“Gas”
“Yeah, it’s built in, yes”
“Gas range with electric ovens”
“It’s got a griddle so you can put the hot saucepans straight on it”
Wondering what on earth everyone is talking about?
I thought you might be!
Well, today we’re talking cookers.
There’s no shortage of choices available… so where on earth do you start?
Do I want gas or electric one and should it be multifunctioning?
Do I want a range or a freestanding cooker?
And how important is it that my cooker has a wok burner, rotisserie and a fish burner?
I’m Georgina Burnett for Which? and over the next few minutes, I’ll be finding out some top tips on finding the best buy cooker for your home.
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Now, here to answer all my cooker questions I have is Nikki Ratcliff from Which?
Now it seems like there is a lot to learn and understand before you buy a cooker? Is that the case or is this just all too new to me?
Well, there are some simple decisions that you need to make first, after that it really should be plain sailing.
The good news is that Which? has done all the hard work, the tests and the research, so that you don’t have to. As long as you know what sort of cooker you want, we can point you in the direction.
OK, so simple decisions first – what are they?
OK, well first f all you need to decide whether you want a freestanding or range cooker.
This decision is largely going to be determined by how much space you have in your kitchen.
Range cookers are much bigger and they’re generally geared towards the serious cook. So they have more cooking space and functions to make your cuisine creations a doddle!
That sounds good to me, so what about the freestanding cooker – what’s good about it?
Well, freestanding cookers cook every bit as well as a range cooker or built-in oven.
They can be stylish too with many models out there coming with stainless steel finish and some of the top end models come with all the functions that you’d expect from a range cooker. And there are gas and electric models to fit every budget needs as well .
Freestanding cookers are of course smaller than range cookers, so they’ll come with two fewer hob rings which is fine for all but the largest of dinner parties.
Now, you mention gas and electric… what’s the story there and what’s best?
Most cookers are gas or electric, which means that the hob, grill and oven are powered by the same fuel type. But there are dual-fuel models out there which will have a gas hob and electric oven, for example.
Gas cookers do tend to be cheaper to run and most cooks like the control and instant heat a gas hob gives you. However, our tests have shown that electric cookers do tend to have better ovens.
So I want to talk about tests with you now Nikki. I know Which? don’t mess around when it comes to testing the performance of these cookers, so how do you go about it?
Well, to give you an idea of how serious our testing experts really are, when it comes to range cookers they spent 14 weeks on each cooker testing the ability, safety and ease of use.
Wow that is a long time… so what on earth were they doing?
Well, there’s a lot of cake baking that goes on! We do this to see how evenly the oven is distributing the heat.
We bake two trays of cakes per oven. Of course we do follow the manufacturer’s instructions to determine the temperature we’re baking at and which shelves to put the cakes on. This test alone creates a mouth-watering 576 cakes.
Oooh, I bet that’s a good day at the office!
And other edible perks to your job?
Well, we also toast slices of white bread on the grill tray to see how far the heat spreads.
The colour of the bread is then assessed to determine how evenly the heat has been distributed from the grill. In all, this adds up to 520 slices or 26 loaves.
So, what is your key tip for cooker shopping?
Well, measuring up is an absolute must before you hit the shops.
If you buy a cooker that’s too big and you’re going to have to modify your kitchen and this is going to be an expensive nightmare that you really could live without.
You buy a cooker that’s too small then it’s going to look odd and food and grime is going to get down between the gaps.
It does sound obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people make this mistake.
So what about the fancy extras that I was talking about earlier, like the rotisserie and the hot plate? Silly extras that we shouldn’t be shelling out for?
It’s all down to personal preference, range cookers do come with a whole host of additional functions and you may not a rotisserie, a griddle or a wok burner for everyday use but they could be great if you want to get the big guns out for a fancy dinner party.
Thank you so much Nikki, some very sound advice there.
And if you want some more tasty morsels of information about cookers, just go to the Which? website where you’ll find all the test results and which models have reached the coveted Best Buy status.
So, are you really telling me that 576 cakes have been eaten or are there some left over somewhere…