Best range style cookers to buy in UK?

[fred bloggs]

Mrs Bloggs has turned her mind to remodelling the kitchen and replacing the Neff double oven, hob and extractor with 1.2m wide range style cooker and extractor. Looking at what is available, many seem to be names I am unfamiliar with. The two cookers fancied by Mrs Bloggs purely on looks/style are the 1200mm dual fuel range cookers by Smeg and Falcon. I have heard of Smeg but never heard of Falcon. Is there a mid range priced dual fuel range cooker brand that is regarded in the trade as being good quality? I am dubious about Smeg and l know nothing about Falcon.

Thanks.

Bloggs.

[don]

Re: Best range style cookers to buy in UK?

Hi

Smeg are over rated and priced for the price you pay. Rangemaster and Leisure are okay but if you want the best then look at Falcon, Britannia and Viking at a price though.

HTH

Don

[fred bloggs]

Re: Best range style cooker,to buy in UK?

Thanks Don, I had guessed that about the Smeg stuff. The Falcon stuff looks decent and I gather are Rangemaster cookers. I know nothing of Leisure, Britannia and Viking though. I guess they are part of a big name too?

Cheers.

Bloggs.

[don]

Re: Best range style cookers to buy in UK?

Leisure are not a bad buy for the price but the build is nowhere near the same as the other two.

Don

[fred bloggs]

Re: Best range style cookers to buy in UK?

Thanks Don. We are going to take your advice and look at Rangemaster and Falcon. I think there is a showroom in Chester we can visit.

Cheers.

Bloggs.

[EFS]

Re: Best range style cookers to buy in UK?

I am leaving my 10 year old Britannia range behind when I move house next month and have been round all the showrooms to find a replacement.
My Britannia has only needed a light bulb replacing in 10 years and is very solidly built. The brand ownership has changed and the new models differently sourced and are not the same build quality so I have decided on a new ILVE range which is exactly the same cooker as my old Britannia but with some improvements.
A bit pricey but I know what I am getting.

Steve

[kwatt]

Re: Best range style cookers to buy in UK?

For modern Britannia ones, as Steve says, search for Ilve instead. And yes, they are good.

The new Britannia ones are all Bertazonni made… I believe but it’s now under Glen Dimplex so could be anything. Bertazonni is good also, probably more or less on a par with Ilve.

Smeg are okay but you do pay for the style and badge a bit.

Don, some of the new Falcon and Rangemaster stuff has been Vestel made, ’nuff said. And a few even made by Termikel which you really, really do not want.

K.

[admin]

Re: Best range style cookers to buy in UK?

I do have a new old style Mercury 1090 in stock as well as a few Mercury thermostones in different colours.

Bryan

[EFS]

Took my own advice and bought the Ilve Roma with this amazing performing cooker hood which pulls 1000 cubic metres /hour on full power so hopefully no more false smoke alarms.

[fred bloggs]

Thanks very much for the feedback. Due to unexpected financial issues, the purchase of the range cooker has been put on hold until now. I had pretty much settled on the Rangemaster Professional 110cm in stainless steel. I think they are still UK made? I will take a look at Ilve too though now. Thanks again.

[wstc]

kwatt wrote:

Don, some of the new Falcon and Rangemaster stuff has been Vestel made, ’nuff said. And a few even made by Termikel which you really, really do not want.

K.

All range cookers are made in house, only 60cm’s are out sourced.

[fred bloggs]

Well, long time no visit. But I haven’t forgotten this thread. Here’s an update on what happened.

Mrs B had her kitchen replaced and the range cooker of choice in the end was an Ilve Torino 100cm dual fuel. That may or may not have been a good choice.

The cooker is now around 18 months old. Like everyone, we have a budget and the 1st choice Ilve Milano cooker, a more sophisticated cooker, was out of budget. So we bought what was then a newly introduced, less expensive range cooker, the Torino. Essentially the Torino appears to be similar to the Milano but there’s some cost savings going on. Obvious – 1 Less sophisticated oven temperature control. 2 Less sophisticated timer/programmer. 3 Less appealing control knobs. 4 Different cast iron pan supports on the hob.

Major hardware seems identical on both models. The Torino cooker as a result is considerably cheaper than the equivalent Milano model. Since we bought it, the 100cm dual fuel Torino now costs £400 more though. A considerable increase.

Since new it has been apparent that the left side, larger, oven has been overheating. Like if the oven was set to 180 degrees C it would heat to 250 and still climbing. This was confirmed on two different oven thermometers. Ilve service are OK responding but it took a couple of visits before anyone came who was interested enough to try fix it properly. The service department seems willing enough but as in all walks of life, it’s a lottery who turns up on the doorstep. Anyway, it does now seem fixed after replacing the whole oven temperature control assembly. Previous attempts at adjustment were a waste of time but that was all the previous service guys would do.

An aside, the supplied Ilve instruction manuals are dreadful. Might I say that compared to German appliances, it’s something the Italians are very poor at. It seems.

One more niggle, the oven and hob control knobs are not wearing well. Another 18 months and they’ll need replacing through surface wear. They just pull off though and if I can, I’ll likely buy the better quality knobs for the Milano cooker. If they’ll fit. But a full set could be very expensive. Cross that bridge when I come to it.

So, would I buy another Ilve range cooker? Probably, given the diminishing options that aren’t built in Asia but are still reasonably affordable. If I could, I would not buy what seems to be a budget cooker in the Ilve line up. I think I would be prepared to pay for the more sophisticated model.

Overall, at the moment, say 7 out of 10 for the Ilve Torino.

[fred bloggs]

wstc wrote:

All range cookers are made in house, only 60cm’s are out sourced.

I don’t know if it’s actually true, but an appliance service technician told me last week that there’s no Rangemaster range cookers manufactured in the UK any more.

Does anyone know if that’s true? If it is, it’s a real shame. (Yes, afraid I bought an Ilve rather than a Rangemaster).

[Author]

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