Gas & Electric Cookers

This product guide covers both gas and electric cookers, be they freestanding units, hobs or built-in ovens.

Without a clear ethical brand, conscious consumption in this sector revolves around energy use and company group ethics.

Choosing a cooker can be an arduous task. The multi-branding strategies from leading manufacturers have resulted in a highly saturated and confusing market place. This guide alone covers 45 different brands.

Having said that, there are some clear market heavyweights. Biggest of all are Turkish-owned brand Beko and Whirlpool’s newly acquired brand Indesit. British-made cooker brands such as New World, Stoves and Belling are comparatively small, but have posted positive sales in recent years. [1]

Table highlights

Toxic chemicals

Most companies featured on the score table above lacked any real discussion of toxics like PVC and BFRs. They all got a worst Ethical Consumer rating apart from Samsung which got a best.

Conflict minerals

Unfortunately, almost all of the companies in this guide did not have a publicly available conflict minerals policy, and were therefore given a worst Ethical Consumer rating for conflict minerals. The only companies that did better were Panasonic, Samsung and Siemens, which achieved a middle rating and Russell Hobbs which received a best.

Tax avoidance

There was a much wider spread on ratings for likely use of tax avoidance strategies. The companies that didn’t get a worst were rated as follows:

Best: Glen Dimplex (Belling, New World, Stoves), Zorlu Holding (Servis), Gorenje Group, Smeg, Howden Joinery (Lamona).

Middle: Miele, Candy, Investor AB (AEG, Zanussi, Electrolux).

Gas or electric?

The table below shows the average energy consumption and CO2 emitted per use in 2018 and 2014. As you can see, since we last covered cookers in 2014, the average CO2 emitted by electric ovens and hobs has fallen by almost 22%. This is thanks to a reduction in the carbon intensity of the UK’s electricity, which many predict will continue to fall.

Is it therefore time to make the big switch to electric?

Well, probably not. Although it is true that the CO2 emissions of gas will not change greatly, recent government action has demonstrated that green energy production is not its primary concern. A recent study found that investment in renewable energy in the UK is set to fall by 95% over the next three years.

If you want to check the latest statistics and input your specific oven’s energy consumption, you could use the carbon calculator. 

Induction hobs

As for hobs, it may very well be time to consider induction hobs as the most environmentally friendly option. Even if electricity in the UK only becomes slightly less CO2 intensive, they are set to overtake gas hobs in the coming years. Induction works by applying electromagnetism to pans with a high iron content (i.e. not ceramic, glass or aluminium). This effectively directly heats the pan and not the hob surface.

As you can see in the table, induction hobs consume far less energy per use than gas or electric. However, many consumers will have to replace some/all of their existing pans to use an induction hob, thereby buying products which come with their own energy consumed during manufacture.

Energy use

In terms of electricity alone, cooking (which covers electric hob, electric oven, microwave and kettle) used 6% of the household total for the whole of the UK in 2018. Although cooking doesn’t use a huge amount of electricity when compared to things like appliances (59%) and space heating (17%), it isn’t nothing.

Studies have found that “traditional ovens are among the most inefficient appliances, with an energy efficiency of around 10-12% with respect to the input power.” Our ovens waste energy on heating empty space and heat is lost because of air flow and ventilation.

The EU life+ fund have partnered with the Whirlpool Corporation to fund a project, called the Highly Efficient Ovens (HEO) project, which has tasked itself with designing a new model of oven with much higher energy efficiency.

The project has succeeded in achieving a 63% reduction in energy used in the production process and an effective 30% reduction in the ovens’ use-phase. As the project is partnered with the Whirlpool Corporation we hope to see these improvements being incorporated soon into their oven brands Hotpoint, Indesit and Whirlpool, none of which currently have an A++ rated model.

Energy efficiency

The EU Energy Labelling scheme has proven to be a great success for other home appliances in the UK and energy labels were introduced for electric and gas ovens in 2015. This will allow consumers to make more informed and environmentally conscious decisions when buying a built-in oven or a freestanding cooker with an oven in it. The energy label does not currently apply to hobs.

Cooking appliances can now achieve a top rating of A++. However, very few products have been awarded this rating. In fact, we only found two ovens on sale in the UK with an A++ label, one from AEG and one from Grundig, both of which gain a Product Sustainability mark on this guide. Although the vast majority of cookers achieve at least an A rating, we hope that in the coming years companies give more emphasis to energy efficiency. More details on the energy rating of many models on the market are available at the Sust-it website.

Clever cooking

You can reduce the carbon intensity of your cooking by following some simple energy saving tips:

In the oven

• Think carefully about how you reheat food – microwaves are 60-80% more efficient than ovens.
• Cook as much as possible in one go to make sure all the space and heat is being used.
• Keep the oven closed while cooking as each time you open the door the oven loses heat and requires more energy to get back up to temperature.
• Defrost frozen food in the fridge overnight to reduce the cooking time.
• Whenever possible use the fan assist cooking option that allows you to set the oven at a lower temperature.
• For longer cooking cycles, you can switch off the oven 10 minutes before the end of the cooking time and use the residual heat to finish cooking.
• Maintain the seal on your oven.
• Glass and ceramic dishes are the most efficient for ovens

On the hob

• Copper-bottomed or cast-iron pans heat more effectively than stainless steel.
• When possible use a steamer to cook multiple veggies at the same time.
• Cut food into smaller pieces so it will cook more quickly.
• Use the right sized pan. According to SmarterHouse, a 6” pan on an 8” electric ring wastes more than 40% of the heat produced by the ring.

Price comparison

In terms of energy costs, gas ovens and hobs easily undercut their electric cousins. However, when initial cost of purchase is considered, electric ovens can be bought for under £100 whereas gas ovens start from around £300.

For our table toppers Gorenje, built-in electric ovens start from around £200. However, it only offers a single A rated free-standing electric cooker at £500 and no gas options. For a wider range of products take a look at Belling, New World, Miele, Smeg and Stoves, all of which are recommended by this guide. Smeg and Miele are both premium brands with higher price tags, whilst Belling and New World make cheaper models.