Hi
We are maybe looking to change existing woodburning stove to something with an oven/hobs. At a first look, stoves by PRITY look attractive- does anyone have any experience of them? (Manufactured in Bulgaria?)
Do you mean something like this?
I helped a friend put it in the kitchen of his moulin renovation project in the Creuse a couple of years ago. Its a bit gimmicky, fairly thin steel, very small firebox so forever putting small (max 25 cm long) pieces of wood in. The oven is effectively heated by being next to the firebox and is probably only good for warming/reheating. No idea what the top is like for cooking on, I’d imagine it would take quite a while to heat anything. Plus side is that it does eventually warm things up, including the room.
Overall, I wouldn’t consider getting one.
Agreed. When we bought our house 16 years ago there was an old stove like this. Firebox also small that needed constant feeding with small pieces of wood and even so was a challenge to heat up. Not to be recommended. We took it out when we restored the house and put in a proper oven.
1 Like
Agreed.
My previous partner had one in her farmhouse. It could only be used in winter because it made the dining/kitchen too hot for several months of the year (even in Cumbria). Another problem was that if there wasn’t any wind the thing wouldn’t get hot enough to roast or bake. OTOH if you were able to bake you had to boost the temperature for about an hour before with a large elm log.
This one certainly didn’t make anything too hot, and maybe a small elm log! However, it didn’t need a windy day…
Ours? VERY small. 
Some friend of ours have a poĂŞle de masse, and cook with it very happily as well as providing heat and hot water. No idea what make but looks a bit like this.
That looks more sensible than the silly thing we had, which was also supposed to heat some radiators as well but never got above lukewarm.
Last year I was looking at something like this:
https://www.poeleaboismaison.com/cuisiniere-a-bois-moderna-cooky-luxe-rouge-13-8-kw.html
Takes logs up to 40cm for an output up to 11kw.
The stove that I removed when we first had the house held a firebox seemingly only slightly larger than my mouth, and even if you’d loaded it up with coal (far too small for wood) I can’t imagine it producing much heat. In the end we went for a pellet stove because of the convenience factors, although a nice Cuisinière à bois would have been more attractive
I agree with Mark and Sue. We have a Godin with firebox and oven. But the oven really doesn’t get hot enough to cook anything, although the top is quite good for simmering when it’s well stocked with logs. We light it on red Tempo days to top up the big domestic water tank instead of using gas or electricity.
Good for heating (well, it is Finnish),but the oven’s tiny and the stove’s too high to safely cook anything on top.
1 Like
Other models and makes available!
1 Like
Is that a châtelain you have?
It’s an old Cuisinière à bois La Châtelaine 11 kW, as far as I know. It’s mostly matt black with brass rails. It’s purely wood-burning, no gas hobs. We got it years ago and it is basic, but it does work. Not much can go wrong I guess ! Is that what you have Tory?
1 Like
We have 2 in the barn. One is black, no back boiler and with a broken top. The other is brown 
with a back boiler. We can’t decide if we try to move the black exterior to the brown one or replace the top of the black one with the good one from the brown one! I’d love a few radiators. Big issue for me is having no view of the fire though! And it worries me now what you’ve said regarding the oven being pants!
1 Like
Rather like our oil fired Rayburn, I’d suggest that a stove of this type is not a viable main cooker, but rather one that can be used in different ways according to the temperature (usually season-dependant) or in an emergency. Definitely not a replacement for a decent electric oven and hob.
1 Like
Oh definitely, would be winter use only 
1 Like
Thankyou everyone - we’ll keep looking. AtM cooking on top of our Invicta will just have to suffice on Red days.
F
Pants, yes! I think in those days (1990s) we were carried away by the Frenchness of it, and the good name of Godin.
In the UK we had a gas-fired Aga which I loved. So for our maison secondaire, undergoing an at least 10 year renovation, we thought the Châtelaine would be similar, providing some heating as well as an oven and cast iron hob for cooking. I guess in our ignorance we didn’t have a lot of the right wood cut and stored, and it was only ever just adequate.
When we moved here we decided to keep it and relocate it so that it can be used to heat the ballon to provide hot water as well as underfloor heating. Having a back boiler has been useful. I also simmer on the top when it’s hot enough. I never use the oven.
I can’t imagine moving the black exterior to another stove !
Que Choisir and/or 60 millions will probably have a Which? type survey someehere in their files on real experience with the various brands.
I’ll be a Que Choisir subscriber shortly so send me a PM if it’s one of the things I should look up when I get access.
1 Like