As quintessentially British as Fish and Chips and Coronation Street, AGA cookers have proudly stood as the heart of countless homes for over a century.
These iconic appliances inspire a passionate following among their owners, who, once accustomed to cooking on an AGA, rarely consider using anything else. The exceptional craftsmanship of AGA cookers ensures their longevity, with well-maintained units often serving faithfully for 30 years or more. Some AGAs have surpassed even this impressive lifespan, becoming true kitchen heirlooms that span generations.
Here’s an interesting fact: a competition was held in 2009 to find the oldest AGA still in use. The winning cooker belonged to the Hett family in Sussex, who installed an AGA in 1932 that was still going strong. That’s an incredible 77 years of service.
So what makes these cookers so well loved – that they are considered a family member and often named, while many chefs and celebrities say they couldn’t live without them?
The rich and curious history of the AGA cooker.
Even though it’s the home of manufacturing today, AGA’s beginnings weren’t in bonny old England. The original AGA was the brainchild of Swedish Nobel-winning physicist Dr Gustaf Dalén, who invented it in 1922 when he noticed how exhausted his wife was from all the cooking, wanting to create something efficient and easy to use. Interestingly, Dalén was blind when he invented the AGA after losing his sight in an explosion while developing another invention. The cooker was introduced to the UK in 1929, where it quickly gained popularity and has been embraced by generations of passionate cooks everywhere.
The AGA warmed and nourished Antarctic explorers during the 1930s when 16 of the Graham Land Expedition Team.
News soon spread once AGA became available in the 1930s, with many larger British country homes installing them in their kitchens. Due to rapid popularity and the high demand to ‘keep up with the Joneses’, AGA couldn’t keep up with manufacturing, and the waiting time for a new cooker was 27 weeks. Which just added more to its allure.
AGA may be world-famous for its incredible cooking capabilities, but the much-loved cookers are also revered for the extensive range of colours available. The colour palette has grown considerably since AGA introduced the unconventional colour options of pale blue, pale green, grey and white in the 1950’s. There is now an incredible 17 colours available to choose from 50 + years later.
Stranger than fiction.
The 1960s saw a switch from coal to more convenient energy sources, with the oil-fired AGA being followed by the Gas Model to adapt to the decline in solid fuel, making them an even more appealing option. Their status symbol grew to the point of being explicitly named by British novelists in stories by Jilly Cooper and Joanna Trollope in the 1980’s. By the 1990s, AGA cookers were so popular in certain parts of British culture that the term’ AGA saga’ was coined, referring to a genre of fiction set amongst stereotypical upper-middle-class society.
By the 2000s, AGA had moved beyond its traditional country kitchen constraints and was finding a devoted following of younger, more urban cooks, who were embracing the cooker’s more modern features with dual control electric programmable ovens to suit the 21st-century lifestyle.
A Different Style of Cooking Embraced by Chefs and Passionate Cooks.
The iconic AGA cooker has captured the hearts of many for numerous reasons. While celebrity chef endorsements from Mary Berry and Marco Pierre White have certainly boosted its popularity, there’s much more to this kitchen staple than its attractive appearance. Let’s delve into why the AGA’s exceptional design makes it a culinary powerhouse that goes far beyond its pretty face.
AGA cookers stand out from their competitors thanks to their unique combination of versatility, efficiency, and superior cooking performance. At the heart of an AGA’s exceptional capabilities is its radiant heat cooking method, which locks in moisture and flavour, resulting in more delicious and nutritious meals. The cast-iron construction stores and distributes heat evenly, eliminating the need for preheating and allowing for the simultaneous cooking of multiple dishes across various temperature zones without the need for dials or switches.
Devoted AGA user and beloved British baker Mary Berry has used AGA cookers for decades and currently owns a 3-oven AGA Duel Control. Berry values the constant readiness and simplicity of AGA cooking, saying, “It takes the thinking out of cooking”.
Modern electric AGA models offer enhanced energy efficiency and flexibility, with programmable settings that allow users to manage heat levels and turn off different sections as needed. The AGA’s multifunctionality extends beyond cooking, as it can serve as a secondary heat source for your home, potentially reducing the need for additional appliances and heating costs.
Renowned chef Marco Pierre White has two AGA cookers in his home kitchen and has been cooking on them for over 20 years. Marco considers the AGA the closest thing to a professional stove for home use, praising its versatility, reliability and ability to enhance flavours, calling it a “workhorse” of the kitchen.
Chefs and home cooks appreciate AGA’s ability to perform multiple cooking functions simultaneously, from roasting to slow cooking, learning to utilize different areas of the cooker for various tasks, and taking advantage of its heat distribution. The AGA cooker seems to inspire a cooking style that blends professional techniques with home cooking comfort, encouraging versatility, intuition, and a return to traditional cooking methods.
Our top 10 reasons to own an AGA.
- How they cook. The unique design featuring heavy iron castings absorbs and retains heat, so your food is cooked by radiant heat, not hot air, locking in the taste and nutrients of your food.
- Their unbeatable quality and lifespan. If you look after your AGA, it will look after you, sometimes beyond your lifetime.
- What you can do on them, simultaneously! You can do it all at once with multiple ovens, hotplates, and cooking zones. Great for busy families or hosting larger dinner parties.
- How forgiving they are. If you leave something in the oven by accident, their cooking method means it’s very rare your food isn’t salvageable.
- They are self-cleaning. No more toxic cleaners and back-breaking scrubbing.
- They can replace multiple kitchen appliances, including toasters, electric kettles, clothes dryers and even irons. Saving you lots of kitchen space.
- They are a fantastic eco-friendly option, with 70% of every AGA made from recycled materials.
- Their cast-iron structure makes them incredibly energy efficient, with modern models offering features like individual oven and hotplate operation and eco-modes to reduce energy consumption.
- They really are part of the family. People are drawn to their warmth. When you install an AGA, your kitchen becomes the heart of the home.
Experience the brilliance of AGA.
With options ranging from two to five ovens and various fuel types, AGA cookers can be customized to suit any kitchen size and cooking style. Their durability and longevity, combined with their timeless aesthetic appeal, make them not just appliances but cherished centrepieces of the home. Explore our AGA range here or come and visit our Hastings Showroom. We can take you through an AGA demonstration to experience its brilliance firsthand.