Looks-wise, of the two under consideration, I'm thinking the AGA. I know the O and M is later, but I think it's better to go later than earlier, if right on the date doesn't work. Houses do evolve. I never calibrated or worried about BTUs when I had the O and Ms. The people who refurbished them had them set up with 3/4" gas lines and they had POWER. None of this was my doing. Coincidentally, I believe all three were the same model and had the grill-a-vator (sp?) broiler. I've not felt anything as solid, except for a real La Cornue. However, I do understand your thinking about this. I have one question: How often do you think you would use a rotisserie? I regret not having thought of this in my own kitchen. Is a rotisserie worth giving up the look you want? This post was edited by kitchendetective on Fri, Mar 1, 13 at 11:56

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.

Hi Marthavila and Bufflotina. Thank you so much for your advice. I went out yesterday to pick up the following: Quooker faucet/Tap - bought for E699/about $750. Its the polished chrome basic design one. No more kettle. These , and their insinkerator cousin (which produces hot but not boiling water) and a similar ZipHydro are everywhere. The fact that this produces BOILING water makes it the best I think. You turn the tap on (child safety on this one - not on some of the other brands - that why I chose quooker) and TADA!! Boiling water comes out all bubbly and spluttery. Its going to save me a whole lot of time. I boil the kettle once an hour. I can make tea without a kettle. In case you're wondering what I'm talking about please see: http://www.quooker.com/07_uk/site.html (the one I got is the "basic" model PRO3 VaQ- it was on sale and would normally cost at least 1000 dollars/ 899 euro. Here is a review: http://honestcooking.com/2011/04/12/testing-the-quooker/. Garbage disposal - I got a viking one - they were on sale at a good price for Europe. VCFW750 Viking 3/4 HP Continuous Feed Food Waste Disposer was E450/$550 (I know its really really expensive here but the hassle of changing plugs and electrics for such a small item isnt worth it so I bought here instead of US). This is for my prep sink in the island. I'm going to get an insinkerator model 1HP one for my sink beside the dishwasher. I got the Viking one for the prep sink because I love the viking logo on the rim - it just looks nice. I am afraid of Viking products since I saw one of their fridge freezers recently in a showrrom here. It was actually rusting in the freezer compartment - and its only about two years old. Either the dealers abused it or its a bad product. But this is a small item so ......fingers crossed it works ok. I've been picking up bargains for the past few months: I have the following: BlancoMaster-S Baby Faucet/Tap http://www.tapsaver.co.uk/tap_1506.asp which is gorgeous in real life and the professional spray is really forceful cos I have a good pressurised water system. I think its called a Blanco Gourmet Professional in the US. I didnt like the full sized Blancomaster - Its too big - about three foot high and it would dominate the kitchen. This one has all the pro features and function and blends in. However it means my other faucets/taps have to be polished chrome. I was going to go for polished nickel but...... the Blancomaster baby was picked up half price - E350 ($420) so it was an absolute steal so i dont mind. Polished chrome is ok. I've also got a blanco tap/faucet with pro spray for my utility room see: http://www.blanco.co.uk/products/tap/blancotubetwist I picked it up for E200 /$270 last week. Again half price or less. Gaggenau: 24"Combi-Steam and convection Oven http://www.gaggenau.com/GB_en/products/product-detail.do?contentId=08bc3306-c804-4796-983e-58cb2b13f810&family=SteamOven - bought for E2000 ($2700). Ok I paid the full price (not like me at all) but I HAD to have it. They TOLD me that it was 700 euro off but when I got home and checked the price I could have gotten it anywhere for that. But I wanted it and was overcome by impulse and had to have it. Cant wait to crank it up once the kitchen is in (about 8 weeks from now) Gaggenau Coffee Maker http://www.gaggenau.com/US_en/products/coffeemakers-overview/product-detail.do?contentId=3f015e54-a127-4cc9-959f-9d8d2af07820&family=Coffeemaker. I LOVE IT. I picked it up ex display for E500 (about 600 dollars). The price makes the coffee taste sweeter! (having said that the way you put the coffee and water in is a little bit of a nuisance. If I hadnt picked this up for a song I would have gone for the Miele one which has much more convenient way to fill etc) I have had a good look at the Falcon rangecookers. YOU WERE RIGHT. The cooktop is the same as the La Cornufe but the burners arent brass and the grid of iron is enamelled whereas the la cornufe is not I think. The La Cornufe grid (what is the name of that - escapes me right now so i'm calling it a grid) is not shiny whereas the Falcon one is shiny black. Anyhow they are THE SAME SHAPE. Clearly from the same designer and same machine. The door hinges on the falcon are identical to the La cornufe. But the Falcon doesnt have the easy clean system whereby you take out the sides and top of the oven. However the Falcon does have the additional grill. So I am decided. The Falcon retails for about E5000/$6000. THe La Cornufe for about E6200/7500. I have been offered one ex display for less than the Falcon retail price. Its ok that the hinges etc are the same. Its ok that its not a real La Cornufe (who was I kidding at that price). I like it. I am going to go and buy it and I'm going to pick up a neff or miele or siemens 24 inch induction cooktop(hob) to go to the left of it and I'll get a 24 inch butchers block for the other side of it. It'll look good. I'll get a nice pot filler tap and some fired earth tiles (http://www.firedearth.com/)for behind it and I will be set. I will still have a look at the Mercury but from the pics i've seen its the wrong look. I saw a really nice Fisher & Paykel three door (french door) fridge freezer yesterday. http://fisherpaykel.com/product/refrigeration/refrigerators/index.cfm?productuid=A11C44C2-EAF3-81BC-9B6A6087173AA8A9 Only 2K as opposed to 8-10K for the Miele.http://www.appliancist.com/refrigerators/miele-refrigeration-line-mastercool-control-system.html (You think the Miele looks good in these pictures. You ought to see it in real life. It is lovely. THe F&P is a good bit smaller but so is the price.... I am torn. I saw a Miele dishwasher ex display a little while ago. Based on the almost unanimous good opnion of same on here I think I will just go and buy it. Hope its still there. Thanks so much for your help. I had another look at the Aga Legacys/rangemaster induction cooktops yesterday and decided definitely that they are too cheap looking for my new kitchen. The induction top is surrounded by rubbery looking plastic stuff. I don't know what material it is...I only know its unattractive. The falcon and ilve (called brittania in UK called Ilve in US and Ireland) ones have steel surrounds around the induction tops which are much nicer, and stop spills falling onto the floor. I did check out a Bertazzoni but they are a little lightweight compared to their rival Wolf so it was a no. So Hopefully by this time tomorrow I shall be a proud La Cornufe owner. See pics of product here: http://www.thestylishhouse.net/2009/04/in-my-dreams.html I have a laundry room upstairs and i have bosch washer and dryer for there. i fancy putting another washer/dryer into mmy utility room for towels and dishcloths etc. i've been offered a kupperbusch integrated w/d and i'm thinking i'll take it. I still need fridge freezer - I love the Miele but it super pricey microwave Probably Gaggenau Warming drawer - probably gaggenau winecooler: something small and unobtrusive. Its not the look I want really i might integrate one into a nook in the dining room. small dishwasher for island (a little drawer one) refrigerated drawers for fresh meat. my husband keeps mixing raw and cooked meats in the fridge so i'm buying drawers for the meat now and keeping the big fridge raw meat free! faucet/tap for island - I'll have to go with blanco to make everything match. The polished chrome quooker will be beside it. prep sink for island - I wanted the kohler http://www.us.kohler.com/onlinecatalog/detail.jsp?from=thumb&frm=null&module=Kitchen+Sinks&item=337202&prod_num=6588§ion=1&category=5&resultPage=0--1543372007 but i mightgo for the Shaws of Darwen model which is half the price with all of the good looks. See: - http://www.shawsofdarwen.com/classic-sinks/10-round-sink.html Its the undermounted I like. I will get a shaws of Darwen 36 inch (900cms) double for my kitchen and 36 inch (900cms) single for my utility room. A 36 inch wide single sink will be able to accommodate my bbq burners and grills which is what I need. http://www.shawsofdarwen.com/6-classic-sinks I had been stuck on the franke big one made for villeroy & boch http://www.appliance-world.co.uk/Franke_VBK771_Belfast+Sink.html but in my kitchen that might be a dirt gatherer. Too many nooks and crannies. What do you think? I'll be back with photos of kitchen space soon. Dippy P.s. My flooring is from Mandarin Stone - the Jerusalem grey gold Ramon see http://www.mandarinstone.com/products/limestone/classic_jerusalem_ramon_tumbled It is beautiful. I have no regrets whatsoever. Even my Mother in law likes it. Its a first.

Mayorswife, If you're still interested in comments from Aga owners, we have a 2-oven Aga. We have had it for a bit over 10 years now, and we love it. You opened this post with concerns over two reports: that AGAs make your kitchen hot, and that the learning curve is very steep. Responding to the second concern first, I do not remember the learning curve as being that steep. There is one, certainly. I also recall there being a learning curve when I, who grew up with and learned to cook on gas cooktops and ranges, moved into an apartment with an electric stove. I remember learning curves associated with the charcoal grill, the crock pot, and the microwave. The AGA was certainly no worse than any of those. As Wa8b and Trixieinthegarden noted, the main change is the shift in emphasis to positioning rather than temperature and time. As to your second concern, heating up the kitchen, much depends on what you mean by "hot" and how you use your kitchen in the summer. Since you have seen a working AGA, you have some idea how hot it feels. Your description sounds correct to me. The concern most people have is heat during warm weather. If your kitchen is tiny and enclosed and does not have any air circulation, the AGA will make it uncomfortably hot when your house gets over a certain temperature (what that would be depends on you and your climate). In my part of the country at least, the AGA dealer recommends that you have an HVAC vent near the AGA to help with air circulation and to keep the heat from the AGA from building up in its immediate vicinity. I have thought that this helped in our house. In addition, our kitchen has a very open plan, which has also helped, and a ceiling fan. A point in connection with summer heat that is often overlooked in this context is that serious cooking on a modern cooktop or range, particularly baking, will also heat up your kitchen during warm weather. For most situations, the heat in the kitchen will be greater than with an AGA, although for a shorter period of time during the day. You should consider this aspect when thinking about how the AGA would compare. If baking, say, a chicken casserole in one of the Wolf ovens you were looking at wouldn't heat up your kitchen uncomfortably during the height of summer, I wouldn't think the AGA would bother you. As a case in point, we live in piedmont North Carolina, and it certainly gets hot and muggy here during the summer. Because of the heat created in the kitchen by cooking, we rarely used the gas range we had before we got the AGA during the hottest part of the summer. We often weren't at home for dinner (extended daylight activities), and when we were, as much as possible we ate salads and other food that did not require cooking (I ate a lot of tuna salad for dinner, growing up!). Instead of the range, we used the microwave, or, if we wanted something more substantial, the outdoor grill. When we got the AGA, we decided that we could turn it off between July 4 and Labor Day. We had a portable burner/broiler combination that would heat water for tea in the morning, and that was really the only use we were making of the old range during those months. We have more or less followed that pattern ever since. If, for some reason, we want/need real cooking ability during that time that we can't get from the combination of the portable burner, the grill, the microwave, and the toaster oven, we can always turn the AGA up for that particular occasion. I am not aware of any exceptional expense in starting it back up. Other AGA owners in this State whom I know keep their AGAs up and running throughout the summer. They have concluded that the heat assistance they get from the AGA during the winter balances the extra air conditioning they need during the summer, and/or that the heat from the AGA during the summer is not cumulatively more than the heat caused by their old ranges when they used them. As to the AGA's performance, I checked with my husband before completing this response, and we agree that its results are excellent. We both cook on it. He said that if asked what he liked best about the AGA, he would say that he liked what it does to food. For example, just this last week, we cooked yet another Thanksgiving turkey for the extended family. We get this job every year for Thanksgiving and Christmas because (i) everyone in the family likes the roasted turkeys the AGA produces better than anyone else's efforts, and (ii) we're willing to do it every year, twice a year, because it really doesn't take much effort on our part. As to your husband's concern over smells, it hasn't been a problem for us. Smells are an individual matter, and we may have no problem because we mostly like the smells associated with cooking food. I find some fishy smells a bit strong, but we cook fish in the ovens and the only odor problem comes from the cooking pan itself before it's washed or goes into the dish washer. As Wa8b noted, if this is a concern for you, you could go on and install a range hood, which some AGA owners do (we don't have one). Alternatively, you could arrange your kitchen so that you leave yourself the option of installing a hood or exhaust fan later on if you want. You wanted to know what AGA owners like best and what we dislike most. I have already mentioned what my husband said he liked best (the way the food comes out). His biggest dislike is that you have to be careful of the top, because it will scratch. I thought about this question, and I confess to being somewhat at a loss. I would probably have done a better job six or eight years ago. At this point, the AGA is part of my life, and I wouldn't trade it for any other range or cooktop/oven combo. I like not having to ride herd on the AGA while it's cooking, once I put food into the ovens. Getting over the learning curve is probably necessary for this, but it seems to me that I can produce better food for less effort with the AGA. The AGA has become something more like a cooking partner than an appliance. I do my part getting the food ready to be cooked, then the AGA does its part. I like being free from the tyranny of a timer. The AGA's ovens are more forgiving of time vagaries than other ovens. The AGA is a truly great range for working parents, which is what we were when we got ours. If some domestic emergency occurs just as the meatloaf is supposed to come out, there is no need to worry; the meatloaf will be just fine while you wash off and bandaid up the scraped knee or quell the dispute (or whatever. And it IS possible to burn something in an AGA oven; you just have to work harder to do it. We put a roast in one evening, had some crisis come up and forgot about it for two days. The roast was an inedible lump of charcoal by that time). As to cons, it would be nice if there was another row or two of runners lower down in each oven, and the simmering oven does not oxidize its spills as efficiently as the roasting oven and must be cleaned from time to time. The AGA can be used for noncooking purposes. It makes a reasonably good quicky dryer or iron. Although the AGA suits us, we recognize that it may not suit everyone else. If someone's preferred foods include foods that are not suited to the AGA's style of cooking, the AGA is probably not for them. For example, those who prefer cooking in a wok shouldn't get an AGA. I think there are some cooks who really like the continued interaction with food as it cooks that stovetop cooking involves; they would probably find an AGA unsatisfying. Other people prefer other types of ranges or cooktops/ovens for different reasons. AGA owners in my State were willing to talk about their AGAs to potential buyers, to answer questions, and to offer helpful suggestions. I found that helpful when we were deciding on our AGA. In fact, we talked to three of them. Your area dealer may be able to put you in touch with other AGA owners in your area for information about heat during the summer, for instance. Meanwhile, whatever you have or do decide, good luck!