My wife and I were very excited to purchase our very first range cooker. We have always loved cooking and baking, and the belling farmhouse seemed the perfect design and aesthetic to fit in with our kitchen so we decided to take the plunge. What a mistake. Upon turning on the cooker for the first time the house was filled with a horrendous smell. We understood that cookers require burning off, but after a few hours of trying on the first day we had to give up. We tried again and again over the next three weeks to no avail. It was January, temperatures were below freezing outside, and we had to keep all the windows open in the house while we did this, and for 2hs+ after to let the smell disperse. We were freezing and we got headaches and felt sick with the fumes in the house. After 9 hours over 3 weeks of the appliance being on we gave up and phoned belling. They agreed to send an engineer to look at the cooker. He arrived a week or two later unappraised of the situation and unprepared. He said the likely cause was the oven cavity insulation had been soaked in too much fire retardant but he didn’t have any spare insulation with him so couldn’t undertake a repair. We phoned belling again. They agreed to replace the unit. We waited another week or so for delivery of the unit and fitting from AO. When we turned on oven no 2 we were greeted with the same awful smell. We ran the oven for 3.5 hours on day one, and 1hr30 on day two and no improvement was detectable. I also checked both the ovens a day later when the smell had dispersed just to make sure. This time belling agreed to replace the cooker without sending an engineer first, but here the abysmal customer service journey really started. Belling claimed because we’d already had a replacement if we opted for the same model again they wouldn’t be prepared to replace it if it went wrong. Obviously this was very concerning to us, So we went back to belling and told them this wasn’t good enough and they needed to still offer a warranty with a new appliance. They eventually relented and told us we would have a this with any future appliance. Ao also phoned them and have this on record. So we then went to great lengths with AO to make sure that the third oven we bought would not have the same problem, assuming that we must have just been unlucky and got two from the same batch in the warehouse. They delivered us the oven, checked the serial number for us to make sure it was from a different batch, and then returned to fit it a week later. No luck. 30 minutes later our house was full of that smell again and 3 hours later there was no improvement. AO offered to handle the process for us this time and liaise with belling. We suggested to them it might be time to try to fix the appliance and they should send an engineer appraised of the situation and with some priority and urgency as we’ve been unable to cook for 3 months. However belling ignored this suggestion and have booked us in for an engineer nearly a month away. This time frame would be insulting even without our previous issues. I asked AO to follow this up for me, but I am yet to get a response. Any decent company who had manufactured three appliances in a row that were not fit for purpose would be falling over themselves with both apologies, embarrassment and efforts to put things right but that does not seem to be belling's way.

We haven't yet connected the oven but a few installation niggles have arisen. There is no way to level the oven from the front (supposed optional extra), so the oven has to come in and out without the luxury of rollers on the back to help with weight / moving (this has resulted in damage to our floor.) Despite being level and all 6 feet being lowered, the oven wobbles. The handles, which were an aesthetic selling point for me, will almost definitely damage the cupboard doors either side of the oven as they go almost all the way to the edge of the oven. I just hope that it redeems itself by cooking well..

We had a Belling Kensington 90cm dual fuel range cooker for 14 years and I loved it despite its quirks. It finally went wrong and we needed something that would fit into the slot. The Kensington was out of stock so we went for the same size Farmhouse, so I don't know if I would have been happier if we had managed to find the Kensington or whether Bellings in general have descended in quality. Worst of all is the knobs. I cannot read the knobs at all without first finding my glasses and even then I have to peer at them -- they are so shiny and the shine totally obscures the tiny black numbers. I miss the multi-function electric oven I used to have on the lower right, this one is a plain fan oven just like the one on the right. The grill only appears to want to grill anything at all if you winch it up really high, nothing seems to happen on the lower numbers. The Old Kensington's gas igniter button was in the middle near the clock, this one is right over on the left hand side which means you have to do a strange stretch to press the igniter while simultaneously reaching far right to keep the knobs for the right hand rings pressed in to release the gas. Honestly, were the design people having a laugh? They clearly didn't do much cooking. There are no little wheels at the back, so it looks as though it will be extremely difficult to pull this out to clean it (the old Kensington had wheels). I read reviews and kept my old grill handle, for some reason the one they supply now is just plain metal (saving money on not saving us from getting burnt hands). I also noted the fact that the left hand oven comes with only one shelf (the old Kensington had 2) and kept one of the old ones which fit perfectly. I really miss my old oven's stainless steel top too. This black enamel seems very drab. You can tell I'm disappointed and even half hoping that the cheap construction will mean it doesn't last long, but full marks to Belling for not changing the size of the ovens. Everything fits including the shelves and trays that came with the Kensington all those years ago. Also, we've did our first roast chicken in it last week and it was probably the nicest I've ever eaten. I might grow to love it.

While I like the look of this item I was very disappointed to find the gas ignition does not work. It appears a wire leading to the ignition has been caught in the dial housing and has shorted out, leaving a scorch mark on the inner paint work of the grill door. We are having to light the gas rings with matchs. To make things worse, we arranged for an engineer this Friday 21/9, 1 week and 2 days since installation, only to receive a message on Monday 17/9 that you didn't have the part in stock and the appointment was cancelled. Today is 20/9 and I still have not been advised when an engineer will come. Very disappointing indeed and very poor.

Looks fantastic in my kitchen. I love using the wok burner - no longer have to precariously balance a wok on the side of the hob! Having two separate ovens really comes into its own when cooking a roast dinner. Plus it’s easy to clean. Only grumble is smallest burner at lowest heat is not gentle enough for delicate simmering and I miss having a compartment to store my baking trays and tins.

I really love this oven, so many positive features. The only niggles are that the metal on the body and doors is a little thin, it could be easily dented if accidently knocked, plus the enamal would begin to crack. The burner ignition button is separate from the burner knobs, so you need both hands to ignite the hob. It's not a press, click and ignite one handed job. Finally, the stickers!! The product comes with way too many stickers adheared to the exterior and take ages to clean off without damaging the finish. The worst one was the one pushing the extended warranty,totally unecessary. Other than that, it's great, love it!

Good looking and much bigger than I was expecting, glad I didn't go for the 1000mm. My only real issue is the size of the main oven. It's a small oven compared to a standalone or built-in 600mm. I guess it's a small price to pay, but you're unlikely to get a big turkey in there! Pans and trays that fit are a challenge to find. But Asda do a range which are perfect, no wider than 36cm and you're good.

Still early days but looks like a good cooker for the money.