AGA Total Control: what happened to it and what replaced it

The AGA Total Control was the first of its kind. It had the unmistakable presence of a traditional AGA: the solid cast iron in deep, glossy enamel; that same familiar and comforting warmth that draws everyone to the kitchen. But it had one key difference: it was electric. For the first time, you could turn each oven and each hotplate on and off as you pleased, adapting the cooker to the rhythm of your day.

The cooker has developed further since then. The Total Control became the AGA eR7 Series, which has in turn been renamed the AGA Signature. So if you've been searching for an AGA Total Control and keep landing on the Signature, now you know why.

We’ve worked with these cookers since 1932, when Edwards & Godding became one of AGA's five original distributors. Three generations of the family have cooked on them, installed them and serviced them for customers across Oxfordshire, Berkshire, and the South East and South West of England.

What was the AGA Total Control?

The AGA Total Control was a full-size electric range cooker, cast at the Coalbrookdale Foundry in Shropshire, where AGA cookers have been made since the 1920s. 

It cooked the way an AGA has always cooked, with the gentle radiant heat from cast-iron ovens. But because it ran on electricity, it could offer far more flexibility than an AGA had before. You could choose to leave the AGA on full time like a traditional oil and gas AGA, or switch on only the ovens and hotplates you needed at the time. A touch-sensitive control panel allowed you to bring each oven and each hotplate up to temperature quickly and independently, and switch it off again once you'd finished cooking. 

The Total Control was also more straightforward to install. This was an AGA with no flue, on a 32-amp supply, so there was no external pipe to run and no chimney to work around. That made having an AGA a realistic proposition in kitchens where it might not have been possible before.

AGA Total Control vs AGA eR7: how the range evolved

In time, the AGA Total Control evolved into the AGA eR7 Series. The cooking stayed as it was, with the same cast iron, the same radiant heat and the same independent control over each oven and hotplate. What the eR7 brought with it was updated precision and control.

The touch-sensitive control panel was revised, with a clear digital display added. Temperature control became more accurate, and preset settings were added for the roasting and baking ovens. As with the Total Control before it, you could choose which ovens and hotplates to have on and which to switch off, and the eR7 was more efficient to run than the model it replaced.

AGA Total Control vs AGA Signature: the full journey

More recently, the eR7 was renamed the AGA Signature. Within the AGA Signature collection there is an induction model, the AGA Signature Induction, which swaps the twin cast-iron hotplates for an induction hob and adds a conventional electric oven alongside the cast-iron ones. Modules can sit beside either cooker too, from a warming plate to gas and ceramic hobs. The five-oven AGA Signature Induction is the cooker we chose for our own home. We've had ours (known when we bought it as the AGA eR7 150-5i) for five years now, and can't imagine being without it. 

Learn more in our guide to the AGA Signature or read about how we use ours through the seasons, from winter warmth to summer cooking, in our recent article, Our year with an AGA.

Is the AGA Total Control still available?

The AGA Total Control is no longer in production, and the AGA Signature (formerly the eR7) has taken its place in the range.

We do still work with Total Control cookers though, so if yours needs attention, or you would simply like it checked over, please get in touch. We cover Oxfordshire, Berkshire, and the South East and South West of England, and we'll be happy to advise on servicing, parts, and your options if you are thinking about a change. 

We also offer significant discounts when you trade in your existing AGA for a newer model, and will remove and recycle your older cooker for you.

If you're researching the Total Control, here's where to go next

For the full picture of how AGA's range has changed over the decades, from traditional oil and gas models through to today's electric range, see our guide to Traditional AGA vs Newer AGA Models, which sets the Total Control story in its wider context.

If you like the idea of an AGA that is always on, read our guide to the AGA Classic. For a smaller kitchen, the AGA Compact guide covers the models designed to sit within standard cabinetry, and the AGA Mini guide covers the smallest cooker in the range.

If you are ready to learn more, you may also find our guide to AGA running costs useful.

Speak to someone who knows the full AGA range

We're a family business, and one of AGA's five original distributors. For three generations, our family has lived with AGA cookers, installed them and looked after them. Our advice is based on decades of hands-on experience, including in our own kitchens.

Get in touch or book an appointment to visit us at one of our showrooms in Woodstock, Oxfordshire or Reading, Berkshire, and we'll help you find the right cooker for your home. Call Reading on 01189 393 046 or Woodstock on 01993 811 224.