Defra Approved Wood Burning Range Cooker: The 14 Listed

If you live in a smoke control area and want to cook on logs, you need a Defra approved wood burning range cooker: strictly, a cooker that appears on Defra’s exempt appliance register for the country you live in. We went through the register model by model on 12 October 2026. It holds thousands of stoves and boilers, but only 14 entries are wood-burning cookers or cook stoves, and eight of those are Esse.

The surprise is who is missing. There is no solid-fuel Aga, no solid-fuel Rayburn and no Stanley cooker on the list. The Aga and Rayburn names do appear, but only on room-heating stoves. If you own one of those cookers in a smoke control area, it may only burn authorised smokeless fuel, never logs.

What “Defra approved” actually means

Defra does not approve cookers in the way the phrase suggests. It keeps a register of exempt appliances: specific models that have been tested and shown to burn an unauthorised fuel, almost always wood, without producing smoke. The register is maintained for Defra by HETAS at smokecontrol.defra.gov.uk.

Each exemption is narrower than people assume:

• It is model specific. The Esse 1000 WD is listed. A different Esse wood cooker is not covered unless it has its own entry.
• It is fuel specific. Every cooker below is exempt for wood logs only, and most of the newer entries specify logs with a maximum moisture content of 20%. Burning anything else in a smoke control area takes you outside the exemption.
• It comes with conditions. Several entries require a permanent stop that prevents the air control being closed past a set point. If that stop has been removed, the cooker is no longer the appliance that was tested.
• It must be run to the manual. Each entry names the instruction manual, by date and reference, that the cooker has to be installed and operated in accordance with.

All 14 entries below are listed as exempt in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The full list of exempt wood-burning cookers

Source: Defra exempt appliance register, each model’s own entry, read 12 October 2026. The register also lists a Klover Smart 120 pellet-fired cooker, which is exempt for wood pellets rather than logs, so we have left it out of the log-burning count.

Which of these can you still buy new?

Esse’s own wood-fired cook stove range currently lists the 1000 W, Ironheart, Bakeheart, Warmheart, Warmheart S and the new Lightheart. Two things follow from that:

• The 990 and Plus 1 are older models. Their exemptions still stand, which matters if you are buying a second-hand or reconditioned cooker, but they are not on Esse’s current list.
• The Warmheart S has no separate entry. The register lists the Warmheart, not the Warmheart S. If you live in a smoke control area and want the S, ask Esse in writing whether it is covered by the Warmheart exemption before you order.

For a full traditional range cooker with ovens and a hotplate that runs on logs, the real choice inside a smoke control area comes down to the Esse 1000 W (WN without a boiler, WD with one) and the Salamander 1701 SE models. The Ironheart is a cook stove with an oven and boiler option rather than a full range, and the Bakeheart, Warmheart, Lightheart, Haven and Bakechef are compact stoves with an oven, better thought of as a heater you can cook on.

If your cooker is not on the list

Plenty of people own a solid-fuel Aga, Rayburn or Stanley, or an older Esse that does not appear. That does not make the cooker illegal. It changes what you may burn:

• Outside a smoke control area, the exempt list does not apply to you. Burn what the manufacturer allows. In England, wood sold in bags or loads under 2 cubic metres has had to be certified Ready to Burn since 1 May 2021, so small-quantity logs from a shop should already be dry enough.
• Inside a smoke control area, a cooker that is not exempt may only burn an authorised fuel: Defra’s list of approved smokeless fuels, plus anthracite, semi-anthracite, gas and low volatile steam coal, as long as the cooker’s manual allows that fuel. Logs are out.

The penalties in England are set out on GOV.UK’s smoke control rules: a penalty of up to £300 if your chimney releases smoke in a smoke control area, and a fine of up to £1,000 for buying unauthorised fuel to use in an appliance that is not Defra approved. Since the Environment Act 2021 changes took effect, councils issue these as civil penalties, and council enforcement policies note that the old statutory defence of using an exempt appliance or authorised fuel was removed, so what counts is whether smoke is coming out. Running a listed cooker badly, on wet wood or with the air shut down, can still land you a notice.

To find out whether you are in a smoke control area, ask your council’s environmental health team; most also publish a map.

Buying checklist for a smoke control area

1. Find the exact model on the register, by name, before you pay a deposit. Not the brand page, not the retailer’s “smoke exempt” badge: the Defra entry itself.
2. Check the entry covers your country. All 14 above cover the whole UK, but other appliances on the register do not.
3. Ask the installer to confirm any air-control stop is fitted and to note it on the HETAS certificate or commissioning paperwork.
4. Keep the named manual. The exemption ties the cooker to a specific edition of its instructions.
5. Budget for dry wood. At 20% moisture or less, you are buying kiln-dried logs or seasoning your own for a year or two.

If you are still choosing between fuels, our comparison of range cooker fuel types costs each one per kWh, and our best range cookers round-up covers the gas, electric and oil options if logs turn out to be more trouble than they are worth in your area.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a Defra approved wood burning range cooker? Yes. Fourteen wood-burning cookers and cook stoves are on Defra’s exempt appliance register, including the Esse 1000 WN and 1000 WD range cookers and the Salamander 1701 SE and 1701 SE Eco. Each is exempt for wood logs only.

Is a solid-fuel Aga or Rayburn smoke exempt? Not as of 12 October 2026. The Aga and Rayburn names appear on the register only for room-heating stoves. A solid-fuel Aga or Rayburn cooker in a smoke control area may burn only authorised smokeless fuel that its manual allows.

Can I burn wood in an Esse range cooker in a smoke control area? Only if your specific model is listed: the 1000 WN, 1000 WD, Ironheart, Bakeheart, Warmheart, Lightheart, 990N, 990D, Plus 1 or Plus 1D. The logs must meet the entry’s conditions, which for the newer models means 20% moisture or less.

Does the exemption apply in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland? For all 14 cookers listed here, yes. The register records each appliance’s status separately for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, so check the entry for any other appliance.

What is the fine for smoke from a chimney in a smoke control area? In England, a penalty of up to £300 if your chimney releases smoke, and a fine of up to £1,000 for buying unauthorised fuel for an appliance that is not exempt. Councils set their own amounts within those limits.

Is a cooker with a “smoke exempt” sticker definitely exempt? Not necessarily. Only the Defra register decides, and it is model, fuel and condition specific. Check the exact model name on smokecontrol.defra.gov.uk before you buy.

Sources

Defra exempt appliance register at smokecontrol.defra.gov.uk, each cooker’s entry and the Cooker with Boiler category, searched 12 October 2026 (the list changes as models are added, so check again before you buy). GOV.UK smoke control area rules. Esse wood-fired cook stove range page.