Vintage View: Why our love for stoves burns on 

We explore the efforts of cast-iron range brands to increase energy efficiency in nostalgia stoves in the face of carbon taxes

The new Waterford Dartry burning smokeless fuel, dry wood, coal, anthracite or seasoned briquettes can deliver 4.5kWs back to the room, 15.7kW to your water, heats up to 10 radiators. Cookers from €3,999, waterfordstanely.com.

I couldn't put it better myself, “They (Aga) take the place of a tumble drier, toaster, bread maker and electric kettle, and can even get creases out of freshly laundered items. In a home with a 24/7 Aga the heating will tend to go on later in the season and off earlier.” agaliving.com.

Esse's new 500mm-1405mm induction cookers and hybrids (dual-fuel) retain all the charm of their cast matronly ancestors, with plug and play performance to a 2/13amp supply. From

That’s a sentimental, sepia-toned dreamscape, but having grown up with three completely adorable Agas and watched my father stir his hair and point at neurotic fuel bar-charts, even Aga concedes that its original R series are suited to ancient situations.

The compact Aga ER3 90 in Pearl Ashes. All the looks and radiant cooking oven performance without the headache of high oil bills and low reactivity, around €9,924, agaliving.com

With stove life in my DNA, I elected to have an oil-fired Sorn central heating cooker made in Tipperary in 1999, followed by a reconditioned Stanley. Like diesel cars, the end of the era of the oil-fired range is looming, and makers are responding with some tempting new takes on that cast-iron culinary legacy.

The Rayburn c.1946 has been under the Aga brand for 70 years. Together with Waterford Stanley and Firebird they are your go-to for central heating cookers offering Aga build quality. 212 Rayburn models for solid fuel and wood start from €5,695 on offer. 

The new Waterford Dartry burning smokeless fuel, dry wood, coal, anthracite or seasoned briquettes can deliver 4.5kWs back to the room, 15.7kW to your water, heats up to 10 radiators and is rakishly attractive with a 100cm wide cast-iron front on a steel frame. It has a HETAS rating of 76.5%, which is not usual for a conventional solid fuel cooker-central heating range. The adjustable grate heights to regulate output from the boiler. Cookers from €3,999, waterfordstanley.com.

A legendary vintage charmer. Rayburn cookers and central heating boiler stoves for solid fuel and wood start from €5,695 on offer, waterfordstanely.com

Oil-fired Agas remain expensive to run (there are so many uncomfortable expenses to sticking with fossil fuels). Stiff social cache aside, their inclusion is hard to explain when they don’t (and have never) contributed to whole-house central heating as say a Stanley Brandon two-burner would. 

That said, hand-built, beautiful, bombproof; some china-blue and cream 1930s veteran Agas are still quietly delivering up mouth-watering feasts. The bosomy loveliness of a perpetually warm, enamelled range is a teary memory for anyone who has suffered life in a clammy, ancient house through November to April.

The Aga ER (Everyday Radiant), electric range cookers offer cast iron housings but are practical for family living where we need our cooker to be reactive not “mindful” (Aga’s latest cheery pitch for their 24/7 R always-on models). With independent control to the various elements, they mix up conventional fan ovens and cast iron ovens, and gas, ceramic and induction hobs to suit. The ERs can also softly and silently perform the legendary Aga work of warming the kitchen with radiant heat, even overnight if you want to, the ovens continuing to work on a slumber or slow, low setting. This would be best served by a dedicated Night-Rate electricity meter.

The 100cm all-electric ER3 includes two cast-iron ovens, an Aga hotplate, a warming oven, cookware storage space and a two-zone induction hob with a bridging feature for something like a fish kettle. 

There’s a generous 38.5l of oven capacity with the signature clunk of those oven doors (the Volvo of range cooking). Blending build nostalgia with up-to-the-minute electric and gas performance is signalled by the sight of their touch-control digital panel set behind a traditional heavy cast iron door. Prices from €10,000 with regular, good promotions.

If you long for that six oven look of the original great-house Agas, the massive 170cm ER3 won’t disappoint (Psst – there’s even a 210cm E7). It’s designed with two cast-iron ovens for baking, roasting and simmering, a three-zone induction hob, a warming oven and a brand new conventional fan oven, for added flexibility. Vast, in handsome Dartmouth Blue; it made me faint with desire even at €18,000 and change.

The vast AGA ER3 designed with two cast-iron ovens for baking, roasting and simmering, a three-zone induction hob, a warming oven and a brand new conventional fan oven, for added flexibility. 170cm or 210cm. From €18,000.

The ER series can run from as little as €13 a week according to Agas own Running-Cost charting, a vast improvement on the vaporising oil, wood and gas R set that retains an enthusiast, purist following. There are additional 60cm dual-fuel modules to suit an Aga confection that can stand against an R or ER cooker increasing its architectural weight and cooking capacity or stand-alone elsewhere in the kitchen for the smaller home or mad entertainer.

Esse Ironheart cookstoves and cast-iron ranges are beloved of wood-burning cooks, and their new 60mm-1405mm induction cookers and hybrids (dual-fuel) retain all the charm of their cast matronly ancestors, with plug-and-play performance to a 2/13amp supply. All deliver radiant oven cooking, plus an open and close manual vent on the top casting to finesse bread, baking and roasts.

The all-electrics including the three-oven EL and 990EL, and 60cm 60EL are flueless, and heat up in just minutes. The flat hobs cuddled under familiar lift-up insulated lids can be used to make dishes straight down on the plate (griddle style). 

The visual heft, rich enamelling and traditional cast iron oven cook techniques will comfort anyone ready to embrace electric and radiant oven cooking from the Esse, and a heat pump or natural gas for everything else. The larger Esse cookers all offer an 85C slow oven.

If you’re dedicated to burning wood, consider a companion (integrated) 60cm electric or woodside to the principle 90cm cooker (really useful versatility for the summer). Their new compact, Esse 990 Hybrid – serves up the most delicious 50/50 power/timber split. With electric duty to the left and wood-fired to the right, you can pop open the firebox door to enjoy the real flame behind glass, sufficient to radiate heat softly to a 40m2 room. €9254. The 60cm wood also comes in a stand-alone, Plus 1, 60cm classic cooker (€4,729).

Staying with the 1930s wood-fired originals, examine Esse’s upgraded 100cm 990WN which they claim with twin-catalytic combustor reburn offers practically non-existent CO emissions of just 0.01%, is 85% energy-efficient and DEFRA-exempt for burning wood in a smoke control zone (UK). €9,225. 

Electric three oven cookers and hybrids from €8674, to order ex. delivery, duties and installation. Available in 20 RAL colours. Esse dealers for Ireland, Excell Imports, 6Tyr Kilcronagh Business Park, Cookstown, County Tyrone, esseireland.com

For reconditioned cookers and central heating ranges from all the top branding, (including Aga traditional and Deluxe electric conversions) there’s a pinch of dedicated firms dealing with cast iron cookers and offering maintenance and parts. Check out the stock at H&F Enterprises in Cashel, handfenterprises.ie, and Rose Cottage Cookers Co. Laois, rosecottage.ie