The New Aga is a Mercury
The Aga Rangemaster Group has announced that it has bought the range cooker company Mercury ... for a "cash consideration" of £425,000 ... making Aga's range cooker offering very comprehensive indeed.
British designed and made, Mercury range cookers were launched in the year 2000 and have proved very popular with upmarket customers. The RC1090 (below) has an extra large oven, a standard oven, a separate grill and a five burner gas hob with characteristic "cattle grid" cast iron pan supports.
Mercury also researched, designed (in collaboration with Seymour Powell) and produced a 21st century version of the heat storage range, which they called the Thermastone (the Aga being the most famous of the traditional heat storage ranges).
The Thermastone (above) uses silicon carbide, instead of cast iron, for heat storage and has four ovens at different temperatures, for roasting, baking, slow cooking and warming. The food is cooked gently in the ovens and it retains moisture - just like an Aga - but the hob is very different. It has two variable gas rings and a large square, electrically heated, chef's plate. The hob controls are the "Twist Grip" controls on the towel bar ... which work in a similar way to a motorbike throttle.
The Thermastone was in the same price range - if not rather more expensive - than an equivalent Aga ... and so would have had even lower volume sales than the Mercury cookers. Unfortunately for Mercury (and parent company Lincat plc - who produce commercial catering equipment), upmarket kitchen sales (and related upmarket appliance sales) have slowed dramatically in the recession and the company made a loss in the year to December 2008.
Acquisition of the Thermastone brand makes obvious sense for Aga, since it's a high tech version of the heat storage range cookers in which they specialise. To my mind, a Thermastone would look much more at home in a modern high tech kitchen than an Aga ... in spite of the pictures Aga Rangemaster produce, showing Agas in just such settings.
The Mercury RC1090 is a much less obvious asset for Aga, since it's a direct competitor with their Falcon range cookers. If past performance is anything to go by, though, Aga may well keep the brand name ... after all, they have kept the Rayburn, Waterford Stanley (Irish), La Cornue (French) and Heartland (Canada) range cooker brand names, as well as marketing their Rangemaster and Falcon cookers separately.
Aga say that they will extend the Mercury cooker range and will produce Mercury cookers at their Leamington Spa site from 2010. That's good news, I suppose ... I have nothing but praise for the cookers produced by the Aga Rangemaster Group. I do think it's a bit of a shame, though, when new and innovative products get assimilated into the product range with which they were supposed to compete.
Comments
I have to agree with your sign off comments regarding the absorption of Mercury by AGA Rangemaster being a shame.
Like you, I have great respect for AGA and Rangemaster products but cannot help but wonder if the design freedom Mercury gave to SeymourPowell will now be lost. Mercury really did rethink constant heat range cookers with its Thermastone, something AGA has yet to do.
Mind you, if you can buy the finished product off the shelf for a reported £425k, you'd be daft not to!
I was supposed to have delivered the Thermastone last week, still not arrived in Belgium.
On the phone - because they have no computer system ! - I have been told that all sales personnel (and it-sales systems) are gone and thus they have no way of finding my order !
I imagine this is the kind of modern professionalism AGA is going to show us in the future !
Sorry to hear about your problems Annette. It must be very disappointing and frustrating
I hope they manage to sort out the paperwork and honour existing orders ... especially in view of how much of a bargain some of us think the purchase was!
Thanks for your reply and sympathy. Indeed a bargain, only 3 times the price of Mercury's loss last year - for the most promising design ever seen in stoves (I have been looking for this kind of old timer in comtempory design and technology for years and years!)
Apart from not having anything to cook with these days, what triggers my insatisfaction is that Mercury had such a good sales assistance and now everybody has gone. Did they walk out on their own decision in loyalty to design etc. and maybe "sabotaged" the it-system on their way out, or is it AGA sabotaging Mercury? Not a professional take over by any means.
Since my first message here on your blog this morning, I've been in contact with AGA sales department and with some coercion it seems to work, i.e. they have sent somebody to run around at the Mercury warehouse looking for my Thermastone. But should that really be necessary with such a big company and for such an expensive order made item?
Apart from worrying about what I can microwave for the next days (weeks?) I'm starting to worry about cooker design's future - i.e. everything essential is on AGA hands now, right?
I can't answer your questions Annette. It certainly wouldn't make any sense for Aga to sabotage Mercury, now that they've bought them ... and Aga have a good reputation here ... but the takeover does seem a tiny bit inefficient, from what you say.
All I can do is cross my fingers for you!
Thanks again Majjie for your kind words. I've been reassured that my Thermastone will be delivered end of this week. Cross my fingers.
AGA is indeed a great company and heat storage cookers are amongst the cook's best inventions - only design wise they've been far behind for some time, need to move forward and I hope also that is what they are doing now.
Nice to have discovered your site. Very good design also !
Hello. Do you know who is handling technical support for Mercury ranges now?
I ask as my RC1090 is not sealing properly on the smaller oven I would like to know how to adjust the door so it seals properly. The seal is not damaged but I did move house recently and I think the oven door might have shifted in the process too.
Hi Matt ... Aga Rangemaster have taken that over ... but they'll keep the trademark names going ... so you just need to go to the Mercury website for details.
The Technical Queries helpline is 0870 589 5105
HTH
Majjie
I am considering buying a Thermastone, but dont know much about it.
Can anybody tell me ... is it any good to cook on? Or is it reliable and durable? Is it hard to run? Will it cook all day without a cough ... is it any good?
Sorry Steve, obviously nobody who's got a Thermastone has been visiting recently.
I wouldn't hesitate to buy one - if I had the money and the space - it seems to me that it combines the best of all worlds. It has traditional heat storage ovens but in a modern material (designed to lose less heat than an Aga would, when you open the doors) ... two powerful gas hobs ... plus a chef's plate which gets very hot in the centre (you can cook on it directly) but you can also move pans to the side for a lower heat - and it acts as a warming plate when it's off but the ovens are on. The cooker doesn't need a flue, either, so it's easy to fit into most kitchens.
If I was getting one, I'd have a separate combi-microwave oven too - for when the Thermastone ovens were off and I wanted to heat something quickly. Like an Aga, the ovens take 6-8 hours to warm up, but - unlike an Aga - you can use the hobs when the ovens are off. Cooking on it all day shouldn't be a problem at all, I wouldn't have thought.
It's won quite a few awards too ... but I've never cooked on one, so can't give you any first hand feedback, I'm afraid.
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