Britannia Living website

Britannia have been supplying range cookers in the UK for over twenty years. I believe the cookers are actually made in Italy but Britannia is based in Blackpool and they have their own delivery and installation teams and their own service engineers. The build quality of the appliances is very good and, as a result, the cookers are quite pricey ... so give them a miss if you're just going to heat up ready meals. If you're a serious cook, though, they're well worth a look.

I used not to be very keen on Britannia cookers ... they refused to supply one kitchen showroom I worked in (mind you – I think that's because their bills hadn't been paid on time!) ... the hob choices were confusing and the cookers used not to have separate grills. All of that has changed, though - they have some very impressive cookers available now. Go and have a look at one, before buying, if you can – and try out the doors and controls. They feel very sturdy. Also, if like me, you prefer a separate grill, look out for the more recently introduced XG models which have that feature.

I went to a cooking demonstration in 2010 – by Britannia's home economist, Carol Potter, using a Dynasty XG110 range cooker – and was very impressed by the results. I wrote about it here: Stop Press ... Britannia Cookers Cook Well! The chicken cooked on the rotisserie, in the small oven, was mouth wateringly tender and I also really liked the Chef Top.

There are five range cooker families at Britannia. The E-Line and L-Line models don't have the same spec as the others – but, as a result, they're more affordably priced and they do have the most important features, like the rotisserie. If you're looking for a top quality cooker, though, have a look at the Sigma, Dynasty and Classic models. The Dynasty (shown in the top picture above, and in the roomset at the bottom) has no windows in the oven doors but, otherwise, is similar to the Sigma, whilst the Classic, as you might expect, is more traditionally styled. You'll find sizes ranging from 900mm wide to a massive 1500mm.

A Britannia Classic range cooker

A 1500mm Britannia Sigma range cooker

More recently, Britannia have launched a range cooker with French styling - the Fournelle – which has a web site all to itself – and they also do built-in ovens and hobs. Visit their main website for more information about the built-in appliances and to find a retailer near you.