Flavel Domestic Appliances

Appliance Manufacturer & Brand Information

Flavel is an astounding old British company that can trace the brands roots back to 1777, yes over three hundred years!

However the company didn't enter the cooking appliances market until the "Patent Kitchener" brought the company to real prominence. The first real cooking appliance to supersede the open "fire and spita", the Kitchener was displayed at the Great Exhibition held at "Crystal Palace" in 1851. Some 19,000 exhibitors were represented at the Exhibition but only 17 Prize Medals with special approbation were granted and Flavel's Kitchener received one of these; just one of numerous subsequent awards that Flavel received.

Flavel remained a privately owned Company until it was converted into a Limited Liability Company in 1902, but the Flavel family continued to oversee it's development and expansion as Directors up until 1931.

Although it was known primarily as a manufacturer of cooking appliances the Flavel factories were also commissioned at various times to assist the country at times of war, and cannonballs produced by Flavel were fired at both Trafalgar and Waterloo. During both the Great War and the Second World War, the factories were used for the production of munitions and armoury.

In more peaceful times the skills of the workforce enabled them to produce ornate and highly ornamental cast iron fireplaces, fire-backs and grates, many of them being specifically designed and cast for the great houses of the English aristocracy. Flavel was always recognized as being an innovative company and having had a relatively minor presence in the gas fire market in 1965 they introduced the first ever furniture fire with a wood surround - the Debonair.

Over the next 6 years this gas fire totally revolutionized the market and a phenomenal one and a half million were sold.

In more recent times the company continued to trade as Sidney Flavel and Co. until 1974 when it was absorbed into the Glynwed Group which was subsequently broken up in 1998 and the Flavel brand was transferred to Agafoodservice Group.

In 2002 AGA sold both the Leisure and Flavel brands to Turkey's Arcelik who are better known as Beko in the UK taking the brand ownership outside of the UK and, notably, all production as well to our knowledge.

Flavel has gone from being a premium product with a massive history around the name to being, in our opinion, devalued to the same point almost as the Beko brand is regarded in the marketplace. In other words, a step up from the bottom of the market.

Obviously whilst the appliance were being produced by Rangemaster they were pretty good cookers and essentially a cut down Rangemaster but, now, that is no longer the case.