AGA or Lacanche: choosing between a cast-iron AGA and a French range cooker

The time has come to choose a range cooker, and the shortlist is down to two names. An AGA or a Lacanche?

As an official Lacanche partner and one of AGA's original five distributors, working with AGA since 1932, we know both well. We tend to think of them as sister brands: they share a likeness, though the two have quite different temperaments. Both are heavy and handsome with classic styling, and both are made with a craftsmanship that has been handed down for generations. Both are available in a range of configurations to suit the way you cook, and both are made to last. In fact, we'd expect a cooker from either brand to outlast the kitchen around it.

Made in Shropshire, the AGA cooker has been an icon of the British country kitchen for the best part of a century. For many of us, an AGA is the cooker we grew up with  – the one our parents and grandparents had. Few who have lived with one would ever choose to be without it.

Lacanche cookers are built by hand in the Burgundy village they are named after, where they have been made for more than two centuries. Each one is made to order, in heavy-gauge steel and enamel, with all the features that a professional French cook prizes.

So this isn't a choice between old and new, or better and best. The difference lies in how each one cooks. In this article, we look at both in detail: how they cook, how they look, and what they cost.

Two very different ways to cook

AGA and Lacanche cookers are both range cookers, but they cook on different principles.

An AGA is a heat-storage cooker. Its cast-iron ovens take in heat and radiate it steadily from every surface, so food cooks evenly and comes out tender and full of flavour. Each oven is held at its own temperature – one for roasting, one for baking, one for simmering – and you move a dish from one to another as the cooking calls for it. The same stored heat warms the kitchen itself too, making the kitchen a natural gathering place for family and friends.

A Lacanche is a conventional range cooker, made to a professional standard. It is modelled on the ranges of the professional French kitchen, with solid brass burners, cast-iron pan supports, ovens that hold their temperature accurately and burners that respond at once. Many of the world's finest chefs choose Lacanche – Raymond Blanc, Delia Smith and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, to name a few.

We cover the mechanics in more depth in our guide to the difference between a range cooker and an AGA.

The ovens

In an AGA, the radiant heat of cast iron cooks food beautifully evenly, and the floor of the roasting oven turns out pastry that is crisp and golden underneath, with no need to blind bake. But it’s slow, gentle cooking is where an AGA has no equal: a shoulder of lamb or a casserole put in before lunch and left alone until supper. If you love slow, all-day cooking, the AGA is the one for you.

If you like to follow a recipe to the letter, and want precision and control from your ovens, a Lacanche may well be the cooker for you. You choose the type of each oven – fan, static or gas – and set it to the exact temperature you want. When it comes to precision, it’s fair to say that a Lacanche's ovens have the edge over cast-iron.

It's worth knowing, too, that some AGA models can be specified with a conventional fan oven alongside the cast-iron ones, and the larger Lacanche models offer a simmer oven for slow cooking and holding dishes at temperature. So choosing one needn't mean entirely giving up the other way of cooking.

The hobs

An AGA traditionally has two cast-iron hotplates, one for boiling and one for simmering, each under an insulated lid. On the modern electric models they heat up in about ten minutes and can be switched off when you've finished the job at hand. Many models can also be specified with a gas, ceramic or induction hob alongside the hotplates.

With a Lacanche, depending on the model, you can choose open gas burners, burners around a cast-iron simmer plate, or five-zone induction. On the wider models you can add your choice from a range of hob options such as a plancha, a chargrill or extra induction zones. If most of your cooking happens on the hob, a Lacanche is a joy to use: solid brass burners, a flame you can adjust in an instant, and a layout you choose yourself. These are real workhorses, made for daily use, year after year. We go into more detail in our article on the benefits of a Lacanche range cooker. 

The look

Both are iconic cookers. The AGA arrived in Britain from Sweden in 1929, and very little about its look has changed since: the solid cast-iron front, the heavy doors with their visible hinges, the chrome rail and the shining chrome lids over the hotplates. The cast iron is coated in vitreous enamel, a glass-like finish with real depth of colour, and because it is reflective, it picks up the tones of the room around it. There are around twenty colours, from the original Cream to British Racing Green, Raspberry and Mustard, and AGA will match a colour of your own if none is quite right. Learn more in our guide to choosing the perfect AGA colour for your kitchen.

A Lacanche, on the other hand, is unmistakably French in design: it has the straight lines and square shoulders of a restaurant stove, in widths from 70cm to more than two metres. The top is stainless steel, with open brass burners and cast-iron pan stands, and along the front runs a row of distinctive control knobs above the oven doors. The panels are stainless steel, or vitreous enamel, in a choice of around 30 colours, and again, bespoke enamel colours are also available. Then comes the trim for the knobs, handles and badge: brass, chrome, nickel or brushed stainless steel. (Stainless steel with brass is the finish our customers ask for most.)

There is a size for most spaces, too: from the 60cm AGA Mini (AGA 60) and the 70cm Lacanche Cormatin to a seven-oven AGA Signature (eR7) and the 180cm Lacanche Flavigny. 

What each costs

The RRP of a new AGA ranges from £7,650 for the AGA Mini (AGA 60) to £26,140 for the largest AGA Signature (eR7) – see our guide to how much an AGA costs for more detail. Lacanche range cookers start from around £5000, with the larger models ranging from around £12,000 to £16,000. The final price depends on the width, the ovens and hob you choose, and the finish. We regularly have special prices and promotions on both cookers, so do get in touch for our best price.

Energy costs are on many buyers' minds, and the two use energy differently. Most of an AGA's running cost is keeping the cast iron warm, so running costs very much depend on the way you use your cooker. A Lacanche uses energy only while you are cooking, as any conventional cooker does. For more information, read our guide to how much an AGA costs to run.

If you're still undecided

Picture your dream kitchen on an ordinary Tuesday. If what you see first is the room – warm when you come down in the morning, someone leaning against the rail chatting with you while you cook – that's an AGA. If what you see first is yourself at the stove, four pans on the go and every one of them under perfect control, the right choice for you might be a Lacanche.

If that hasn't helped clear things up, get in touch. We will be happy to answer any questions and offer advice to help you find the right cooker for your home. Better yet, book an appointment and visit one of our Reading or Woodstock showrooms, where you can see AGA cookers alongside Lacanche, as well as La Cornue, Sub-Zero, Wolf, Gaggenau, and the other luxury kitchen brands we carry.