It is the same AGA that Frank Lloyd Wright specified for his residential designs and the same AGA that sits in residence at Castle Howard. It's the AGA that the British Antarctic Survey uses at its south pole headquarters and the AGA that John Updike defers to as "an object of reverence". It's the faithful companion that helped maintain the familiar profile of Winston Churchill and remains the choice of his eventual successor, Margaret Thatcher, as well as of today's royal family. Martha Stewart has owned two and Uncle Dave's Kitchen uses its tireless AGA to produce one of the best ketchup's on the market today. From aristocracy to democracy, the AGA is hot. What is this AGA? Where did it come from and what makes it so special?

AGA, an acronym for Amalgamated Gas Accumulator, is, quite simply, a stove - or cooker, as the English prefer to call it. But not just any cooker. Each cast iron AGA is individually forged and hand assembled at the Coalbrookdale Foundry in Shropshire, England. Behind its classic proportions and polished enameled façade, lies technological ingenuity that has taken the guesswork out of the art of cooking and elevated it to luxurious simplicity. Invented in 1922 by Swedish Nobel Laureate Gustaf Dalen, the AGA was originally designed to free Dr. Dalen's wife from long hours in the kitchen. Little did he realize that the AGA would become a distinguished and beloved fixture throughout the British Commonwealth.