New kitchen advice sought..

[droverjess]

Dear All
We will be moving again soon to our very own permanent home with an ancient Aga. Yippee.
We will keep this but also revamp the kitchen which will be doing lots of meals breakfast and some dinners for the bed and breakfast.

Shall I have a range cooker with gas top, and electric ovens or wall ovens with mix of two, one with steam.?
Ergonomically the wall ones are more appealing for creaking knees!
What experience is there on here with steam enabled domestic ovens?

Thoughts and comments please.
Thanks
DJ xx

[*suzanne*]

sounds very exciting dj;D

personally I would go with the wall ovens I hated my free standing,  bending down a lot is the pits plus under my oven I have drawers for storage so I found that a bonus.
can't help with the steam side of the question though but pretty sure there are some on here that can.
good luck xx

[achookwoman]

DJ,  design a kitchen to suit YOUR needs. I can only dream of an AGA.   I have a large gas range and double electric ovens.  No steam.  For steaming,  I use several steamers, of different sizes,  depending of what I am cooking.  Even have 2 steamers that fit the Microwave.  Choose wide ovens that have fast elements in the top so you can brown things quickly. One of my grill elements is fast,  the other slow.  Bench space is important as is a good size pantry.  I have a butlers pantry with large laundry size basin.  Essential when entertaining. 
We have stayed in many B and B's in England, Ireland , France and Italy.  All  were different.   It was the hosts that made the difference,  not the food. You will do an excellent job,  with your people skills,  to say nothing about your excellent cooking.  Best wish with this new enterprise.

[droverjess]

Thanks chookie, all good advice. I hope you come back to UK one day and will visit. I am actually going to knock down the existing pantry to make a L shaped kitchen/living room for us. There may be scope for putting in another panty, depends on how we join house to garage for annexe where young will live and then be holiday let eventually when they've gone.
I think I agree Suzanne, but need to go look, the Aga is conventional height and great for roasting and slow cooking. Would have gone today to look in John Lewis (45mins away) with DD but unexpected lunch visitor so can't.

I have designed several kitchens to date, and technology moves on which is why I wanted to ask about new combi and steam ovens.i had a brilliant one but it was sold when we moved last year, bought from a cousin and never used.

[Katya]

As an AGA owner (and I love it), the things I think (off the top of the my head) you need a backup for are  grilling, wok frying, controlled temperature cooking (not that I have really missed that).

With regard to current kitchen equipment I wonder whether Janie at UK Thermomix might be helpful.  I think she has an AGA (or at least understands them really well) and is probably well up with which of the modern gizmos would be useful and which are more gimmicks.

Hope this helps and if you have any AGA related questions, do get in touch

[gertbysea]

DJ  if ever  I have a choice to design a new kitchen I would,definitely have a steam/ combi oven.

Gert

[Kimmyh]

I agree with chookie, it's your choice DJ. I know nothing about steam owns, but love my wall oven (great height with handy drawers below as Suzanne said). It preheats in 5mins, has a quick and effiecient built in grill function and self cleans (one less job to do). All the best with the revamp and B&B.  I am looking forward to reading all about it.

[droverjess]

Thanks very much.
 The Aga is very, very old and I don't know what sort of condition the ovens are in. I am sure be good for slow cooking and roasting.

We've had a lovely afternoon DD and I in John Lewis the big UK department store getting various ideas and have lots of cooker brochures to read. We won't be able to do anything until we have possession and can measure properly. However it is fun window shopping

Ps tried to post Aga pic but it won't work, don't know why!

[Cornish Cream]

The Aga looks in good condiction DJ.
I love John Lewis stores.
Have a look at Howdens for kitchen design.My brother is installing a new kitchen in his house and are using their products.

[droverjess]

Funny CC, the last house that was done up for us had a Howdens kitchen designed and chosen by me. I agree it looks ok on outside, haven't seen ovens inside yet. It is a very old Aga though, converted to oil.

It is really info on the domestic steam ovens I am seeking. This is kitchen no 4 designed by me. 1985, 2007, 2011 and now 2013.
Plenty of work tops and cupboards and a raised dishwasher are my usual starting point.

[goldfish]

hi DJ... This is all wonderful news!! Fingers crossed that everything goes super smoothly for you!!!  Never thought of a raised dishwasher.. I'm at the point now where I'm thinking everything should be raised   ... A totally "no bend" kitchen!!!

[droverjess]

Yes it is GF. Lawyers have been instructed, so exciting.

Hoping we'll get 15 to 20 yrs there. It is the penultimate home for us, we hope.
After this one it will have to be walking distance from shops, station and bus routes.

[obbie]

Great news DJ, lots of kitchen bench space, and sliding shelves in cupboards..

[Deeau]

I have a Rayburn (poor mans aga ) it was in the house when we moved in and I love it... I was quite surprised that  everypart could be bought new here in Australia. My rayburn is wood so I light it every night in winter but don't really use it much in the summer, I have a  upright gas cooktop/oven and a microwave convection oven, ( oh and a glass turbo oven )  I was replacing my oven with a new one but then I bought my Thermomix,  because of the TM I very rarely use the upright gas stove, I even had a timber top made for and the TM now sits on that under the range hood, I do have so many gadgets in the kitchen ( pressure cooker, slow cooker pizza over etc etc etc ) For the  type of cooking I do the TM and a good oven are the two most used and most important things in my kitchen. Its a shame you cant try the Aga first then do the kitchen reno later once you decide what points you like about it. It honestly took me about two years to get used to cooking in the Rayburn and its still not ever my first choice for cakes and biscuits, but great for sensual slow cooking.

[Wonder]

Sounds like some great times ahead for you DJ. I'm no assistance with the steam and combi ovens although from what I've read they get great reviews.