heard of and would appreciate some guidance.
Many thanks.
Re: Which Cooker
Hi
What sort of budget and colour? Is it a single cavity or multiple ones you are after?
DonRe: Which Cooker
Thanks for the reply Don,
I havn’t really thought much about the budget, though i think i would go to £3000, not that i would wish to pay that amount if there was something of quality at a lower price. I was thinking more along the value for money/longevity lines.
Stainless steel and multi oven preferably.
Cheers.
Re: Which Cooker
With that sort of budget available I would be seriously looking at brands like Britannia and Falcon.
Kwatt (admin) is well into cooking and IIRC has researched Range cookers. I`m sure he will see this and add his recommendations 😉
DonRe: Which Cooker
Hi hebridean,
If it was my money I’d go for a Falcon most likely as you need the electric cooktop. Yo can get the Falcon 900S single cavity 100 wide with an induction top and the 900 Deluxe with two ovens and the roll out grill, both within budget.
Britannia are okay but their service is restricted to them only, so you could be held to ransom in effect by only being able to use them for service down the ways. They are pretty decent cookers though.
Rangemaster is also a reasonable bet as well, the Toledo 90 range is way under your budget.
Other than that you tend to find that most of the range cookers will have a gas hoptop as, generally, they are regarded as better to cook on by chefs for the most part. There is some change in that some professional chefs will now actually use an induction hob but it’s very rare that I’ve seen a ceramic top recommended.
The main reason is that they are seen as being not as controllable and tend to take too long to react plus, you often can’t get a pan really, really hot with them for the likes of flash frying.
HTH
K.
Re: Which Cooker
Many thanks for the informative reply Ken.
I’ve been looking at the Falcon cookers as my wife is a chef and uses them professionally she is keen on one. Though a gas hob may be more responsive it is also a pain to clean and after having had a ceramic hob Zanussi cooker for over 12 years are keen to stay all electric, not having found the slightly slower response time to be an issue. A really good set of pans is the answer to flash frying and leaving them on the hob for a few minutes before cooking.
I’ve also been looking at Smeg range of cookers of which there are a few with ceramic hobs. Are they worth considering?
All the best.
Re: Which Cooker
If your wife’s a chef, go with the Falcon as there’s a lot less danger of disappointment. 😉
The Smeg ovens tend to run hot in my experience, hobs I’ve had no issues with as long as it’s not the contract range which is the cheaper stuff. The Opera cookers aren’t bad but I wouldn’t recommend them if you really cook, too much flash and not enough practicality for my liking.
I can’t get a ceramic to have the intense heat I want for flash frying the way I like to do it but I have been known to get a pan so hot it’ll bend if dropped. I’ve never got it that hot using ceramic, yet.
I also like the wok burners when they use a good burner, the cheap and nasty burners (especially the yuk Chinese ones) are just hopeless. But, you get what you pay for mostly. Most people don’t even know there’s a difference between them and the only way to tell is to use them or see how well the flame spreads as well as how well it burns.
But yes, the one downside to gas is the cleaning of it and it’s not any easier with the ceramic gas ones either.
Pans are just as important as the hob, you’re 100{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} right on that. Bad pans = bad results and it’s worth people knowing that but anyone that cooks for living will be all too aware of using good pans, knives etc. My pans were bought for gas primarily and although I can use them on electric (not induction) I reckon the bases are likely too heavy for that purpose.
BTW I’m no professional chef, I just like to cook so I’m hyper-critical on cookers, ovens and hobs that I don’t think are up to the task. Plus, I’ve listened to a lot of people complaining about poor performance on cheap appliances over the past decade or so. 🙁
K.
Re: Which Cooker
Not really qualified for this, but if it helps I know Mercury ranges come in the 3K budget and although ive never used one i keep get asking for them due to personal recommendations.
Personally wouldnt touch a smeg – been caught out too much on their other stuff and the style is great but the internals are of zanussi/baumatic qulaity with smeg prices lol.
Re: Which Cooker
Although I’ve not used one as yet as such, the Mercury is a good, solid cooker and if there wasn’t any other in the frame, I’d have one in a heartbeat.
For me personally however there’s a little unresolved matter with a forum member, a GE Monogram cooker and an AGA… don’t ask, you really don’t wanna know. 😉
The trouble is, the GE is, I’m told, about £8K’s worth of cooker and hood. It’s pig ugly, American and the hood can suck small children up if you set it wrong. I’d imagine that it’s about as far from “green” as you can get in some ways but, it’s a superb cooker. It really is overkill though in that way only the Yanks can do and get away with.
The Viking stuff is also very good but way pricey. Certainly you won’t do one on the budget that’s up to snuff and you will get a gas hob.
And that’s the limiting factor here, most good ranges are built with pro or semi-pro chefs in mind so, gas hob. Ceramic doesn’t even come into it.
K.
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