Everhot Cookers Spotlight: Guy Goring MD tells us about the coveted British range...
Emma’s clients often have Everhot Cookers and her designer splashbacks have proved the perfect complement. From florals to hand painted metallics and bespoke patterns, there’s a design to suit Everhot Cookers 20 colours. Whether you want a complementary or a contrasting look, bringing together your Everhot with an Emma Britton splashback is always a good match.
Everhot is a sought after choice in the range cooker market, stylish and efficient for any kitchen. Find out more about this popular British brand in our inspiring interview with Guy Goring, Everhot MD. Guy talks about everything from aesthetics to energy efficiency and Emma Britton splashbacks for their coveted appliances. A great read, especially if you’re planning a new kitchen project and looking for the perfect range.
Tell us about the history of the Everhot brand…
Everhot Cookers are based in the most glorious setting here in the Cotswolds. Our showroom and head office remain within the original 13th century water mill where the first Everhot was invented back in the seventies. In fact, the water turbine still provides some of our power.
My father, Ossie Goring, wanted to create a more energy efficient heat storage range cooker which could actually be powered by this water turbine. In doing so, he designed a cooker which uses what we call a ‘trickle feed of energy’. To this day our cookers consume, on average, between 600 and 700W per hour. This means they still work incredibly well with other renewable energy sources like solar panels.
Were efficiency and aesthetics considered equal in terms of design at the outset?
My father was an engineer and therefore his initial design inspiration was all about efficiency. He designed the cooker lids to be square so that the hot plates could be larger and the cooker itself better insulated. But it turns out customers loved the linear features of the cooker which resulted in a sleek, sophisticated design.
The first ever prototype Everhot cooker was actually red but from the outset we have offered multiple colour choices. As our palette has grown, the colours have become our signature style and we now add a new colour each year. It is always fun deciding which will be next.
Why are Everhot Cookers such a go to in the range market?
Everhot Cookers has grown considerably over the last few years as people search for more energy efficient range cookers for their kitchen projects. They want the traditional look of a heat storage cooker but with the versatility of technology like induction hobs. The fact that we are a family business, based in the Cotswolds and each of our cookers is hand built in a factory just a few miles down the road is very attractive to people who still like to buy British.
Are we right in thinking Everhot Cookers are hand built, we’d love to know more…
Yes! See above! In fact, each cooker is hand built by a single technician. You’ll find their name on the inside of your control panel door on the cooker.
What should people consider when they’re choosing an Everhot?
Funnily enough colour is the hardest decision for anyone considering an Everhot. With a palette of 20 gorgeous shades, we don’t ask for your final colour choice until 6 weeks before delivery. But we often find customers still in two minds!
There are seven sizes of Everhot Cooker and whichever a customer chooses will ultimately be determined by their kitchen design, how much cooking space they want, and how much heat they would like to the room.
The final decision is whether you would like the addition of an induction hob. Most of our models have this option and it offers a summer alternative should you want less warmth in your kitchen during warmer months.
Is there a particular style of kitchen they work best with?
We pride ourselves on fitting into in any kitchen style or design. The Everhot 60 is our smallest range cooker and measures just 60cm wide. However, despite its size, it still houses two huge ovens, one with a powerful grill, and a hot and simmer plate. Being smaller it enables more compact or galley kitchens to benefit from a range cooker. The added bonus is the warmth of an Everhot, often allowing people to remove a radiator in their kitchen should they need extra wall or cupboard space. The Everhot 160i is our largest cooker measuring 1 metre 60cm in width. With double hot and simmer plates and four controllable ovens, this cooker can warm the grandest of kitchens. And we have everything in between!
Because an Everhot Cooker doesn’t require a flu or hard wiring – they simply plug into 13 amp sockets – it means you have loads of flexibility as to where you can place them within your kitchen design, they can even sit in a kitchen island.
Do you need special cookware?
I have asked my wife, Sue Goring to answer this as she runs our sister company, Everhot Essentials, specialising in accessories for range cookers. Sue says:
“Although you don’t need special cookware for use on the Everhot hot plate, you do require pans that are made of the correct materials for use on the induction hob. They need to be magnetic – made from cast iron or steel for example. We have found big variations in quality and efficiency of pans available for both solid plate and induction hobs and because of this, we only sell pans on Everhot Essentials that have been tried and tested by our team, in order to ensure they perform well.”
Why is cooking so easy with an Everhot?
It’s down to the versatility, the controllability and the way in which our ovens work. Versatility refers to the fact that every single Everhot has two or more ovens, at least one grill, and a minimum of one hot plate and one simmer plate. Giving you loads of cooking options. On most of our models, each of the ovens and the hot plates are temperature controllable to five degree increments. Giving you full control over your cooking. And the radiant ovens cook food without the use of fans which often dry it out. This means it stays moist, yet still browns beautifully. Because the heat comes from the bottom you don’t have to blind bake pastry!
What Emma Britton splashbacks do you think work well with Everhot Cookers?
The beauty of our brands is the focus on colour. An Everhot cooker can be a bright pop of colour in the kitchen or a more subtle elegant shade. We know that this enables Emma Britton to be really creative with her designs, she can complement or contrast the colour of the cooker. Our favourite is probably her Chelsea Flower Show ‘Bright Lights’ design, teaming something so bright and full of life with our Mustard Yellow cooker which showed it off to its best.
Your Everhot colour palette is very eye catching, what inspires it?
We adore the wealth of colours we have on offer. Our colour inspiration is a mix between trends, customer requests and our own personal loves. Because our showroom is based at one of our wilding sites, we are surrounded by the colours of nature each spring and summer. And, of course, food is also a great inspiration – people love our Mustard Yellow and Tangerine Orange. It’s great to play with all of these ideas.
There are some impressive energy saving and sustainability credentials you must be proud of..
Our showroom, head office and factory are all carbon negative. And aside from the business, the cookers themselves are designed specifically to be energy efficient heat storage range cookers. Although they are built to be left on all day, our automatic ECO function switches the cookers into half temperatures overnight. This reduces the amount of energy being used when the cooker isn’t needed. Many of our customers are now combining their cookers with solar panel installations because they work so well together. The cooker can wake up from ECO in the morning as the sun is rising. And drop into half temperatures as the sun sets.
…and can you say a little bit more about the rewilding programme at your Gloucestershire HQ?
Very happy to, we are incredibly proud of our environmental credentials. Part of us being able to achieve the status of a carbon negative business is the four wilding sites we have created in the local area. Altogether over the last 40 years we have actually planted 50,000 trees. It’s a fabulous accomplishment but one that really we do because of mine and my father’s genuine love of wildlife, trees and water. My favourite moments during the day are walking around the sites and seeing the signs of barn owls, slow worms, kingfishers, and otters.
Some famous chefs and celebrities covet your range…
They do! We are delighted to work with a number of Everhot ambassadors. These include Michelin-starred chef Nigel Haworth, Instagram’s Claire Thomson, Great British Bake Off contender Nicky Laceby. Interior designer Sarah Beeny owns not only a cooker, but also a stove and a heater. We have a wealth of actors, writers, celebrities and royalty who also own our cookers but value our discretion.
What makes Everhot such a well-loved British brand?
Our Everhot cookers, stoves and heaters are all built in Gloucestershire from parts almost exclusively supplied from the UK and using energy we largely generate ourselves. Our British, energy efficient credentials, combined with traditional build and classic design means we’re being asked for by name as the heat storage range cooker brand of choice for the future.
Find out more at: www.everhot.co.uk