I will always rate you, if you are good enough to rate me, thank you! Christmas Tree now up! But I...
I will always rate you, if you are good enough to rate me, thank you! Christmas Tree now up! But I still haven't written any Christmas cards.....More eBay auctions up.....xx
Member since:09.07.2006
Reviews:70
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Background
We were fortunate enough to extend our home recently, and along with a whole new kitchen, I had to decide on what cooker to buy. In an ideal world, where money was no object, I would have loved to have bought an Aga - but sadly budgetary constraints ruled out this extravagance. My sister-in-law already had a Rangemaster and I had liked the look, size and functionality of it and so this was what I ended up buying.
The Cooker
It is a dual fuel cooker, with two fan assisted electric ovens, an electric grill and a five burner gas hob. It can be installed to use either mains/natural gas or L.P. Gas.
My cooker is black with chrome handles and trim….pretty sleek looking for a cooker, if you like that sort of thing! It is also available in racing green, cream and ivory, all with either chrome or brass trim.
The cooker measures 900mm wide by 600mm deep with a variable height of between 893mm and 920mm. This is going to take up slightly more space in your kitchen than a standard sized cooker, but it is space well used as far as I am concerned.
The Main Oven
This is a decent size oven with a 67 litre usable volume. It has one flat and one drop wire shelf and a choice of five positions for the racks within the oven.
The door has an attached wire "handyrack" to hold the supplied meat/roasting tin. This is a convenient feature as the food is very accessible when the door is open and it is easy to check the progress of cooking or turn food. It can safely hold weights of up to 12lb/5.5kg. The height of the Handyrack is adjustable and it is removable. The other shelves can be used in conjunction with the Handyrack.
The cooker has a programmable clock which can be used as a minute minder (to time your cooking), to stop the oven automatically (if you have started your cooking manually) and to turn the oven on and off at any time over a 24 hour period. This is not a feature I use very often but it is easy to operate and a convenient feature to have.
The oven is operated by simply turning the knob to the required temperature. The indicator light will glow until the oven has reached the temperature selected.
There is a glass viewing window in the oven door and a light which can be switched on to further help monitor progress inside the oven. Our girls do love to watch their Noddy Googleberry muffins rise! (Better than watching CBeebies….)
The second oven has a usable volume of 53 litres. It is tall and thin in shape but still wide enough to take most ovenware, I find.
It is supplied with four standard wire shelves and one very dinky plate warming shelf, with a choice of nine positions to place these within the oven.
This oven is not programmable but provides a very useful secondary oven. I find it extremely useful when entertaining for warming plates and for keeping vegetables etc warm. This is not merely a warming oven; it has the same temperature range as the main oven and can be used for cooking in a conventional manner, and as it is also a fan oven, results are just as effective as with the main oven.
The tall oven is also operated by turning the knob to the required temperature and it also has an indicator light.
The tall oven is energy efficiency class B with a consumption of 0.95kWh based on standard load.
The Grill
One of my pet hates is when a cooker has the grill inside the oven. Not so with this cooker and its separate grill. Situated above the main oven, it comes supplied with a grill pan and trivet.
As a faithful follower of George Foreman and his marvellous fat reducing grill, I don't use the grill to cook an awful lot, but when I have toasted my cheese on toast and warmed my naan bread, the results have always been consistent and very even.
The grill has two elements so you can be energy efficient and only heat the right hand half of the grill if required. This is done by turning the knob anticlockwise, to heat the whole grill turn the knob clockwise.
The grill pan only has one position within the grill, two if you count having it sitting on the base of the grill.
The Hob
The hob has five burners; one extra large wok burner, one large, two medium and one small.
The burners are lit by using the igniter button, then adjusted by turning the appropriate knob to the required level. On this particular cooker the low position is beyond high, as opposed to between high and off. To clarify - off is at 12 o'clock, high at 9 o'clock and low at 6 o'clock.
A griddle and wok cradle can be purchased separately for this cooker but I have neither so cannot comment on their effectiveness.
The variety of burners means that there is always one to suit. It is not that often that I use all five simultaneously but on the odd occasion my husband and I have been cooking at the same time, and have managed to stay out of each other's way….mostly.
Cleaning
The main oven has removable lining panels for easy cleaning. The shelf supports from the tall oven can also be removed to facilitate easy cleaning.
The hob is easily cleaned by removing the three metal pan supports and wiping down the surface and the hotplate burners can be dismantled and cleaned separately.
I'll be honest, I'm not that pernickety about these things and usually find that a regular wee squoosh with some cleaning stuff and a wipe down keeps things in order and I have put the Handyrack meat tin in the dishwasher on frequent occasions to no ill effect.
The instruction manual does gives comprehensive instructions on how to clean every little bit of the cooker, if that's what floats your boat, but I won't bore you by detailing it all here.
My Experience
I have had this cooker nearly a year now and I love it - may be not quite as much as my dishwasher, but it comes a close second.
It has heaps of oven space and the second tall oven is a godsend when entertaining or when cooking dishes requiring different temperatures.
The five burner gas hob gives flexibility and allows multi-tasking at its best.
The programmable clock is a useful feature which I don't use regularly but could be something that I utilise more in the future.
The main oven gives impressive results whenever I have dabbled with a spot of baking and the Handyrack really does live up to its name!
It looks pretty cool with the chrome trim and the control knobs are easy to see and not obscured by decorative rails as I have seen on other cookers.
Ok, so it's not the Aga I hankered after but I don't honestly think I would swap it now (my Mum is getting an Aga soon so I will keep you posted if I change my mind on that one!)
Price, Availability and Other Information
My cooker was bought from Curry's. I got a combined deal as it was purchased along with a splashback and extractorhood but it did cost around £1,300.
It is widely available on both the High Street (well, probably out of town retail parks would be more accurate) and online.
Researching on the internet I have found the following deals: Kitchenscience.co.uk £1,297 including delivery Asda-electricals.co.uk £1,164.74 + £35.25 delivery tradingpost-appliances.co.uk £1,280.41 + £19.50 delivery
www.rangemaster.co.uk for company history etc www.rangemaster.co.uk/index_251.htm for full specification and pictures of this model
Summary
A five star product in my mind, certainly the best cooker I have ever owned!
Pictures of Rangemaster Kitchener 90DF
Rangemaster Kitchener 90 DF. Lovely isn't it?
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