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AGA Cooker or Stove Plinth

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I thought I'd make a comment about the plinth for the AGA cooker ((AGA stove if you are in the US). I have read on some forums that some people are trying to make difficult choices re the plinth for their AGA cooker and are thinking about not having one and the other thing is which type to get.

We have cleaned hundreds of AGA cookers over the years and only a few haven't had plinths. Most of these were original ones from the 1930s before fitted kitchen cabinets came along. The addition of the plinth is a modern addition to make the AGA higher and easier to use.

When AGA cookers haven't got a plinth the AGA really does look odd. I have seen one recently where the whole kitchen had been refurbished with new cabinets, new stone floor etc but the AGA was sitting there without a plinth looking quite peculiar.

To put this right would mean a complete strip down of the AGA, then some time to build the plinth (if concrete) or if you use a metal plinth then it would be just a case of putting it in and then the AGA would have to be rebuilt. So not an easy or cheap job.

So the AGA cooker really does need a plinth to get it to the same height as the kitchen cabinets.

So if you are thinking of not having a plinth please reconsider and have one.

So two tips for the AGA cooker plinth.

1. Measure the height of your kitchen cabinets and decide on how high you are going to have it (i.e the same height as your kitchen cabinets or slightly higher). If you are building it yourself from concrete make sure that you make it well before the installation day (I have built two concrete plinths for my AGAs and built both the night before the day of installation - though AGA recommend three days see AGA plinth data page. I used fast trying cement and in both cases the plinth was fine for the next day and nine years later is still fine. Although it has never been finished off so at the front it is still rough. It would benefit from the addition of tiles.

2. Think about the metal plinth. For my 30 Amp AGA I didn't build a plinth but I ordered a AGA metal one. The mat black painted one looks very smart and you don't have to worry about finishing it off once the AGA is fitted.

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AGA Cooker Enameller

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I have just been informed that Hytech the AGA Enameller have changed their website to www.hytechenamellers.co.uk. So if you are looking to get your whole AGA cooker enamelled to look like new again then they are the people to contact on 01278 794481.

Hytech are based in Highbridge in Somerset  so it is just a case finding a plumber or an AGA specialist such as Spillers of Chard to take the bits off the AGA that need renamelling and then getting it to Hytech. They enamel bits or the whole AGA and they also can spray paint the sides to match the colour that you choose. The price I was given for the whole AGA was about £1400 (two years ago).

AGA Cooker Running Costs

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I've just found this the offical AGA running costs. This has a date on it of August 2008.

The weekly running costs from this are:

2 Oven AGA Cooker (see their site for 3 oven and 4 oven running costs)

Willies Chocolate Out Of Stock

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After seeing the TV programme Raising the Bar on Channel 4  I went in search on Willie's chocolate in the local Waitrose store but it had a slot for it but said 'out of stock'. I went back again that week then the week after and the week after and finally I bought some of his chocolate. Anyway fabulous stuff and I have now been going back for more every couple of days but more often than not it is 'out of stock'. I went yesterday and it was out of stock so have to be content with Green and Blacks but really after trying Willie's chocolate nothing compares.

On the Apprentice Final on the BBC recently they had to make a chocolate box and there were some comments about men not buying chocolate for themselves. I was in the queue for the  '10 items and less' till with my just my box of Willies Delectable Cacao Venezuelan 72  to pay for and the bloke in front of me had one too. So there you go who says men don't buy Chocolate for themselves. My wife can't stand it, she likes her milk chocolate, so I get to eat it all...

AGA Cleaning Bath

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We clean lots of AGA cookers in the Bath and North East Somerset area. So please give us a ring if you are looking to get your AGA, oven, range, hob, fridge cleaned or commercial cooker cleaned in this area.

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6 Ways To Reduce The Running Costs Of The AGA Cooker

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Here are 6 ways to reduce the running costs of your AGA cooker:

1. Have the cheapest AGA cooker to run which is the 30 Amp AGA cooker which costs about £11 a week to run. The others cost about £25 a week to run with the 13 Amp maybe higher.

2. Fit AIMS to your AGA so you can program your AGA energy use - you can now fit retrospectively to GAS and OIL AGA cookers. See Discover the The New Smart Way to Programme Your AGA. Though as an aside I think they have spelt 'Programme' wrong. In the UK when we program in the computer sense it is spelt in the same as in the US. Perhaps they thought they are going to give the AGA a schedule and therefore it should be spelt 'Programme'.

3. Do not keep the lids up for long periods on the AGA as it looses heat. If you follow the standard AGA cooking rule of using the top for 20% of the cooking and the ovens for 80% then you are doing it right and the AGA will retain its heat. If you are spending all your time cooking on the top of the AGA then you are doing it wrong.

4.Turn it off in the Summer. It's lovely and hot today and in our kitchen where our 30 Amp AGA sits it is 40C. Hmm I must remember to open the door and windows. But if I really wanted to reduce the running costs I'd switch the AGA off.

5. Turn the AGA down. You may want to put it on a lower setting but this will mean that it will take longer to cook everything.

6. Get your AGA cooker cleaned and serviced regularly. Get the AGA cleaning carried out in the morning and then serviced in the afternoon.

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Do You Switch The AGA Cooker Off For Your Holiday?

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What do you do with your AGA cooker if you are going off on your holidays?  The first thing you are going to do, of course, is make sure that you are going on a UK  AGA cottage holiday so you can have all the comforts of home whilst on holiday. :-)

So switching off the AGA cooker for the holiday period and the different types:

AGA Cleaning

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We have been cleaning AGA cookers for a while now and so have been offering an AGA cleaning service for 5 years in the South West of England and South Wales.

This week I had my 30 Amp AGA cleaned, infact Nigel cleaned it as I wanted to train him up on some new processes that I have introduced to clean AGA cookers. I bought my 30 Amp AGA 18 months ago just before Christmas 2007 and we paid £5500 for it. This was for a two year reconditioned one from reconditioned AGA man Mr Cooker. So this was a significant saving on the price of a new one which are about £11000. As we were renovating our kitchen it was very easy to design the kitchen around it and it still looks fabulous. The top is still one hundred percent and hasn't got any enamel damage and so are chrome lids they are totally scratch free and are like mirrors.

My top AGA cleaning tip is that if your AGA cooker is quite new then the best way to clean the shiny bits that are just inside the ovens is to get a wet microfibre cloth and go over them. All the grease should just wipe off.

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HomePride success down to bold Avertising Campaign

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The Telegraph newspaper have written an article a few days ago on the success of Homepride and its oven cleaning product Oven Pride. So the TV commercial really does work even though it got so many complaints but who cares as they are currently selling 200,000 units a month.

30 Amp AGA Cooker Charging?

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The 30 Amp AGA has a feature where if the heat drops below a certain level (not sure what it is) then it will charge up to get the heat back in the daytime instead of waiting to the middle of the night when it normally charges up and uses cheap rate electricity.

We have had our 30 Amp AGA for 18 months and I can only remember a couple of times when the light has started flashing to say that it charging up in the daytime.  Once was a while ago I'm not sure how much cooking we had done that day and the other time was the other night as we had only just turned back on the night before after switching it off to clean it. We switched it off to clean it by switching off the power on the power switch and of course the timer has been affected. My wife had to stick her head into the kitchen cabinet next to the AGA to reset the timer again to make sure that it is working properly.

So in all if you are worried about the 30 Amp AGA charging up in the daytime I don' t think it would be a regular occurrence if you use the AGA properly with 20% of the cooking on top and 80% of the cooking inside the ovens.

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