WitchHazel Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 Hello Omleteers I'm thinking of getting a Britannia Range cooker,specifically a 100cm wide XG which has a separate grill compartment. I've looked at a whole load of manufacturers (Stoves, Belling, Canon, Rangemaster, Mercury, some french brand in John Lewis, John Lewis own brand.... loads of them), and Britannia has what I want in terms of shape, configuration of ovens, oven sizes, and features. Do you own one or have any experience of one? I'm particularly interested in your views on oven cleaning, and whether the stay-clean liners are worth it, and any experience you've had with their chef-top. I'm also interested in your general review of yours. It doesn't matter what type of Britannia oven you've got, I'd like to hear your experiences (not just about the cleaning and the liners, and the chef-top) If you don't have a Britannia, but you DO have an oven with pyrolitiic cleaning, I'd like to hear from you too. Thanks for your help At the moment I have a Stoves double oven with so-called stay clean liners (which this will be replacing), and a Neff oven with it's rubbish* hydroclean system (which we will be keeping). *I;m sure it would have been better if I'd been using the cleaning system on a weekly basis from the day we got the oven, but I didn't. I've had it professionally cleaned a couple of times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
majorbloodnock Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 We got a Britannia range about 10 years ago, so I'll gladly give you my experiences. The main oven has always been rather poor at maintaining a consistent temperature, and especially on the "true fan" setting has been really quite fierce. This meant a lot of experimentation and compromise in order to serve up roasted joints that weren't overcooked and really dry. However, it meant pizzas worked really well. The main fuse went whilst it was still under warranty, and apparently this was a manufacturing issue with a couple of screws not being properly tightened at the factory. I believe this has been rectified, and certainly our issue was repaired efficiently. After about 5 years, the oven light stopped working, and I haven't got round to changing it. About 2 years ago, the "true fan" setting stopped working. Since that meant using the oven as a conventional one, it actually improved results, although this was obviously not ideal. About a year ago, the grill element in the main oven stopped working too, so effectively stopping the oven being usable at all. Theoretically, I could use it with just heat from below, but the bottom element isn't too efficient, so struggles to maintain any kind of temperature. The oven door developed a certain sloppiness in the hinges, so has become a bad fit, with the seal inclined to let heat out. Our "fix" was a luggage strap around the handle to hold it all together. The side oven has always been fine, and gives good results, although its size precludes quite a few of my more useful pans and trays going in. The summary, then, is that it was fine for about 5 years, then started dying by degrees. I'd be happy to get rid of it if we had enough money that wasn't already earmarked for more urgent things. I certainly wouldn't buy another one, and a friend of ours who moved house and therefore inherited a different Britannia range confirmed the fierceness of the oven wasn't just ours being a fluke. Despite the name, it's an Italian company, and build quality is reminiscent of Fiat during the 1970s. I couldn't in conscience recommend them at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WitchHazel Posted March 18, 2011 Author Share Posted March 18, 2011 (edited) Blimey. That's really helpful. I'm not too worried about the fierceness of the oven. I have two (fan) ovens at the moment, a fairly new Neff and a very old Stoves. I find the Neff very fierce and have to adjust recipes. The rest of the info is disappointing (but I am really pleased you provided it). I really liked the (apparent) build quality of Britannia, they felt much better than their cheaper counterparts (I came to that conclusion before I saw the pricetags). I was happy to pay the price for something that was good quality, but now I'm wondering whether yours is a common story or an exception. I don't want to pay such a lot and have a similar experience! Any one else have any experiences? Edited March 18, 2011 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnamon Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 Not with Britannia,but my Rangemaster is a wonderful thing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 So's my Leisure range cooker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helenc Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 I don't have a Britannia but did consider it when buying a new cooker about 7 years ago. I went for a Lacanche Macon- which may be the French model you saw in John Lewis. I chose it because it felt much sturdier and solid, it is made of cast iron and we bought it from an independent retailer who is a friend and he recommended it, he also has one. I think that you could choose the configuration of it when we got it if the standard models didn't have what you wanted. We went with the standard one with a gas oven, a fan oven and smaller conventional oven, both of the electric ovens have a grill element, we also got a plate that you can put on the top of the burner so you can have more pans a bit like an Aga I think. This is the exact same one we have http://www.johnlewis.com/230616033/Product.aspx. We have had no problems at all with it. Sorry I have probably confused you more. Helen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snaponmartin Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 i too have a Britannia range cooker , that is about 10 years old,fine for a few years then the light went, the grill element went and the element on the fan oven goes at least twice a year !, the last time 2 days before christmas luckily we had a spare. If i had the money i too would buy something else . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
majorbloodnock Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 i too have a Britannia range cooker , that is about 10 years old,fine for a few years then the light went, the grill element went and the element on the fan oven goes at least twice a year !, the last time 2 days before christmas luckily we had a spare.If i had the money i too would buy something else . If WitchHazel doesn't mind my hijacking the thread for a moment, any chance you could let me know where you get your spares? I could do with getting those bits sorted so the oven can keep staggering on until we're a little more flush. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigmommasally Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 My little bosch oven at the moment has pyrolytic cleaning - which is superb. Everything burns off and I just sweep out the ash and give it all a quick wipe with a damp cloth to get any remaining ash off. However we're going through a kitchen make over at the moment and my little single oven is going to make way for a lovely new rangemaster classic delux which has catalytic liners. I couldn't find a range cooker with pyrolytic cleaning I'm not sure how I will get on with catalytic liners - I'm not looking forward to cleaning out an oven but planning on getting the lakeland oven liner to try to reduce some of the cleaning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WitchHazel Posted March 19, 2011 Author Share Posted March 19, 2011 Thanks for your replies everyone. I'm having a bit of a think now. It's just proving difficut to get the features I want. I might have to go back to getting several different appliances to give me the configuration I want. I think I might also write to Britannia and ask them about their reliability issues. Not sure it'll do any good, I guess it depends on what the feedback is. Any other experiences? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnamon Posted March 19, 2011 Share Posted March 19, 2011 What specific configuration are you looking for? I wanted a range with a separate grill,as that is very important to me. I also have 2 fan ovens,one large,on tall & slim & a gas hob. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WitchHazel Posted March 19, 2011 Author Share Posted March 19, 2011 What specific configuration are you looking for?I wanted a range with a separate grill,as that is very important to me. I also have 2 fan ovens,one large,on tall & slim & a gas hob. I'm sure this is going to sound completely OTT, so I did hesitate somewhat before commiting finger to key. But, here goes. What I really really want is: - a separate gril compartment - 2 ovens,one of which can be smaller than the other but the smaller must be a useable size (2nd oven on 90cm range cookers is too small. On a 100cm or 110cm Britannia, the width is OK because the small oven is extra deep) - pyrolitic cleaning (which isn't available on most range cookers, but some have something similar where you turn the heat up and the liners absorb the splashes), and i'd really like this in all oven compartments - telescopic shelves, even on the grill compartment (I have these on my Neff. The Neff ones aren't particularly well designed, but this is such a great feature and one of the only 2 good things about my Neff) The main oven needs to have several options - fan, non-fan, bread, etc. Don't need a grill in the main oven particularly. In an ideal world, I'd probaby try something new (to me) for the second oven, such as a steam oven or an oven with steam capability. This is aice-to-have, so I'd given this up when I decided to go for a range cooker. If I make up my own configuration, I'd probably add a shallow warming drawer in place of the normal storage drawer on the range cookers, but this was a nice-to-have rather than a deal breaker. For the hob, I need something where there is plenty of space between each burner. 110cm wide ranges squeeze 8 rings on, they are too close together. I prefer the 100cm with only 6 burners. The control's ideally shoudn't get in the way of sliding pans around. I'd like the burners raised, so that any spills don't end up cutting out the flame. Sepearate areas for each burner would be good so that a spillage oin one doesn't mean half or the whole hob needs cleaning. The trivety bits (sorry, having word troube this morning) that the pans sit on need to be really substantial. Everything should be easy to clean, with no bits where dirt can lurk. I really like the chef-top on the Britannia. The griddles provided with the others just aren''t the same. In fact, I was originally going to go for their super new induction hob (not ceramic), but the chef-top was just too much of a good idea, and I decided I'd stick with gas. In theory, a deDietrich double oven on one side (keeping the top oven for my grill), and then a separate singe oven (which might have steam) with a warming drawer under, would fit my oven-related requirements perfectly, because I would just get whatever I need. (I've looked online at so may brands and so many options, I'm sure they had pyro and telescopic)/ The problem is that a double oven underneath a counter means that the door of the bottom oven folds down really close to the floor, almost on the floor (built-under double ovens are ony 720cm high instead of 900cm for a built-in double ovens. But 720cm built-under ovens are really feature-poor, even with brands that are feature-rich on their 900cm models). However, as I type all this, I'm beginning to think that annoyance might be worth living with. I need to go to see these deDietrich ovens to see what they feel like. I'm sure this sounds a bit daft, when I was in John Lewis, I did look at some of the buit in ovens and some of them felt really horrible. The JL own brand ones had handles that really dug in - whoever designed them probably went on style rather than substance. My Neff oven has a lovely handle, it revolves when you use it so it's really comfortable. (That's the second of the 2 good things I'd say about that oven.) This theoretical option doesn't solve my hob problem, because the hobs that are available separately aren't as substantial as the ones on the range cookers. It also wouldn't give me my chef top. I guss if I was going down this route I might look for something competey different - some domino hobs perhaps where I can space them differenty and then have a mix of gas and induction. The other downside is that I think the range cookers - all of them - look lovely. I know that's very shallow of me. But we do a lot of cooking and preserving, and I guess in the end practicality wil have to trump everything. I bet you're really glad you asked now Sarah. Writing it down has been helpful though as it has made me realise what my next steps are. I think I need to do a bit of hob research next. And I need to go and look at the particular deDietrich double oven that has combination of things I want in that side of the oven; if it feels OK then maybe I can live with the oven door opening onto the floor. Next week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigmommasally Posted March 19, 2011 Share Posted March 19, 2011 Blooming Heck Hazel you really have given your oven a lot of thought! I too really wanted the pyrolytic oven cleaner as that's what I have now but the only ones I found were modern looking ranges without separate grills (Smeg, Rangemaster Professional both had them) so I ended up giving up on that wish. My 2 biggest bug bears about my present cooker was not being able to use the grill separately to the oven and the small size of the oven so a separate grill and 2 full size ovens were top of my list together with a traditional styling. I'm glad I didn't have any thing more on my wish list as I don't think I would have found it for under £2k. which was my budget. The Rangemaster Classic Delux 90cm which I have gone for does have a multifunctional oven one side and a fan oven the other side and both are 65litre size ovens. I think on the 100cm one the oven is 80litre capcity. http://www.rangemaster.co.uk/range-cooking/classic-deluxe-100.aspx?gclid=CO-J_8362qcCFchO4QodwGvL-A Hope you manage to find something that's right for you, I shall be interested to see what you decide on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gongladosh Posted March 19, 2011 Share Posted March 19, 2011 So's my Leisure range cooker We've got one of those - in black, can't really fault it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 We have a self cleaning Rangemaster, 5 rings (electric, as no gas here), 2 ovens and a separate grill. Love it. The taller slimmer oven fits a standard baking tray and is the oven i use most often. The larger oven has a cooking rack attached to the door, so is perfect for roasts etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WitchHazel Posted March 21, 2011 Author Share Posted March 21, 2011 We have a self cleaning Rangemaster, 5 rings (electric, as no gas here), 2 ovens and a separate grill. Love it. The taller slimmer oven fits a standard baking tray and is the oven i use most often. The larger oven has a cooking rack attached to the door, so is perfect for roasts etc. Thanks Christian. Does it really get clean? I have a Neff which has a self-cleaning cycle, and it's woeful. Yes, if I go in afterwards and spend 15 minutes wiping everything down, it gets some stuff off, but the rest of it (especially the roof) is really icky. If I don't use it every time I cook, then one of these cycles on its own isn't enough. I have a separate (ancient) Stoves oven with some form of liners, and that is hopeless. To be fair, the sides are reasonably OK, but the roof, and the floor if I didn't have it lined, and the shelves and the glass door all have to be cleaned by hand. With the rack in the door, I liked that feature but I was dubious - don't you find stuff (esp fat) spills over the floor when you open the door? I've gone off deDietrich now (not rage cookers, but ordinary ovens which have the features I want). They get some really appalling reviews, not just for their products but for their customer service and aftercare. I know that reviews are self selecting, and that unhappy people are much more likely to review than happy ones....but i'm still shocked. And disappointed. I do realise I'm being a bit anal about all of this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnamon Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 Sounds like Christian & I have the same oven ....I love mine. It does get clean,but I do get Cookerburra in once a year for a deep clean too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 We have a self cleaning Rangemaster, 5 rings (electric, as no gas here), 2 ovens and a separate grill. Love it. The taller slimmer oven fits a standard baking tray and is the oven i use most often. The larger oven has a cooking rack attached to the door, so is perfect for roasts etc. Thanks Christian. Does it really get clean? With the rack in the door, I liked that feature but I was dubious - don't you find stuff (esp fat) spills over the floor when you open the door? Oven cleaning is the one job I loathe. I rarely clean it. I line the bottom with foil on a tray and replace that every so often. The tray attached to the door is fab. It is quite deep and have never had any fat spill out. You can unhook it too, if you don't want to use it, giving you much more space in the large oven. Having the separate grill is also good, as you can use this as a warming oven when the large oven is on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Speckled Hen Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 We have a self cleaning Rangemaster, 5 rings (electric, as no gas here), 2 ovens and a separate grill. Love it. The taller slimmer oven fits a standard baking tray and is the oven i use most often. The larger oven has a cooking rack attached to the door, so is perfect for roasts etc. Almost same here....can't stand electric hobs so run mine on bottled gas. I use those dishwasherable plastic oven liners and apart from remembering to clean the glass oven doors there is little maintenance. I'd recommend it and would buy another if we leave the cooker here when we move. I might replace the wok burner with two extra rings though........mmmmmmm The extractor is ace and copes with even the hottest stir fry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 I'm a gas hob fanatic too OSH. I find the ovens and hob really easy to clean and just give the a wipe over after I use them. I have a Rangemaster extractor hood over mine and it works very well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vwillo Posted May 3, 2011 Share Posted May 3, 2011 hi, don't know if you've bought yet but i have a brittania 100 with cheftop and run the hobs off bottled gas as in rural no gasline area. no problems with the cooking, but regret the cheftop, it's useful for putting things on but heavy to clean so tend not to use for cooking on and would have preffered the 2 extra rings instead. it is just under 3 years old and the timer has just blown. this is probably caused by a power surge and is a common problem which is not possible to guard against and will cost £350 to repair (£250 for the spare part which is out of stock due to demand). a surge protector extension plug would not work apparently. a friend has an old 2nd hand 90 and had never had any problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beach chick Posted May 3, 2011 Share Posted May 3, 2011 mum in law's got one and she loves it. we have the smeg A something (6 burners on the top, one and a half ovens) and the self cleaning bit is RUBBISH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miffy Posted August 6, 2011 Share Posted August 6, 2011 I knew I should have come here first!!!! I have just spent the morning researching on range cookers, particularly the Britannia which I thought seemed rather good. Now defiantly a no-no. Thank you. I am looking to replace our 40yr old oil Aga, which is condemned (its a long story....just don't ask!! ) We can't deceide whether to replace it with a Heritage Range oil "ago u like" or go electric. Should add I LOVE cooking on my Aga just refuse to deal with the company , which means no Rangemaster, Falcon etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swiills Posted May 31, 2021 Share Posted May 31, 2021 RUBBISH with a Capital R ! had a Delphi for 4 years, been a pain since the end of year 1, and they refuse to change it, Main Oven cuts out when cooking, took an email to the CEO to get anyone to actually come out and look at it ! Now it's packed up again Main oven does not even turn on now. Three Grand for a pile of metal sitting in the Kitchen Another email to the CEO today (May 2021) lets see if that does anyhting. so be warned before you buy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
