I had fancied a wood burning Rayburn for my new kitchen - but on visiting the showroom today I saw an Esse ironheart that has a glass door.  It is a good mix of a stove and oven although it looks a bit industrial.   However I wondered if anyone knew anything about how well the oven works?  Esse do a woodburning stove like Rayburn as well but you can't see the fire then - have read somewhere that the oven is better.  I am not using this as a main oven nor to heat water.  It is purely as a source of heat in the winter and to be able to use it for cooking will be a bonus.  I attended an Aga cookery demonstration with a friend and was impressed with how the oven can be used - all the saucepans went in - there was nothing on the top.    I would love to hear from anyone who has had experience of using a woodburning cast iron stove.  I have completely dismissed an Aga because of the running costs.  My kitchen will have a conventional electric oven in too.

I've had oil fired ones but when we were children my parents had a solid fuel Aga - if they still do that option perhaps it might work for you. 

I used to put porridge in the night before and it was perfect for breakfast the next day.  Brilliant for ironing too and I'd heat my kids pyjamas and school uniform in the winter.  I've been without mine, oil fired, for 6 years now and I still really miss it!! 

I have got a solid fuel Rayburn /Aga.  It is lovely but very messy.  We use it only when the weather is very cold as it is much too hot to keep it burning in 'normal' temperature.  When we came here, there was no gas laid on our road so the range was my cooking stove and it was lit all the time.  It takes a huge amount of wood to keep it going and we found the best fuel was anthracite which made the temperature easier to regulate than burning logs.  Food tastes much better when cooked in a range but there is a knack to cooking with one and everything takes ages to cook.  We have had a 'fight' recently about our range, my husband wanted to take it out and install a gas 'Rangemaster' but  I wanted to keep the Rayburn and my gas stove..........I won!!  :)  The wood burning Rayburns may be different from mine though!  Forgot to add, mine is about 30 years old and was here before we came here, so I am sure that it isn't really fair to compare mine with one of the modern versions of it!

We had one too, some years ago. It would of been marvelous if I'd had a conveyer belt from the wood shed to the open top of the stove, because that's how much wood the damm things eat! I agree with oldilocks that anthricite is better and far hotter to use. However, I do confess that I have toyed with the idea of buying another one for the kitchen and purely because of the energy problems and costs of gas and electric, which let's face it, can only get worse. We do have a glass fronted woodburning stove in the dayroom and it's our 3rd. I keep it in 24/7 and this does a good job of keeping the house lovely and warm in the depths of winter. It's a flat top and very controllable. We can boil a kettle on it, make wonderful mulled wine in the evenings and the dogs tuck up besides it ontheir bean bag during the cold nights. Ah.....the winter.

Totally Rayburn fanatic here! grew up with them, have one now servicing the heating/water/cooking and they are wonderful. heavy on logs/wood, solid fuel is better for keeping in especially overnight and regulating the oven but food tastes so wonderful cooked in the oven. They are a bit messy for cleaning out, but I find their worth overcomes this. So many uses, drying/airing clothes, keeping the dogs warm, wonderful. I think Rayburn give a VAT discount on the totally wood burning ones, down to 5% vat if that offer is still running. Rayburns last forever too, so many of a really old age still in excellent order or you can buy totally refurbished ones at a more realistic price than new. Also, if you go on the rayburn site you can see all the old models in their history and spec pages, some will happily and eaisily run a heating system for 12 rads.

About 10 years ago I had a brand new Rayburn (wood/solid fuel), which did cooking, heating and hot water. The amount of wood, like others have said, that it went through, and mine was the smallest model they do, was ridiculous. Anthracite was a better option and I could fill it up once or twice a day and just adjust the air vent to get the required heat. It did take a bit of getting used to but I did enjoy it. Since moving house I've now got a Sandyford oil-fired range which is much easier and less messy, and doesn't need to be on all the time (the cooker has an independent burner, so in the summer I only need to use that, in the winter both burners come into use), but also have a wood/coal burner in the living room which is lovely to look at, and will kick in to do the water and CH once it gets hot enough, taking over from the Sandyford - the best of both worlds!

I bought an Esse Ironheat when my kitchen was extended last year.  It is brilliant!!!  Keeps the whole house nice and warm and cooks beautifully - never had such tasty roast beef before.  It takes a while to get used to but I love it - and the dogs do too!
Mine is also mainly for warmth in my now huge kitchen and to cook on occasionally although I did use it more and more - not long now before it's back in action!

Great to hear from folks who own these ranges.  Just listening to the salesmen is not enough.  I was told yesterday that the Rayburn firebox is not as good as the Esse (not the Ironheart).  Today we were told that customers that have had that fitted were not satisfied.  This second place today sold yet another type - and Italian Nordica model sold under the Broseley name.  It has a large oven and both oven and firebox have glass doors.  I think it is lovely to see the real flame but not sure about heating a larger oven.   It is a multifuel which seems to be the thing from what I have read here.  I suppose we can just use logs for the fire to keep warm and solid fuel for serious cooking.  I suppose not being used to a wood burning stove means that using the oven will be a hit and miss thing until I can learn the correct way of doing it.  Well I wasn't a Girl Guide for nothing!  I got all my camping badges! Thanks for the input all.

Another thing to be aware of is that building regs cover the instilation of Rayburns (and Iwould think others but I only have experience of the rayburn) to ensure correct ventilation, and the chminey will need to be lined. With oil fired rayburns not all oil plumbers will hold the necessary docs for their instilation, so contact them to see if they do. However, the shop selling them should be able to tell you of one that does. rayburn will commision their new rayburns, this is free, but you have to make sure all regs are covered, the shop selling them should be able to survay your home.

Oh I am a very lucky girl!!  We are building a new house!  I have a clean slate - the flues are being designed for what ever I choose.  Went back to look at the Ironheart today - a pub has one installed.  However the oven was as clean as a whistle - they only put the soup on the top to keep warm when the fire is lit.  

Oh the memories come rolling back!!  My Nanna had an Rayburn in her kitchen.
2 words, toasty bum!!!!!