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While AGA Total Control cookers are brand new to most of the world, there are a select few who have been putting them through their paces in a series of field trials. Author and AGA Brand Ambassador Laura James caught up with some of them to see how they were getting on with this very 21st century AGA…

Tom G

We've had our AGA Total Control for a year and it's great. I've never had an AGA before, but my mother has one so I have cooked on that a bit. AGA Total Control has lived up to our expectations and I think the best thing about it is how good it looks! The food's great too. I particularly love the pot roasts it does. It's a brilliant source of low-level heat and it's controllable, which is great. We tend to have ours on slumber during the winter months and then on fully for breakfast and dinner. We're in and out all day, so this suits us perfectly. Now it's warmer, we only have it on for mealtimes. I think AGA Total Control is a significant step forward for the company and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone.

Angela M

Over the years I've had 2- and 3-oven AGA cookers before and for the past two years I've had an AGA Total Control. In a lot of ways it's the same, although at the beginning I did have real trouble remembering to switch it on! AGA Total Control is as good as my best AGA - in fact I would go so far as to say it's even better. The fact that you can turn it on or leave it off offers real flexibility. You can use it in exactly the same way as a classic AGA if you wish to, but you never, ever lose temperature. During the week I cook a lot on the hotplates and at the weekend I use it in the same way I would a classic AGA. For example, I use the baking oven a lot. I'd definitely give it a 10 out of 10 for cooking performance. During the winter, rather than use slumber mode, I tend to keep the roasting oven on all the time as it's the oven I use the most and it provides great background heat into the room.
During the warmer months I simply turn it on and off when I need it. AGA Total Control works brilliantly and there's a whole group of people for whom it offers the perfect balance. Essentially I love it because it offers the very best of both worlds.

Margo S

We've had our AGA Total Control for around nine months and we think it's great. We have had an AGA before in a house we lived in about 10 years ago. The new one suits us much better as it's so flexible. We have a large, long-haired dog, who gets very hot, so we like to leave the AGA off at night during warmer periods. In the winter we left it on all the time, but now the weather's warmer I only turn it on when I need to cook.
AGA Total Control cooks brilliantly and it takes no time at all to heat up, so I don't bother to programme it, instead I just turn it on and off as I please. I'd certainly recommend it to anyone who loves AGA food. I love the way the AGA looks. It sits beautifully in the kitchen and now that we've downsized and our new kitchen isn't massive, AGA Total Control is perfect for us.

Jason A

Our AGA Total Control is the first AGA we've had and we couldn't be more pleased with it. It's exceeded all my expectations. In the past when we've spoken to people who've got an AGA, they've all said how much better the food tastes. I was a bit cynical, but it really is true. We followed a recipe from an AGA book and cooked a roast chicken. I have to say it was the best I've ever tasted - it was really moist and succulent.
AGA owners also say they'd never have another kind of cooker and I have to agree there too. I won't be having a conventional cooker again. Ever!
We love the flexibility. At the moment, even now the weather's so warm, we keep it on slumber all the time. It's brilliant how quickly it comes up to cooking temperature. By the time you've prepared the food and poured a glass of wine, the ovens or hotplates are ready to cook.
I was talking to someone the other day who has a classic AGA and once she heard about how well AGA Total Control works, she decided to find out about changing her AGA.

I can't see any downsides to AGA Total Control. I've been keeping a close eye on the electricity bill and it doesn't seem to be going up at all.

Andy M

We've had our AGA Total Control for 18 months. I grew up with an AGA and just before we got this one, I had a Rayburn XT. Cooking-wise the AGA Total Control is pretty much like any other AGA, but its flexibility is brilliant. Our kitchen isn't massive and our house is very well insulated, so we wanted a cooker that wasn't on all the time. We also wanted a cast-iron range cooker that didn't need to be fully on to use a hotplate, for example if you just wanted to fry an egg.
The fact that the boiling plate only takes eight minutes to heat up is a real bonus. AGA Total Control cooks brilliantly and I really like the larger hotplates as it means you can get more pans on them. I guess I take it for granted a bit now as we use it every day.

At the colder times we have it on slumber all the time and then turn on whichever bit we want to use when we get in from work.

At the weekend we have it on to cook lunch and dinner and in the summer it's fully off and we only turn the bits on we need when we need them.I've already recommended it to a friend and would tell anyone it's a really good all-round cooker and does exactly what it says on the tin!

We had an oil AGA for about four years before we decided to get an AGA Total Control. We wanted something more environmentally friendly and the cost of oil was a real consideration. AGA Total Control is a little different to a traditional AGA, so you need to learn about those differences, but the cooking performance is absolutely brilliant. We made the decision to leave the boiling plate on all the time as we couldn't get used to it being off and needing to switch it on.AGA Total Control is brilliant, absolutely superb.
The best thing about it is that it really is an AGA and we wouldn't have anything else. We love them to bits. I love how they look and we get lots of comments from friends. So, it's great that it looks traditional, but also that it's more ecofriendly.
We definitely had it on slumber mode more through the winter months. And we tend to use it to cook breakfast and supper. When we're working from home, we like to use it to cook lunch as well. I'd definitely recommend it to a friend as we're extremely pleased with it.

To find out more about the AGA Total Control, click here to go to the product page.