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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to insist that I don't want a cooker hood?

56 replies

happyon · 12/04/2013 12:31

Sorry to be dull but have been quite amazed at how much debate this has caused. My kitchen is small but open plan and has a huge window so I'd rather have the cabinet space. Builder claims he won't put in new kitchen without it Confused. His refusal is not about building regs. He just thinks I'll 'regret it'. AIBU not to have one?

OP posts:
squeakytoy · 12/04/2013 12:32

How can you have a cupboard above a hob???

Trifle · 12/04/2013 12:34

In my last two kitchens I deliberately designed it so there is no cooker hood. Cant see the point of them, expensive, take up too much space etc. Instead I have probably the most useful cupboard in the kitchen above the hob.

Bunbaker · 12/04/2013 12:35

Yes. I wouldn't want kitchen cupboards over the cooker as they would get too hot. I do a lot of cooking and have had kitchens with and without cooker hoods and would not have one without one now. An extractor fan on the wall just isn't good enough. A cooker hood with an extractor fan in it will help prevent your windows from steaming up and extract the steam, smoke from griddling and fumes from stir frying. I think you would regret not having one.

GobShizz · 12/04/2013 12:35

I think you will regret it - do you never fry, or cook things that produce smoke, or something?

holidaysarenice · 12/04/2013 12:39

Building regs here wouldn't pass it without one.

Tbh a cupboard above all that steam will probably warp anyway.

NeoMaxiZoomDweebie · 12/04/2013 12:41

You can't have cupboards over the cooker woman! Yanbu to not want a hood but don't put anything over it!

Original poster
happyon · 12/04/2013 12:42

Never fry. Had one there for years and hardly ever used it, except for the light and I have a new one of those. The cupboard above is quite high up so doesn't get hot at all. I cook a lot too.

OP posts:
livinginwonderland · 12/04/2013 12:44

ours has been broken for about seven years. nobody ever really used it anyway. you don't need one, but don't put anything else in its place!

WillieWaggledagger · 12/04/2013 12:45

we don't have a cooker hood or extractor fan (rented house) and it is a nightmare. admittedly part of the problem is that we don't have heating in the kitchen and it's tacked onto the back of the house so it's very very cold and that makes the steam problem worse.

even with the window and back door open (which is miserable in the depths of winter) the condensation on and inside all the cupboards is terrible, and i have to take everything out of the cupboards on an almost weekly basis and wipe down or there is a risk of mould build-up which is disgusting

dry goods have to be kept in airtight tupperware or they go mouldy too

we're moving within the next year and although i'm sure it wouldn't be as bad as this for you i wouldn't risk it

WillieWaggledagger · 12/04/2013 12:46

it's not frying that's so much of a problem, it's the steam

Lueji · 12/04/2013 12:46

Put a thin extractor fan and a cabinet above it.

pinkyponk67 · 12/04/2013 12:47

You will get damp problems from condensation. Your builder is right!

ivehadaverybadday · 12/04/2013 12:48

Does your new kitchen include on of the pull out larders? I had one in my last, small, kitchen and it was.fab. You can fit LOADS of stuff into one. Better to have one of these and a cooker hood.

matilda101 · 12/04/2013 12:50

You don't need a cooker hood! We have a massive falcon range and do lots of cooking and have nothing above it, no steam or smell issues. I'd agree with most people that you shouldn't put a cupboard above it tho!

Pootles2010 · 12/04/2013 12:53

You don't need cooker hood, but I wouldn't have cupboard. My parents have a hanging rack above their range, they hang pans & utensils from theirs, really handy, might work?

BreconBeBuggered · 12/04/2013 12:56

I've got both over my cooker. But I can't reach the cupboard.

Original poster
happyon · 12/04/2013 13:09

But I had one there for years, a proper externally ventilated one, and used only the light. There has been no problem with damp, condensation etc... It was kind of fitted into the cabinet, with a small shelf on top for spices etc... It never buckled. I also had a kind of hanging rack on the splash back. It was handy but everything on got very hot so not very practical. No room for a pull out larder unfortunately.

Maybe a compromise would work? Can anyone recommend a really small and thin one that I could fix on the bottom of my cabinet?

OP posts:
quoteunquote · 12/04/2013 13:13

here

ChunkyPickle · 12/04/2013 13:25

We have a tuckaway/pull out one, with a shallow cupboard above it. The cupboard does get very warm, covered in ick (grease, dust etc - and I almost never fry!) and if the hood wasn't in the way the edging would be peeling off (as it is at the corners of the wall cupboards right next to the hob.

MIL has a hood which she never turns on, and the underside of all the cupboards around, and her ceiling are absolutely foul.

ChunkyPickle · 12/04/2013 13:26

Oh, and I had a non-ventilated one in one place I lived - alledgedly it worked by catching the grease in these little dangling pots.. it didn't work...

Original poster
happyon · 12/04/2013 13:26

which one?

OP posts:
ChunkyPickle · 12/04/2013 13:27

We have an ancient version of one of the telescopic ones at the bottom of this page:

www.neff.co.uk/choosing-the-right/cooker-hoods-of-all-shapes-and-sizes.html

Lueji · 12/04/2013 13:32

This type, for example.

I had one from Ikea, and the cabinet was designed to fit the hood.

You can have the external duct inside the cabinet and still space for storage, inside and over the cabinet.

Just remember that it has to have a certain space over the cooker.

Maggie111 · 12/04/2013 13:44

For building regs you need one I thought.

forevergreek · 12/04/2013 13:48

We have a hood extractor and a cupboard :)

Wouldn't like to not have one. All the steam from cooking goes through it.
The cupboard isn't that big and is high up, but just has extra cooking dishes/ cake trays etc in

I think it's called an under cabinet range hood...