Greg is an Instagram phenomenon with nearly 200,000 followers. He is restoring a huge Georgian house in Plymouth, Admirals House, and we were privileged to build a Blake & Bull re-manufactured Aga range cooker for him.
This is a Heritage style 4 oven cooker with eControl Series X. The colour Greg chose was 'Drop Cloth'. Perfect for the kitchen and a timeless choice.
Like all cookers we install Gregs was painstaking restored for him. A completely bespoke package. The castings of Heritage models could be 80 years old but are as good as new now.
101 parts replaced, 8 restored and 17 re-enamelled. 30 hours dedicated by 8 people and 28 painstaking checks once it is hand built in your kitchen. Not a second choice, a sustainable one.
We don't deliver our remanufactured Aga range cookers, we build them. The whole process, including testing, 28 point checklist and handover, takes a whole day. It's a calm unhurried process that we can complete anywhere from a second story flat to a cabin by the sea. There are no access issues we cannot conquer!
...and 1st piece of the kitchen and what a start! My approach here at Admirals was to try and create a space that felt aged, timeless, and didn’t feel too much like a kitchen, and my exquisite @blakeandbullrange is a big part of that!
It harks back to the huge, coal fired cast iron range (sadly long gone) this place would once have had, fed night and day by an army of household staff. This too would once have run on solid fuel, but now Blake & Bull have exquisitely restored and reimagined it so it retains it’s classic look (blissfully with no knobs, flashing lights, buttons or fuss in sight), but is now powered by an incredibly modern, efficient, controllable electric system that retains all the benefits of a cast iron range, but is much easier (and economical) to live with!
There is something heart-warming, knowing this will have been the much loved epicentre of home life for twice as long as I’ve been around, and now has been given a whole new life in my forever kitchen. Seeing what it looks and functions like now, is absolutely jaw dropping – it gleams!
I was lucky enough to visit Blake & Bull and meet the team and the expertise, attention to detail and passion for their work is extraordinary and I hope the efforts I’ve done restoring the old girl does justice to their work!
Every little bit, right down to the spring handles on the lids, is stripped down, cleaned, polished and reused. Absolutely nothing useful goes to waste. The original cast iron is blasted to look brand new and then re-enamelled in one of 65 colours.
You can buy brand new versions of cookers like this, but when something is made to last indefinitely, is this beautiful and can be remade to modern standards with new internals, insulation and technology working in harmony with the original components, from a small, passionate, family owned business… well, it will certainly make me smile every time I use it and I think mirrors my work restoring Admirals.
It was fascinating seeing it being built piece by piece.
Greg Xx
"If you are interested in a remanufactured Aga range cooker like Gregs click below to get started or call 01225 434500.
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