Range Cookers Direct

If you’re into your cooking then you’ll already know all there is to know about range cookers, right? Or maybe you think you do. But do you know the history of the range cooker? Do you know where that fancy food preparer sat proudly in your kitchen came from? Well you will, after you read this! Try not to get too excited.

Ranger cookers are far more mighty than standard cookers, but unsurprisingly their history is rather more succinct; they’re a development of the standard cooker; a deviation in the cooking timeline if you will. If we put on our archaeologists hat, we can trace the history true range cookers back to 1777, a year after the US’s independence from Great Britain. An enterprising young gent called John Flavel established a foundry specialising in ‘vapour baths’, inspired by the spas of Leamington. He soon realised though that his vapour baths, with a few minor tweaks, would work rather well as stoves; thus the range cooker was born.

Range Cookers

Shortly after, in 1803, the entire operation moved to Leamington, and one of the world’s first factories dedicated to the range cooker was constructed. The expansion enabled Flavel’s son to develop his revolutionary ‘kitchener’, essentially the father of all range cookers. Made from cast iron, the ‘kitchener’ could cook pretty much anything you could throw in it; any which way you wanted to cook it. Soon, range cookers were in the homes of the rich and famous across Europe.

After the end of the First World War, electricity became far more widespread, allowing for further developments in the exciting world of range cookers; namely the inception of the electric range cooker. I did warn you it was exciting. From then on, range cookers have continued to grow and grow (both literally and figuratively) to become what they are today: the perfect choice for the aspiring chef with a bit of cash to splash. But what’s in store for the range cooker in the future? Next time we turn up the heat and find out. Stick a fork in me, I’m done.