Does anyone cook on/in an Aga?

The Aga is a scientifically desiged wonder which, originally, burned coke - a thowaway product of the domestic Gas industry.
It burns its fuel 100% in a very small firebox and stores the heat in the massive iron construction. It achieves this by using the (normally) waste heat that goes up the chimney to preheat the fuel.
As a consequence it cannot maintain a sufficiently-night chimney temperature to keep a draught flowing and utilises a by-pass tube to pump hot air up the chimney - which is why they are so difficult to kindle.
The stove you describe is essentially a catering version. You require an AGA-C (cooker only) or an AGA-CB (cooker-boiler) which can supply domestic hot water.

Your model will be much too big, much too heavy and much too expensive to run in a normal hiome. A CB, (Hot plate, simmwring plate, hot oven, simmerring oven and hot water (not for house heating) is great on grounds of economy. It cannot be shut down (takes 3 days to cool/reach oprating temperature) and if properly installed and maintained will run for years without trouble - just clear fine ash every moring and fill with fuel, clear ash every evening and re-fuel + if you forget will remain for 24-30 hours without attention - just add a little fuel and it will re-ignite. A great constant source of background heat in house.
Buy godd hard fuel (anthracite) : difficult to run on wood which requires top draught.

Ken Green

So we went to see a used AGA tonight. Not the red one I posted earlier but one (almost) like this:



It too is one of the "modern" AGAs that use electricity and isn't always on.

Dang! They're so pretty!

Mr. B is completely flummoxed by the tiny ovens, though he loves the look of the beast. I'm a bit apprehensive as well. They are so small in comparison to what we're used to -- and we don't have an overly large oven.

I actually do see some benefits to a small oven. They don't take as long to heat up, for one.

But... I'm just not sure.

The one we looked at works perfectly and it's for sale for pretty cheap. It's got a few dings and nicks on the cooktop but that doesn't bother me; shiny, perfect, things make me nervous.

What to do, what to do, what to do?

My stove, for the first fifteen years we had our bungalow house, was half that size, and even back then I was doing a lot of cooking. I got used to it.

Then we remodeled and got a larger size stove, what I'd call ordinary and inexpensive, like mine now in ABQ; this one has ~~ 29" oven width.

Later, up north, I had my previously talked about O'Keefe and Merritt (came with the house), also with 'small ovens' but about the size of your pictured Aga. Didn't take long to get used to it. Maybe this varies person to person, and probably about what you cook.. and how long something can bother you.

I'll be interested in other's opinions.

Ohhhhh, Miele. Lovely to look at, super costly to own. Remind hubby that beauty is only skin deep and to save his $10,000 for a lovely vacation instead.