Cookers

[cooperlola]

I got round to this subject by a very twisty route on the Language board but thought this a better place to ask.

Anybody got Brandt or Scholte appliances (cooker in this case but really any experience of their stuff would be interesting)?  Any good?

[Théière]

Brandt cooker,still going after 8 years. Brandt HO is at Tours Nord if that's helps

[Val_2]

Have got a Scholtés built in gas hob with glass top and Scholtés electric fan assisted oven with Pyrolising.Both excellent and wearing well. Brandt hotte fitted over the gas hob. Expensive at time but well worth it and I would never never ever have a french gas oven again after wearing one out that actually burned through the bottom and all three burned everything I cooked however carefully I did it.

Scholtés are a very good and popular make here and make sure you get the extended warranty.

[cooperlola]

Do they grill OK?

I'm looking at THIS ONE

[Théière]

Higher tech version of ours, thinking about this the lower flap under oven storage door bit didn't last that long before one end spring fell off, weak piece of plastic (btw you have now reminded me to take my fantastic plastic glue with me to repair it thanks [:)])

The grill is not bad in a sort of basic fashion, it has a central bar where the gas exits so it sometimes misses grilling the center section so I usually rotate through 90 deg half way through cooking.

Check out the door springs if it opens horizontally as ours are quite strong and I used to get fed up with hearing guests just letting it go to slam shut (don't these thick sods ever learn, slam it once but hold it the subsequent times) it may be troublesome for you with reduced mobilation.

[Lou]

We have a Scholtes, bought when we arrived in France 6 years ago. Works well, and grill is good BUT (and this relates to your other thread in the Language section) there's no actual grill pan, we have to use a rack plus "normal" pan/tray underneath. A pain if you want to check on cooking and have to pull out both bits separately to try to avoid drips.

The other issue is that it will only grill with the door closed (a safety function I suppose) but irritating if you just want to melt cheese on an omelette for example, and have a frying pan with plastic handle which won't fit under the grill and have the door shut.

I haven't seen a grill pan here like we used to have in the UK. Why I really don't know, other of those mysterious differences.....

The cooker does have the "pyrolysé" (spelling?) function for cleaning is brilliant, I'd never buy another cooker without it.

Lou

[idun]

Of the two I think I would go for Scholtes, or for us, another de dietrich. Brandt, well I look upon as a middle range and for a long term quality item, I'd go for the one of the other two.

I will never know about grilling though and have no idea as to how that could be judged.

[Val_2]

Lou - yes mine does the same, as soon as you open the door the grill stops and yes it is a safety thing. I also cannot light the gas hob if there is no electric because it cuts off the supply automatically so matches are no good and if you suffer power cuts the whole unit is no good either, again a safety control. I had a freestanding Brandt gas cooker with oven like the photo previous to the Scholtés and it lasted four years until the regulator went, the knobs fell off and it burned everything in the oven.When it was delivered, the grill had to be replaced too.

No, I am very happy with my Scholtés and the colour is a smokey grey finish, not steel and I only have to wipe the residue with a cloth inside the oven when the pyrolising has completed it's cycle.

[Théière]

What a pain in the bum, whole point of dual fuel is backup if there is a power cut and backup if you run out of gas. Stupid attempt at safety [6]

[cooperlola]

I think (hope!) that one's all electric, isn't it?[:-))]

[woolybanana]

Brandt always used to be bottom of the range, so to speak. Has anyone got Bosch, it is usually pretty good?

[cooperlola]

Yes, I'm sure Wooly but the cheapest induction I've found is 1000€.  Too much for me.

[woolybanana]

Ouch, that is huge money.

[cooperlola]

For a cooker, it is. 

[idun]

[quote user="Théière"]What a pain in the bum, whole point of dual fuel is backup if there is a power cut and backup if you run out of gas. Stupid attempt at safety [6][/quote]

I was in la campagne a long long time and we always had a spare gaz bottle.

 

I'm sorry you did this thread Coops, you have highlighted just how much my bloody Canon gas cooker is getting me down, wearing me down, leaving me with a terrible feeling of complete dissatifaction............. I want a new one.......... I want a proper one........ NOW! and I cannot and this isn't me, I'm not petulant by nature, and this is making me feel just like that. I hope you get a wonderful new cooker that does as you want. It'll please me to hear that at least out there, good new cookers can be bought and used.[:)]

[cooperlola]

I had a very good Miele one in the UK, Idun.  The current one is OK but the grill is pants.  For you, I guess it would be fine![:)]

I would normally have put up with the current one (also Miele) but the insurance is paying for me to make the kitchen disabled-friendly so I feel it's best to replace the cooker now, rather than build an old one into new cupboards etc which is what they want me to do (ie all they will pay for.)

[mint]

Following all of this with interest.

Don't want to brag, but the ovens in our house in the Charente cost more than a mid-range family car (and that's before installation!)

The hob, hood, ovens, grills, plate-warmers, rotissiere, etc etc, all the bells and whistles, work wonderfully well but the finishes were cr*p and I would never buy French again.

German for me next time and I have looked at some Siemens appliances.  Serious money but I don't care...after all, I have practically given up alcohol, shopping, holidays, new cars, etc etc.

No, it's not that I am on any sort of self-denying agenda; just kinda lost interest in all such "stuff" and am having a fab time dog-walking and discovering bits of our new neighbourhood and area.

[cooperlola]

Cooker or car?  Oh, now there's a puzzle.  Not![:D]

[mint]

So..............if you could just have the ONE, Coops, which would you choose?[:P]

[idun]

When I first left the UK I was picking up about £200 odd a month. And paid over 4000ff for the de dietrich cooker. Expensive, very, at the time, I could have bought one for 600ff, but it lasted 20 years and was used a lot. It was brilliant. As we were leaving France sooner rather than later we bought an Ariston which is not very 'good' and then we left later, rather than sooner. It is here and works a lot better than my gas Canon.

I would pay 1000€, nay a £1000 for a cooker, in 2010 I would have, I didn't spend that much on my cooker in 2010, but is was expensive never the less........... but this year is different and money spent.

So my choices, a poor Ariston that is a lot better than my Canon and dreaming of a decent cooker....... and feeling sad and dissatisfied, one day, when I've saved up.[blink]

[cooperlola]

[quote user="sweet 17"]So..............if you could just have the ONE, Coops, which would you choose?[:P][/quote]I can't drive a cooker to a restaurant.

[mint]

But you can't cook a decent roast in a car, Coops!

[cooperlola]

But I can drive to a restautant and somebody else can cook.

I like eating but hate cooking - a dull means to an end.  Thus a cooker is just a way of getting something to eat - the process itself is tedious and time consuming in the extreme.  I drive to get to places but enjoy every meter of getting there, more so if the car is powerful and handles well.  Thus - car wins every time.  No contest.[:)]

[idun]

I like driving and yet I am not into cars. I also like cooking. Cooking everyday meals can be dull, but needn't be.

Still I feel the same about gardening, I find that the whole gardening thing is tedious, time consuming in the extreme and everything dies......and yet I enjoy flowers and lovely fresh garden produce that someone else gives to me[:-))]

 

[Gardengirl]

One thing I've found very useful on my cooker has been extendible shelve - don't know if that's the right name for them. They come out so far, then stop and the shelf is then fixed in place. It's a good safety feature for when lifting heavy items out of the oven, I find.