Being less attainable makes it less of a status symbol?

£700pcm to run sounds like something's wrong anyway.

You're right. Wikipedia says 425kWh per week which in the UK would cost 26 pounds for gas. That's the two oven model, maybe he had a bigger unit which let's say used double, which comes to about 200 pounds per month still far away from 70o euros, but also pretty expensive to just run your oven.

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justincormack 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

Most country houses don’t have gas so use oil or electric ones, mostly oil I think.

	▲	OJFord 4 days ago \| parent [-]
		The electric ones are just regular ovens in the traditional aesthetic, not on all the time. They can be solid fuel, possibly oil too, but in recent decades mainly gas - not sure new solid fuel ones are even made, that would just be people who already have them or buying them second hand.

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pcrh 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Up until the late 20th century, British homes were very poorly served for heating during their long damp winters. No insulation, no central heating, etc.

Coal was the usual source of energy, and coal fires were usually continually burning, being "banked" at night. In this context, the "always on" AGA was not so unusual.

So the AGA stove served not only as a cooker, but also as a source of heat, similar to masonry heaters. Many were also connected to a hot water tank.

The sales manual above states that the cost of running an AGA stove in 1935 was £4 per year, or £247 (~US$330) per year today.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masonry_heater