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How to buy the best cooker for you
Range cookers make a fantastic focal point in a kitchen, but modern freestanding cookers can look every bit as good. Our expert video guide contains lots of practical advice on both types of cooker to help you decide what to buy.
Which? video guide to buying a cooker
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Can't decide between a range cooker and a freestanding cooker? Watch our video buying guide to get the lowdown on ranges and traditional cookers – and to find out how Which? carries out its tests on cooking performance.
Choosing the best freestanding or range cooker
What should I expect from a range cooker?
With five or six hobs and two ovens, range cookers are ideal if you cook for a large family or host regular dinner parties. They're also likely to come with more accessories than freestanding cookers.
Prices can reach the £2,000 mark, so before you invest in a range cooker, ask yourself whether you'll make full use of all its features.
Are freestanding cookers out of date?
Freestanding cookers are still popular in the UK – there are hundreds of models in the shops, and you can choose from gas cookers, electric cookers and dual-fuel models.
They'll take up less room in the kitchen and cost far less than range cookers – and the Which? Best Buys cook to perfection. Find out what you'll get for your money.
Gas cookers vs electric cookers
Are gas cookers or electric cookers better for boiling, baking and roasting? You can compare types of range cookers and freestanding cookers to try to decide whether gas or electric cookers work best, but it's also a matter of preference.
There are definite pros and cons for each type of cooker – and they can make a difference to your household bills.
What cooker hood should I buy for my cooker?
If you're buying a new cooker, you may also need a new cooker hood to sit above it to extract grease, odours and steam.
Most cooker hoods we tested were good at extracting odours and grease as these particles rise slowly and can be easily extracted. But many cooker hoods are poor at extracting steam, as steam particles rise quickly, so choose a Which? Best Buy cooker hood to keep your kitchen steam-free.
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Which? tests more thoroughly than any other organisation
Cooking ability, safety and ease of use get a thorough going over in the extensive Which? cookers tests, so you can be sure that Which? Best Buys can stand the heat in your kitchen.
Which? bakes hundreds of cakes when testing cookers
To find out how well cookers distribute heat, we get cooking – in our latest cookers tests we baked 576 cakes and toasted 520 slices of bread. We even boil a pan of water on each model and take a thermal image of the hob to see how well the heat is spread.
