Range Cooker Buying Mistakes We See Every Week

These come up often enough to be predictable. Every one is cheap to avoid and expensive to fix afterwards.

1. Measuring the cooker, not the aperture

A 110cm range cooker does not fit a 110cm gap. Manufacturers specify a required aperture that allows for the body, levelling feet and the ability to pull the unit out. Get that figure from the specification sheet before cabinetry is cut — not from the product width.

2. Never checking the route to the kitchen

The single most common failure. People measure the kitchen carefully and never measure the hallway. A rigid, heavy appliance needs diagonal space to make a 90-degree turn, so a hall that's wide enough on paper can still stop the delivery.

Measure the narrowest point between the vehicle and the kitchen, including the clear door opening with the door fully open. Read our access guide.

3. Leaving extraction until last

Extraction placement determines where the cooker can go, which determines the whole kitchen layout. Decide on canopy versus downdraft at drawing stage. If you want the cooker on an island, that decision needs making before units are ordered — and an Air-Tec model with built-in extraction may be the answer.

4. Putting the gas point in the wrong place

It needs to be positioned so the flexible hose reaches without strain and the cooker can still be pulled out for cleaning and servicing. Moving it after the kitchen is fitted means lifting flooring or cutting walls.

5. Assuming induction plugs in

It doesn't. Induction range cookers need a dedicated high-amperage circuit run from the consumer unit by a qualified electrician. In older properties there may be no spare capacity, which means a consumer unit upgrade — a job in its own right. Check early.

6. Not testing the pans

Induction needs ferrous cookware. Hold a fridge magnet to each pan base: firm stick means it works. People discover on delivery day that half their collection is unusable, and a good pan set is a few hundred pounds nobody budgeted.

7. Buying three ovens they won't use

XG and triple oven models are excellent if you genuinely cook multiple dishes at different temperatures. If you don't, the third cavity becomes a baking tray drawer — an expensive one. Be honest about the last month of actual cooking, not the aspirational version. See twin vs triple oven.

8. Choosing colour from a screen

Gloss finishes photograph badly and screen calibration varies wildly. Orange reads brighter online than in life; blacks and greys are hard to distinguish. On a £5,000 decision you can't reverse, see a sample or a display model. See choosing a bold colour.

9. Not asking who services it

The question almost nobody asks, and the one that most predicts whether you'll be happy in year three. Ask any retailer: who services this brand in my postcode, and what happens if it faults after the first year? A clear answer is worth more than a small discount from someone who can't give one.

The order that avoids all nine

Choose the model → get its specification sheet → give the figures to your kitchen designer → confirm the delivery route → position gas and electrical supplies at first fix → fit the kitchen → take delivery → have it connected by the right qualified trade.

Doing it in any other order is how people end up cutting into finished walls.

Talk it through before you commit: 0330 133 6617, or read the full buyer's guide.