Quality long lasting cooker

[Guest]

Re: Quality long lasting cooker

Sorry jjames you type and post so much more quickly than I can. If you read my very first post you will see that I am after something very basic but which cooks really well. I am not technical but simply looking for advice on buying a decent cooker.

Bless you – given my age if I get to wake up in 2034 I shall be delighted!

I was merely quoting 3 years as you had mentioned 3 – 5 years yourself. Hope your cooker carries on performing well.

Thanks again for help on forum.

[jjames]

Re: Quality long lasting cooker

I just don’t like people spending too much on stuff for the wrong reasons — there are other rewarding things out there that are arguably more deserving of having cash splashed out on them (like a hi-fi with hyper-realistic sound quality for example 😀 ).

If a £2500 cooker produces better results than a cheap one, that’s fantastic. I guess my cooking doesn’t warrant such quality (I make a hash of beans on toast so I’m probably not the one to ask really!! 😆 ).

All I’m saying is that at that sort of price point you’ve gone way beyond reliability being an issue and firmly into features determining the price.

As someone in IT (teaching at a University, but I fix people’s kit on the side), I see this all the time. People assume that they need to spend £2000 on a PC in order to get several years out of it, when in reality they don’t need the extra functionality and could generally get away quite happily with a £150 unit, built by hand — so why not just spend an extra £100 on higher quality case materials etc and get something that’ll probably give then 7-8 years of service for the kind of work they want out of it anyway.

Looking at my cooker, I could probably strip the whole thing down and replace every cable and element myself, and have change out of £150. There just isn’t anything to it.

Still, it’s not my money and I have no right to tell you what to spend your cash on. As I say if you get VFM out of the better kit then fair play.

[kwatt]

Re: Quality long lasting cooker

jjames wrote:So explain to me then why I’ve had the same £200 cooker for the last ten years, and only had to replace the oven element (twice)?

You’ve been lucky, very lucky.

Cooking results on a better cooker are usually far, far superior, which is why commercial kitchens spend tens of thousands on equipment. But, as you say if all you cook is frozen meals or beans on toast then it will make little difference to you.

K.

[jjames]

Re: Quality long lasting cooker

Ah, but this goes back to performance though doesn’t it?

Performance != Reliability.

As for luck, I guess I’m about to learn the hard way then. The Beko is starting to look a little grotty now (and the colour doesn’t match the rest of the kitchen) so it’s getting to the point where it’ll be going on Freecycle.

I can’t see myself buying anything particularly flash to replace it.

[helo_75]

you just got lucky with your beko mate

i really hope your not spoiling for a fight…. its not an argument that any of us have the right answer to!
everyone has varying perception of what they require form a machine, and its only people giving their views, nothing more…

i wouldnt waste my money on ANY beko appliance.. not a penny, nor would i throw money away on a hotpoint/merloni thing

i can understand anyone wanting to pay a little more for a better appliance.. with the exception of the ctd dryer, all my appliances are bosch… 2years down the line, not a heartbeat missed

sometimes, it is possible to buy yourself out of the hassle, and thats fact

[jjames]

Re: Quality long lasting cooker

Like I say, generally speaking I agree with you.

I am disinclined, generally, to buy cheap stuff, unless it can be demonstrated that the cheaper stuff is OK.

But I’ve never seen a cooker give trouble.

With the one exception — a Belling oven that was spewing smoke and steam out the sides of the oven due to poor quality seals.

But I’d assumed that with Glen/Belling being a British company, they were actually fairly decent?

Perhaps not.

i wouldnt waste my money on ANY beko appliance.. not a penny, nor would i throw money away on a hotpoint/merloni thing

Beko are a funny one. They have a poor reputation. Their TVs are horrible. But every time I’ve owned a Beko (sometimes unwittingly, as they make other brands’ stuff) I’ve had no trouble with it.

Must be very lucky as you say. But then, as mentioned in another post, where does this leave the all-conquering ISE?

[helo_75]

glen dimplex / belling are mostly beko stuff anyway

cant comment on the ise, ive had no dealings with them at all, so would be unfair to comment

[kwatt]

Re: Quality long lasting cooker

jjames,

There are huge differences in the quality of cookers and you obviously don’t understand this. Whether this is because you only used it to do beans on toast or not I really don’t know, but there are differences.

We sell cooker elements, rather a lot of them in fact and in my two decades in this trade I’ve sold quite literally thousands of the things. There are many from certain suppliers we don‘t use as we refuse to supply our customers with inferior quality spares. This extends to hinges, door seals, fan motors and a plethora of other components.

This policy costs us business, people will use cheaper suppliers on Ebay or certain websites thinking that they are saving a few quid and that’s just fine, that’s their choice but our failure rates are so low as to be insignificant and I can live with that and happy customers. However, if we wished we could supply the cheaper alternatives and easily compete should we wish to, we don’t wish to.

The point is that whilst you may think that there is little difference in the components used I can assure you that there is, big differences and you largely get what you pay for. Should you choose to be cheap about it then you might get lucky, you might not but I’m afraid that these days when people come on here going on about getting things cheap we tend to think, “well get on with it then” and, when it all goes wrong we think, “serves you right for being cheap and not listening”. This may seem harsh but at least it’s honest.

So, if you think you can buy cheap then you fire on in there, just don’t expect any sympathy when it all goes awry.

Your Belling example is very probably one such instance of quality being cut to meet a price point, in this industry it is very common that this happens and I find myself telling people often that if it seems to good to be true, it most probably is. There are no shortcuts, you either invest in quality components and build and get decent machines built or you don’t and you get cheap. What you choose is up to you.

To answer your question abut ISE, ISE is built to a specification, not a price and within each range we do what we can to make them as affordable as possible but we tend not to compromise on too much but ISE also has exemplary customer service built into that and that costs money to, people don’t just do it all for free nor do factories fit better components for the same price.

But then with the decades of experience in this industry we have we know all this, you don’t.

K.

[Foxytivo]

Re: Quality long lasting cooker

Just wanted to say thank you to this forum and in particualr this thread.
We have just got rid of our Smeg A2.5 range cooker after only 12 months of use. It was basically a terrible product.. Constant breakdowns and clearly it has been made to look good whilst sacrificing build quality and component quality used.

We eventually went for a Falcon 1092 deluxe induction.. I have to say, this range is fantastic. The induction hoob is so easy to cook on and is so easy to control. We have also just purchased the Falcon 1092 super extractor and again the quality is just so much better than the smegg we had.

It’s not all good news.. We have had cause to call Rangemaster because one of the cream doors on the range was infact a shade darker. I have to say, their customer service leaves a lot to be desired… and I told them as much…

Anyway.. just a thank you for the recommendations on this thread.

Roy

[Higher-water-level]

helo_75 wrote:you just got lucky with your beko mate

i wouldnt waste my money on ANY beko appliance.. not a penny, nor would i throw money away on a hotpoint/merloni thing

Helo is right Beko are cheap, nasty crap!! Im not even starting on Merloni, had a £500 Hotpoint washer 2 and a half years service. Got a Bosch now, a million times better in the quality dept!!!

Beko are built to a budget, a very tight budget be it a washer, dishwasher, cooker it doesn’t matter if the quality isn’t there it will not last unless you get the 1 good in 10000000! :rotfl:

HTH
😉
Oliver

[gandh1]

Re: Quality long lasting cooker

if you do consider the britannia route, theres several things to check out first.

A: on some of the DF models the oven elements are extorionate, and hefty if you get an indie to do the work. srp for a dual circuit grill element is £140!!! but then if you get britannia out it will be the wrong side of £200! and tbh the elements are no better built than what you find in a £200 cooker.

B: dont get a 1200 or it will severely restrict your replacement models at a later date 😉

[Author]

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