Do I 'need' a cooker hood?

[AlpacaPicnic]

My kitchen is quite small (3m x 2.5m) but has the advantage of two large (1m long) windows, plus we have a stable door in there which is open 90% of the time because I love fresh air in the house and am built like a polar bear so don't feel the cold

So I'm thinking I don't really need a cooker hood, do I?

Do I?!

[almostthirty]

I rarely use mine so wouldn't muss not having 1.

[LisaMumsnet]

No, you honestly don't! How do I know? Because we installed a new kitchen 10 years ago but never got around to buying the little charcoal filter things you're supposed to use with it! So the hood looks pretty but doesn't do anything. Mind you we very seldom fry food and never deep-fry food so maybe you need one if you do that quite often? I'm sure other MNers will be able to advise on that!

[Cakescakescakes]

Mine has been broken for a year. If I'm cooking something that makes lots of steam or smoky smells I just open a window. Haven't missed it at all.

[katienana]

I don't think you need one but I think they look better than an empty space. I have an empty space and I think it looks wrong!

[AlpacaPicnic]

Oh bless you both! Thanks you - I don't want to buy something that I'm going to have to spend the next 30 years banging my head off and cleaning begrudgingly...

We never deep fry food we buy it already deep fried

[AlpacaPicnic]

Apols, cross posted!
Thank you all :)

[SurferJet]

No, absolutely not. I grew up without one ( as did most of us I'm sure )

Just open the window when cooking & save yourself space and money.

[MackerelOfFact]

I have just bought one for the light more than anything!

[Palomb]

I wouldn't be without one no. I cook a lot of spicy food and that smell really lingers unless I use the extractor on my hood. I didn't have one for years but I love mine now.

[User543212345]

We've just ditched ours. I never used it as anything other than a light, which now aren't needed because there isn't a great big lump of metal casting shadow over the hob. It's so nice not to bang my head anymore!

[specialsubject]

No. It was the first thing we threw when we moved in. We have windows.

[oliviaclottedcream]

Yes but you dont want your windows open in the winter. The trouble with extractors I've found, is that unless you go for a really good quality, expensive and powerful one, they just aren't very effective. I'd put a vents in the windows.

[OnePlanOnHouzz]

If you had one in the previous kitchen in the home then you need to replace it with one as efficient if not more so than before if building regs are involved in the project ( ie if you knocked through a wall etc )
As when it's a build project regs vine into force.

[OnePlanOnHouzz]

Regs come into force ( thank you auto correct !)

[ApocalypseSlough]

Does anyone know what the building regs say? And whether an air recycling system would bypass this?

[SwedishEdith]

Would be nice if they actually extracted silently. Otherwise, agree that they're handy for the light and make the kitchen look balanced, somehow.

[OnePlanOnHouzz]

If the previous one was a recycler then you can replace with one as good or better, from what I understand that appears to be ok - but if your was vented previously you can't then put in a recycler as its not 'as efficient or better ' then the previous one .. I put a link on a previous thread about this recently ( am on phone squinting as can't find my reading glasses or it find the link again !!)

[OurBlanche]

Mmmm! In my job I have to check the cleanliness of them... run a hand over one in a rented house at the end of the lease without hand wipes within easy reach at your peril

I have one and am quite happy to switch it on and catch all that grease. Though I did live for 50 years without ever having one.

It's just that the thought of all the grease on my walls, in my own home, our house isn't all that appealing, now I have gone a few times when working (not envy, I can assure you )

[WhoTheFuckIsSimon]

I haven't had one in 15 years, kitchen is not in the slightest bit greasy.

[PigletJohn]

"something that I'm going to have to spend the next 30 years banging my head off "

You should not put a hood so low that you can bang your head on it. Buy a tape measure. Because a hood is fitted directly above the hob, it is more efficient than a wall fan at capturing fumes and steam. Unlike a window, a fan will not blow into the kitchen, pushing the fumes into the house; it will create suction preventing them from diffusing into other rooms. Closing the doors and window makes this work better. Same with a bathroom extractor.

[Perbsy]

Got rid of mine three years ago, no problems at all.

[RaisingSteam]

You can use an Xpelair type wall fan but it needs to be more powerful than the hood because it's not right over the hob. Building regs have all the details (see p 19). Even at 60l/s wall fans are still often quieter than cooker hoods.

You might find whatever is nearest/above the cooker gets a bit greasy (cupboard, shelf, utensil rack etc) but IME cooker hoods get covered in grease as well so you might as well choose something that's easy to wipe down with CIF or chuck in the dishwasher every month or so.
There are cheaper ways of installing a light if you want a light!

Technically you can get away without a fan if there wasn't one before in an existing kitchen but TBH ventilation is a good thing.

[AlpacaPicnic]

To answer some of your questions, there is no hood there at the moment. There's no oven either, just a hob, hence the need for a new kitchen after 14 years and I'm literally starting from scratch.

Pigletjohn, you underestimate my ability to hurt myself on kitchen implements! The hood could be six foot above me, I'd still find a way to walk into it somehow...

[OurBlanche]

WhoTheFuck I used to think that too, would never have bothered with one, always thought they were a bit, erm, poncey!?

But having nearly lost everythng I have ever eaten in my entire life after disturbing the grease on one last week... I am not so sure!