Cookers - Advice & Help

cambsno

cambsno

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Thinking of getting a new cooker, do a lot of cooking and while ours is ok, its been in the house 8 years from new and before i spend £100 on a clean, I want to see if worth upgrading.

Its built in to the workspace, on Currys site you can go for a double oven or inbuilt, which is this or are they the same?

How easy is it for a sparky to remove this one and plug in a new one? Rough costs on that? I am guessing they are all a standard size too?

Have a gas hob which you can just see above, again, costs on a gas bloke to swap out? Can you get a 5 ring on to fit the same size hole in worktop (ours is 4 ring)?

IMG_0014 by snowens, on Flickr
 
Yours looks like a double oven?
It shouldn't take long to take out as there should be a cable out connector on the wall behind it. I presume its just electric? If its a fan main oven and works well a £40 clean would be fine.
I you are changing the hob and you have enough power there id swap for an induction hob (check all your pans with a magnet to ensure they will work. If you take this route getting a wide 5 ring hob in shouldn't be an issue either.
 
The oven is probably just on a 13Amp plug and not hard wired into place and it'll be be a standard size. Take a day trip down to Currys (other stores are available) to check them out even if you plan to buy online as you can't always tell the quality from pictures.

Unless you're mad keen to get rid of gas for the hob I'd not buy induction, I love mine but it's a pan killer and will not work on alloy or copper pans unless they have a steel insert in the base.
 
Take a look at Appliances online who may be a lot cheaper than Currys.
As Steep says, many ovens are now on just a 13amp plug, but even if it needs hard wiring its a 15 minute job for an electrician providing you have a sufficiently sized cable feeding it, which I would assume you do have.
 
I'm not sure a double oven will be on a 13A plug but as has been said, wiring it in to a hard point is as easy as replacing a socket on the wall and shouldn't be an expensive job for an electrician to do, although you may find he/she has a minimum call out charge. Far be it for me to advocate tax evasion but it might be possible for the sparkie to do it for cash... It really is a simple DIY job though but make sure you isolate the cooker point from the mains before you start! (There's usually a socket on the cooker switch plate - if the socket's dead, the cooker point should be.)

The hob may be connected to the wall with a bayonet fitting which is a simple DIY job as well BUT should be done by a Gas Safe person just in case - get the electrics wrong and you might blow a fuse/trip a breaker but get the gas wrong and it could be a BIG bang. Shouldn't break the bank but again, possibly a minimum charge will apply.

The silly thing is that either job will probably take the tradesperson little more time than coming over to give a quote for the job! Personally, I would go down the cleaning route unless you want a new cooker or there's actually something wrong with the current set ups. When choosing a new one, make sure you get one that fits the gap (sounds obvious but a few mm can make a huge difference!)
 
That looks like a double fan assisted oven. If it is then it will, or should, be supplied via the cooker point, as each oven will have a 3kW (12 amp) heating element. The maximum load on a socket outlet is 3kW, so they can only be used to supply a single fan oven, although when I was doing electrical inspections I did come across at least two instances where two separate sockets had been used to supply a double oven. This meant that switching off one of the ovens left the other one live, which could have proved interesting for someone repairing it!
 
Just as an aside, it shouldn't cost £100 to get cleaned either, we are in North London and have a great company that do our double width range for £85, yours would be £55 if there is a franchisee in your area. Google up Oven Rescue to see if there is, they do an amazing job.
 
Cheers. To add a few points.

Top is not fan, bottom is, assume it's hard wired in as there is a switch for cooker and other appliances elsewhere

Hob I would only consider gas, instant and like the control it gives.

Our cooker cleaner does an amazing job but is £100 or just over. Noticed that many now are self cleaning which looks good.
 
Ao.com will install stuff that they sell you. 70 quid for an oven and 90 for a hob. That actually seems a little on the spendy side (I'd expect trades to do it for a call out fee which round here is about 55) but it's pretty convenient. Also, ao.com are cheap, fast and reliable for appliances.

http://ao.com/installation/electric-gas-cookers
 
Cartus said:
Induction hobs are quicker, more controllable and more efficient than gas hobs, I wouldn't dismiss the idea at all.
Click to expand...

Although if you have a lot of Aluminium pans and/or use a wok, there's extra expense in replacing them with induction friendly cookware.
 
As has already been said. Looking at that cooker, it is probably hard wired and is quite simple if you know what you are doing. Most suppliers of new cookers these days offer a fitting service. For example, Currys charge £70 for fitting a new cooker, which includes the disconnection and disposal of the old appliance, see link below.

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/knowhow-cooker-install-426-commercial.html
 
Cartus said:
Induction hobs are quicker, more controllable and more efficient than gas hobs, I wouldn't dismiss the idea at all.
Click to expand...


AND - if you lose your electricity due to power cuts you are left high and dry.

When I refitted my kitchen 5 years ago I insisted on gas hob and double oven so I would always be able to make hot food and get hot drinks. So far the top oven is the one that's usually used as I'm on my own
 
camerassassin said:
When I refitted my kitchen 5 years ago I insisted on gas hob and double oven so I would always be able to make hot food and get hot drinks. So far the top oven is the one that's usually used as I'm on my own
Click to expand...
I'm on my own and have a double oven but I always use the bottom fan oven. The top oven is only used for grilling.
 
camerassassin said:
AND - if you lose your electricity due to power cuts you are left high and dry.
Click to expand...

Perfectly true but that would apply to conventional electric cookers and hobs - you could always keep a camping stove in the shed for when you have power cuts!

Having extensively used all three types of hob, electric, gas and induction, I would rate the induction the most highly in terms of controllability and efficiency.

You do need the right (iron/steel) pans though. We used to use an aluminium coffee pot a lot and that wasn't easy to replace.
 
My induction hob lasted less than a month before I replaced it with another gas hob.
Yes they're fast....but no faster than instant flame.
Yes they're controllable...but no more so than adjustable flame.
I hated induction.
Gas hob every time.
 
Will this turn into a heated debate? Induction or gas?
 
No. No debate, gas is better!!! (Can always boil a kettle/pan of water if there's a power cut.) Although I prefer an electric oven and grill so we have a dual fuel cooker.
 
Some of us don't have the benefit of dual fuel, we have only electricity where we live. In fact, in our previous property, we used neither for cooking. We had an oil fired range (Rayburn), which was superb. If the power went off, we could still cook a meal, have hot water and keep warm.

We keep a small gas camping stove for for when the power goes off, which it does quite regularly in our part of Lincolnshire.
 
In may respects I have the best of both worlds - this house was originally electric only , but when central heating was installed a gas system was installed so when I did the kitchen I took the opportunity to get a gas cooker [ there had never been a 'proper' oven - I'd had to rely on a combination convection/microwave oven - and this still works :)
 
Advantages of induction vs gas hobs:

At least as fast to heat up as gas.
As controllable.
No wasted energy heating up the kitchen.
No dangerous flame to be accidentally extinguished/and or blow the house up with gas.
Much easier to clean.
Improved aesthetic appearance.
Quieter than gas.
Can be installed in areas with no mains gas.

It's gotta be induction! :)
 
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