Disappointing... a sign of the times, perhaps
3/5
I've had Aga & Rangemaster cookers previously, so have a reasonable basis for comparison with this model, which has been in use for a couple of months now.
Superficially, the cooker looks great. Closer inspection reveals several (in my view) disappointing features. For example, the cooker top, rather than being one piece of pressed and enamelled steel, is two or more pieces. The left side, with 4 gas burners, appears to be for a 60cm single cooker, and the right side wok burner top is a completely separate piece, with a strip of raised metal covering the join. This is aesthetically unappealing, and looks cheap. Worse still, bang in the middle of this pressing is the raised ghost shape of the cut-out for the single-cooker 5th ring, which of course isn't on this model. It's just plain cheap and ugly. Moreover, the right, wok-side top isn't one pressing, either. Running your fingers around it reveals it's a 2-piece pressing at least, with a discernible 'lip' where the join is. Again, it's very cheaply made - the whole top uses cheap posi-drive black-headed screws to join all the parts, and effectively they form the resting points for the cast iron pan supports.
It can be argued that in operation this is all out of sight, except for the joining strip, but in my mind it suggests that Rangemaster designers have been given a brief to reduce the cost of Rangemaster cookers by cobbling together multiple cooker top pressings - which, if so, does not suggest a company looking for customer-satisfying quality, but looking for increased profit at the expense of quality. It's a bad error of judgement: the cooker is expensive, but looks and feels cheaply made.
This feeling is reinforced by the continuous warning about leaving ovens or grill switched on, with the door open - that it risks heat damage to the control knobs immediately above. If the warning was about safety - the risk to your hands when touching one - I'd understand it, but when it's a tacit admission that the cooker controls will melt, the obvious question is why are such flimsy knobs being fitted?
In operation, the cooker works as well as others I've owned. I like to bake bread, and this model seems to be about as efficient as any - although over the phone Rangemaster were very reluctant to tell me what were the maximum temperatures the gas and electric ovens would reach, and the manual only points out that electric ovens are slightly lower. Not entirely helpful...
Finally, the handbook itself covers two different models, but does not specify in the text which cooker has which features. This is frustrating, as (for example) looking for the red light that comes on when the grill is on its half-setting is a waste of time, until you discover that your grill has neither half-setting nor, therefore, red light! It's very easy to edit instruction manuals to make these things clear... A bullet-point list would do it!
My criticism of the build quality of the cooker means that it niggles every time the cooker is used. Expensive cookers are bought by customers who expect the price to reflect the quality. Unfortunately, in this instance, in my opinion, this model does not. Another once-reliable brand putting profit-building before customer value, seemingly. How long I can live with these daily frustrations remains to be seen, bit I won't be buying another Rangemaster.
R. Gould
Reviewed on:
Colour: Cream / Chrome
R. Gould
Colour: Cream / Chrome
Reviewed on: