The theory and practice of selling the Aga cooker (1935) [pdf]
9 comments
·August 20, 2025dan353hehe
mhh__
Still a class signifier amongst a certain type of Brit (particularly if it's been disposed of as a climate sacrifice)
DaiPlusPlus
> ...that is always on
with predictable results w.r.t. quality-of-living when your house already has central heating.
Agas used to be a very rural middle-class thing: it was how I imagine most countryside homes' heating and cooking worked, and it scaled from a modestly-sized cosy cottage to being in expansive stately homes. But postwar, and especially since the 1960s, Agas are just a status-symbol appliance to me.
Like, in North America, you know you've made it when you have a Wolf range and a Subzero fridge in your kitchen. In the UK, it's when you've got an Aga.
...probably because the only comfortable way to run the thing is by also having central air-conditioning installed and running full-blast while you use the thing.
crinkly
Semi-related, but they aren’t the status symbol they used to be. I know a guy who did quite well out of removing Agas for a few years because they are so expensive to run. Apparently up to 20x the cost of more sensible equipment. They were sold for scrap metal value because people weren’t buying them any more. He charged them to remove it and got paid scrap value.
The worst one I heard was someone who paid £10k for their top end Aga, found it was costing £700 a month to run and it was scrap in under a year.
Dead technology.
Rendello
By marketing legend David Ogilvy, who listeners of the marketing/advertising podcast Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly will no doubt have heard tale of.
shrubble
Also the author of a well known book, “Confessions of An Advertising Man”.
pinkmuffinere
I'm really fascinated by this use of the apostrophe, where it seems to function similar to a colon or emdash:
> Find out all you can about your prospects before you call on them' their general living conditions, wealth, profession, hobbies, friends and so on
(another example)
>Tell the person who opens the door frankly and briefly what you have come for' it will get her on your side
Edit: also find this spelling of Nobel prize interesting:
> he has actually won the Nobel Prices
I had to go lookup what it was, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AGA_cooker Apparently it’s a stove/range that is always on.