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By Beverley Nielsen | Travel just beyond Upton upon Severn and you’ll come across Vanessa and David’s home, shared with their two children and their chocolate Labrador, Monty. Parts of the former farmhouse, picture-pretty in red brick, are 450 years old.
Outside, it’s surrounded by barns and outhouses, put to good use once again as they also run their business – a marketing consultancy – from home.
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Picture-pretty: Vanessa and David's 450 year old former farmhouse | The walls of their oak-beamed, cottage-style kitchen reflect the building’s age, bowing inwards and outwards as they gently undulate in a way which would provide a challenge for even the most experienced kitchen designer.
The family originally had a slot-in cooker which Vanessa couldn’t wait to replace. But she was forced to wait while they engineered a design that would deliver a working kitchen in a challenging space.
Vanessa knew exactly which cooker she wanted. “I wanted a range cooker, and something versatile to suit our lifestyle,” she says. “Having checked out the market, Rangemaster felt sturdy compared with the other brands.
“I wanted to be able to combine gas and electric. The Rangemaster 110, with five gas burners and an electric ceramic plate warmer together with the combination of two ovens – one conventional and one a fan oven – gave me tremendous flexibility.”
“Once we got around the hurdle of producing the new kitchen design we decided to create a framed recess to house our new range cooker. We had to work everything into quite a small space – the kitchen is less than 14ft long and about 9ft wide with the ceiling being just around 6ft in height. We managed to fit in all the storage and shelving, as well as a table and four chairs.
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Flexible friend: the Rangemaster 110 | “The children are heavily involved in different sports – football, cricket, hockey and golf – so we usually have some training on most weekdays. I use the fan oven all the time because it heats up more quickly. When I turn the oven on I want to be able to cook a meal as quickly as possible so we can get on our way again.
“The versatility of the cooker is one of its greatest strengths. I love using the wok burner as it’s great for stir-fries. I like the fact that I can use both ovens at the same time. From time to time I like to use the griddle and I do find the drawer convenient for storage.
“I even like the lid because it keeps the dust off the cooker, it finishes off the cooker nicely and most importantly there is a health and safety aspect as when the lid is down any gas rings left on are automatically turned off.
“The ceramic plate warmer has an indicator warning light to let you know when it is on and in addition to warming plates I use it for preparing sauces and gravy in advance and keeping them warm.
“In short, I just love my Rangemaster. It’s the best thing I’ve ever bought because it is so versatile, so efficient and it suits our lifestyle perfectly.”
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