I know people who have them swear by them. I love the look and would love to have one. Good luck on your choice. They last forever.

Which Aga are you talking about? The traditional always-on model? The Legacy? The Six-four?

The traditional is indeed built like a tank, and uses more fuel then a tank-no joke-don't get me started.

The Legacy is actually built by another company Aga bought, and is a pretty much like a normal range, but with the Aga look.

The Six-Four is a good range top coupled with two smallish ovens, a warming drawer and a separate broiler, in an odd-sized (39") range.

My Legacy was just delivered this week. A gorgeous piece of equipment! It's a basic gas range, so it should last forever really...as all basic gas ranges do.

The traditional Aga's have lasted forever :) I have been in very old homes in England and seen ranges that would be antiques elsewhere :) They're amazing stoves.

We also have a Lacanche, which is heavier than the Legacy and built to last. It's also more expensive, but I prefer it's looks to the Legacy. It's also a great deal bigger (the Legacy is 36" and the Lacanche is 55 1/2") Both though are lovely stoves, worth every penny and they should last at least your lifetime.

I think the always-on models are appropriate only for places like the remote north of Scotland, where the wind blows cold even in August.

Good friends have a traditional 4-oven natural gas Aga which they got when they remodeled their home in 2004. She is a serious home cook with professional training and loves its durability and looks; her husband does the cleaning and he thinks the burners and stovetop are a bit of a bear to clean (their Aga is yellow and shows all the drips and spills). She did tell me that there is a real learning curve with the Aga, especially with baking, as it's not your regular bake-for-50-minutes-at-350-degrees type of oven.

I bought my Aga in 93.I reallylike it but itsjust hubby and I now I think were gonna sell ours.Mine is the 4 oven black.Cooking is a little different but its like everything else you get use to it.Great for holidays.I can get everything ready put in different ovens let it cook,pull all out at the same time when guests arrive.

Is there a Domain Furniture anywhere near you?
They're selling brand new ones w/ full warranty for 60+% off. 2 weeks ago, the AGA Cooker was $4430; Legacy was $1980.

good luck.

Unfortunatly, the closest dealer is 1 1/2 hours away from me. I was thinking that may be a problem with servicing. I live in
Middle GA so the always on oven may not be a good choice for me. I am also trying to go "green" and was unsure about the amount of fuel used.
cpovey,How usable are the 6/4 ovens if they are smallish? Don't know if I want to commit to an odd size range.

clayplay,

Don't even think about the traditional always-on model if you live in Georgia.

If you are concerned about being 'green', again don't even think about the traditional Aga. As to fuel usage, here are some numbers, based on propane, for a conventional large range (Bluestar 36" RNB with grill) versus a traditional Aga.

Conventional range (based on measurements with my Bluestar range). I have a 125 gallon propane tank. I use approximately 2.5% per month for cooking, or roughly 3.125 gallons of propane per month for cooking. At $4.00 per gallon, that equals $12.50/month for propane for cooking.

A traditional Aga would average (per Aga's figures) 3,000 BTU/hour. Doesn't sound like much, but remember that is 24 hours/day, or 72,000 BTU/day, or 2,160,000 BTU/month. This equals 25.8 gallons/month or $94.32/month for propane. 7.6 times as much energy and 7.6 times the cost of operation. Not very green, is it?

In addition, if you run an AC unit, for every BTU the Aga uses, you need to use 1.5 to 2 BTU's of energy to remove that BTU of heat.

Aga recommends an annual service call, to tune and clean the burner, an additional expense.

Conventional Aga ranges would use the same amount of gas as any other conventional range.

You can ask others re the ovens, as I have no direct experience. Just don't get caught up in the hype of 'four ovens', as one is dedicated to broiling.

'I think the always-on models are appropriate only for places like the remote north of Scotland, where the wind blows cold even in August.'

Or the Pacific NorthWest.

I just got a claret red Aga 6-4 delivered last month! It is yet to be installed so I am not able to speak about performance right now. The 6-4 bears a strong resemblance to the traditional Aga cooker but performs like a traditional DF range. It is cheaper than the traditional cooker to purchase and, given that it is not "always on" should be less expensive to maintain as well. As a single grandmom, I couldn't be happier with my 6-4's smallish ovens. There's enough capacity to do simultaneous cooking of several meals for large crowds when needed but small enough to use only what's necessary when I'll be cooking just for me. So far, I couldn't be happier with my choice of an Aga 6-4.

Meanwhile, I personally know others who own traditional Aga cookers and who claim to be as happy as mice in the cheese factory with their units.

If you want to hear more opinions from owners of traditional Aga cookers, try the "Agalovers" group on Yahoo.

We have had the traditional always on 4 oven Aga since 1994 and love it. The Aga cooks everything better and easier with the radient heat ovens made of case iron. Our Aga is green and looks new after 14 years. Initally we had propane but now have natural gas. Changing propane tanks was a hassle. Would not recommend unless you have natural gas. Also it does generate some heat. We live in Charlotte, NC and turn off the Aga in July-August. Last Christmas we did a 24 lb turkey in the Aga. Ovens are large enough to fit 98% of what most people cook. Aga cooking is a little different but very easy to get used to. Last year we were thinking about moving closer to grandchildren and the first and most important question in every house we looked at was where do we put the Aga? The Aga is a luxury, but ours gets used daily 10 months of the year. Some kitchens have multiple dishwashers, some have multiple refrigerators, our kitchen has multiple cooking stations.

Love the Aga