Everyone loves an Aga. But the Aga and Rayburns’ traditional styling isn’t for everyone. Some people much prefer the ultra-contemporary lines and sparkling brass or chrome finish you find on ranges by Falcon, Gaggenau and Kitchenaid. It’s a range cooker minefield! So here’s some details to help you make up your mind.

Falcon is a leading range manufacturer, known and loved for 75 years and famed for bringing professional-style catering equipment right into the ordinary home. They manufacture a broad range of accessories too, including fridges, sinks, taps and more. Better still they’re made in Britain, part of the AGA Rangemaster group. Like Agas and Rayburns, Falcon ranges also come in a choice of lush colours. Their lime green range cookers are particularly popular at the moment, lime being a big fashion hit right now. It’s a wonderful colour that goes just as well with charcoal grey or white walls, and even sits beautifully with pink, aubergine and even pale blue. An interior decorator’s dream! Falcon also make shiny chrome and stainless steel-finish ranges for truly modern kitchens and, as you’d expect, there’s a wide choice of size, performance and fuel options.

Gaggenau is probably best known for their superb coffee machines, world class pieces of kitchenalia eye candy. The first word in style and panache, they also make ovens… and what beautiful ovens they are! There’s the Gaggenau 24-inch lift oven for a start, whose smart glass ceramic base lowers directly to your countertop for easy loading and unloading. It’s a masterpiece of technology, featuring eleven heating methods, automatic temperature recommendation, accurate temperature control, self-cleaning technology and an incredibly sleek silhouette, with its stainless steel finish and tinted glass front, bright halogen lighting and versatile options for smaller kitchens. For some reason, a high proportion of range cooker manufacturers have long and illustrious histories and Gaggenau is no exception, tracing its roots back to the German Black Forest in the 1600s. Wow!

US-based Kitchenaid is the creator of an incredibly varied collection of fantastic cookers including single ovens, electric and gas cooktops, electric ranges, gas ranges, induction cooktops and dual fuel ranges, all in a smooth, attractive metallic finish. Popular worldwide, they’ve been creating beautiful, practical kitchen appliances and accessories for almost a hundred years, and manufacturing cookers since way back in 1955. Like the other ranges and cookers we’ve mentioned, they’re excellent quality pieces of kit, reliable and energy-efficient as well as stunning to look at.