Cuisiniére à bois

[niemeyjt]

It was a while back - I will see what I can find - but as I recall a UK person visited her with the insert piece to sort the issues.

[niemeyjt]

This was the thread - https://www.thegreenlivingforum.net/for ... 1&t=110971

Note: 1) chimney size and construction and 2) wood burning insert were the issues with this install

[Bayleaf]

She had it professionally?? fitted by an authorised agent of Esse, after which he refused to return to her premises with no explanation whatsoever, personally I would not have one as a gift, whatever the make.

Sounds like a classic case of a so-called professional doing a bodge job. When we had our bigger woodburner installed in the lounge, when we first lived here, they were supposed to be the professionals, who sold us the woodburner as well. It's always had a problem with the way it was fitted, and I only recently found out why. They didn't do the job properly!

With woodburners and cuisinières it sounds like there is an art to how to operate (and maintain) them as well. I liked the look of that Esse, because it had lids on. But the hunt will continue!

[niemeyjt]

The Esse may work for you - if you are replacing a gas cooker maybe you will be able to install your own flue of the correct size and not bodge it to fit a 300-year-old stone chimney as others have had to do.

Also, by now one would hope they have sorted out the wood-burning kit oft mentioned in that thread.

And if you can use it for heating as well, then you can ditch the expensive gas entirely - or at least use it more sparingly in a dual installation. That way it could pay for itself quickly.

I think it is the nearest you will get to the old Aga - which my parents had when I was born.

[DominicBest]

It'll be more hit and miss with temperatures - but we sort of regulate the current woodburners to allow some cooking on the flat tops. Dust - we're used to!

This is the sort of thing I have in mind:
rosaxxl_mobile.jpg
Doubt it will stay that clean for long - and Mr Bayleaf would prefer one that doesn't have a glass front for the wood, but can't seem to find one (in our price range!)

I really like the glass door on the fire box, the one thing I missed when having one was not seein* the flames.

[DominicBest]

I bought a wood burning cuisinière for my large kitchen when I first got my house. I was impressed by the one that my elderly neighbour used. His kitchen was always tropical and he used it for all his cooking. I soon learned that his way of keeping it hot was the best way and that was to get the fire box up to a high temperature quickly then to feed it small amounts of wood regularly throughout the day to maintain the temperature. That was fine for someone who spent the whole day at home but less good for someone who spent a lot of time out and about. Before I moved here full time I decided that I couldn’t rely on two wood burning poêles for my heating so swapped the trusty cuisinière for an electric Aga and later upgraded the Godin in my living room to a Jøtul woodburner. This arrangement suits me and keeps the house comfortable. The electric Aga was a real revelation and is surprisingly economical to use. Last week I used the ‘holiday’ setting for the first time where it went into slumber mode for a week while I was away before returning to its normal routine ready for my return.

[Blaze]

@Bayleaf One of the advantages of the wood burning cuisinière we had was that we were not reliant on electricity. We were very glad of that when we had a power cut for over 3 weeks during the winter. We were able to "manage" the pump for the hot water tank, which was electric : as soon as the expansion tank started rattling, we'd let the fire die down. We had heat, cooking and hot water and could have survived for weeks !
We didn't use the Godin in the summer (far too hot) but had alternative arrangements in the kitchen. We've seen people still running their AGAs in the summer ...

[DominicBest]

I use an induction hob and mini oven in the summer.

[Bayleaf]

@Bayleaf One of the advantages of the wood burning cuisinière we had was that we were not reliant on electricity. We were very glad of that when we had a power cut for over 3 weeks during the winter. We were able to "manage" the pump for the hot water tank, which was electric : as soon as the expansion tank started rattling, we'd let the fire die down. We had heat, cooking and hot water and could have survived for weeks !
We didn't use the Godin in the summer (far too hot) but had alternative arrangements in the kitchen. We've seen people still running their AGAs in the summer ...

Absolutely! Don't want to be 100% reliant on outside sources - wood we can find on our own land, if we get off our arses!


In Devon, we had a gas Rayburn in an open plan kitchen/diner, open through to lounge. Always toasty - but too toasty in summer, so we had a fairly fancy gas BBQ that had a gas ring on the side for pans.

Here, we'll keep the Smeg Gas hob/electric oven for the summer months, and the cuisiniere will replace a 7kw woodburner that sits sort of in the middle of our current open plan kitchen/diner area. So there's already a flue in place. Which one to choose - exciting times!

[Loup-garou]

We have had an Esse Ironheart for several years and are pleased with it. Herself seems to understand the oven and the temperatures in various different parts of the plate offer quite a range. It is fitted to a flue and works a treat - as said elsewhere - the amount of the wood is as much a regulator as the various knobs and it is helpful to close the plate lids when too hot. It is very economical with the wood it requires.

There is a metal grill/screen which hangs from the handrail to dampen the flames from view but you still have to clean the glass from time to time so not sure the screen contributes much. However, ours is underused as we have a beast of a wood & pellet chaudière (Froling)which does the hot water and central heating and, even if you turn the kitchen radiators off, the Esse makes the kitchen warm enough to require all four kitchen doors open.