The best range cookers are the centerpiece to your kitchen. Not just because their functionality is the key for all aspiring chefs, but because they’re a stylish and luxurious all-in-one solution to your cooking needs.
That’s because a range cooker combines your oven and hob, all in one beautiful freestanding appliance. There are three main types of range cooker to choose from: electric (where the hobs and oven are all electric), gas (where you’ll get a gas oven and hobs) and dual fuel, which combines all the benefits of having an electric oven with the controllability of traditional gas hobs.
Range cookers are also wider than a standard integrated oven. With this extra space comes room for plenty of space for cooking for the whole family, as well as exciting features and functions. Sometimes that means up to four ovens, other models come with storage, grills and warming drawers. It all adds up to an essential part of creating your dream kitchen.
From traditional to modern high-end designs, and from widths which range from 90cm through to a generous 120cm, there are range cookers out there to suit all luxury kitchen styles and layouts. No wonder they’re one of the must-haves for a new kitchen.
With that in mind, here is our pick of eight of the very best range cookers to complete your new kitchen…
Image: Rangemaster
Rangemaster Nexus
Size: From 90-110cm
When you think of a range cooker, you might automatically think of a traditional farmhouse-style affair – but the Rangemaster Nexus is as contemporary as they come.
This sleekly designed cooker is ideally suited to a modern kitchen, boasting charcoal blacks, glossy slate and stainless steel finishes, and brushed chrome accents, and comes in two fuel types to choose from, with either dual fuel or induction cooking.
Its modern rotary controls are made from diamond turned aluminium, while it also features a hotplate, bread proving drawer and grill.
Learn more at Rangemaster.co.uk
Smeg Symphony
Size: From 90-110 cm
Is there a cooler appliance brand to kit out your ideal kitchen with than Smeg? Fantastic features paired with gorgeous Italian styling… a Smeg range cooker is the ideal accompaniment to your new luxury kitchen. The Smeg Symphony is a dual fuel range cooker which boasts up to four oven spaces (on the 110cm models), as well as a fully variable grill compartment and seven gas hob rings.
Perhaps the greatest extra feature of the Symphony, though? It has a Vapour Clean function, which means that when you’ve finished cooking, all you need to do is simply add some water and washing up liquid to the bottom of the oven, and the cooker will even take care of the cleaning, too. This is one of the best Smeg range cookers and it’s perfect for busy households.
More details at smeguk.com
Image: Bertazzoni
Bertazzoni Professional Series
Size: From 90cm to 120cm
Italian cooking experts Bertazzoni’s range cookers blend beautiful design with professional performance – so much so, that the luxury brand, which has been crafting superb stoves since the late 19th Century, has taken home numerous design awards as a result.
Professional by name and professional by nature, this line of both electric and dual fuel range cookers offers a huge amount of features, including 11-function ovens, hob brass hob burners, including a dual-ring power burner, a stainless steel electric teppanyaki griddle, and a digital programmer which displays which oven functions are selected, manages your cooking time and even gives feedback on the oven’s real-time temperature – to really enjoy cooking to a professional standard. Meanwhile, style is at the heart of everything about this range cooker, even down to its designer control knobs and squared handle details.
More details at uk.bertazzoni.com
Image: AGA
Rayburn 600 Series
Rayburn cookers are a brand of AGA – and there’s a reason they’re the defacto choice for premium range cookers. That also means that unlike many other range cookers, this Shropshire-made range is available as either oven-only, or available as both a cooker, hot water and central heating system – compatible with modern heating systems and capable of heating up to 20 radiators, allowing you to control your hot water and heating separately from your cooker.
Meanwhile, the cooker itself combines a traditional design with smart eco-modes, as well as a stunning centrepiece colourways, from slate and white designs, to stand-out pistachio and aubergine shades.
Then, a cast-iron hotplate big enough to house eight saucepans, four heat zones ideal for all types of cooking, and a main oven which is 16% larger than the main oven on smaller Rayburn cookers.
More details at agaliving.com
Image: Fisher & Paykel
Fisher & Paykel OR120DDWGX2
Size: 120cm
If oven space is your priority and you want something with a contemporary look, then you’ll love this range cooker. This super wide model from design-led New Zealand brand Fisher & Paykel gives you two 71L total capacity electric ovens and six burner gas top including space for two woks, so you can cook family feasts of huge proportions… and all the trimmings.
It also comes complete with storage drawer and a humidity-warming drawer, for storing your food once it’s cooked – ideal for entertaining.
For those who hate cleaning, this is one of the best range cookers as it has catalytic liners which break down any fatty or oily splashes whilst you’re cooking – it then just needs a quick wipe clean after it’s been used.
More details at fisherpaykel.com
Image: Stoves
Stoves Sterling
Size: 90 – 110cm
This British brand offers ultra-premium contemporary cookers with the latest tech, in three fuel types, so whatever your cooking preference, the Sterling range has it covered.
The preferences don’t stop there, though: with four oven cavities, the cooking possibilities with this luxury appliance are huge. It’s packed with exciting features for keen cooks, including a ‘Maxi-Grill’ conventional oven, a multifunction oven with eleven different cooking functions such as pizza and bread proving settings, an Equiflow fan oven and an electric slow cook oven. Because, why choose the oven you want when you could have, well, all of them?
An elegant ceramic glass hob compliments the sleek stylings of this range (as well as doubling as an easy wipe-clean surfaces), while its modernity extends to the latest tech too.
Homes and kitchens are becoming smarter (see our smart fridge freezers article!) and the Sterling range cooker has a Bluetooth connected timer, which allows you to control and adjust cooking times on app on your smartphone or tablet – without even needing to be in the kitchen.
More details at stoves.co.uk
Image: AGA
AGA Dual Control
Size: 100 – 150cm
An AGA is more than just a cooker: it’s everyone’s dream cooker. And for good reason – not only does the iconic range cooker give off ultimate cosy country kitchen chic, but it literally keeps your home cosy, too, thanks to this 24/7 Radiant Heat model, which keeps your home gently warm all day long.
This is because, unlike most other range cookers, the AGA’s ovens are always on, but the hotplates can be turned on and off separately, whenever you need. Usefully, this also saves energy and your fuel bills.
As for its cooking capabilities, the Dual Control model features gas cast-iron roasting, baking and simmering ovens, with electric hotplates – of which, the boiling plate can hold three saucepans at the same time while at its highest heat setting, and can also bring water to the boil even faster than a kettle.
More info at agaliving.com
Image: Smeg UK
Smeg Portofino
Size: 90 – 120cm
If you want a stunning focal point for your kitchen, look no further than Smeg’s Portofino range of range cookers, which is available in a host of unique and vibrant colours inspired by vistas of the Italian riviera, and named after the high-end brand’s Northern Italian harbour town base.
This is the second of the Smeg range cookers featured in our list and for good reason.
Smeg claims the Portofino to be the world’s most advanced large format range cooker, and it’s not hard to see why it’s worthy of the title. It’s largest model features five different cooking types for ultimate versatility – up top, that includes both induction and gas burners – including one ultra-rapid burner – as well as an exciting electric teppanyaki plate for Asian-style cuisine.
Below, there are two ovens: one multifunction oven with Direct Steam technology, and a Pyrolytic oven, for super easy cleaning. It also offers extra storage drawers below the ovens, closed-door grilling for a safer kitchen and reduced energy consumption, and even comes with its own temperature probe, for perfectly cooked meals, every time.
More details at smeguk.com
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