So does anyone actually use their extractor hood/fan?

[siobhs]

Am planning new kitchen and hob placement proving difficult because the extractor needs to be on an outside wall. thing is the more I think about it, I never use the bloody thing. I usually open a window...Am I in a minority or what? Would love to know what other MNers do......thanks

I use mine - it's a very small kitchen and it helps with steam. Opening a window would be pretty unpleasant in winter in my house. You don't have to have an extractor that is vented, you can get ones with charcoal filters that absorb the smells internally and then you change the filter every once in a while.

No - I can't stand it whirring. I just throw the back door open.

If anyone complains that it's cold, then they can get of their arses and help - that'll warm them up.

It's just one of those things .....

I don't use mine at all, the noise drives me nuts. Mine isn't on an outside wall either, I think the venting is built in (new house).

use mine all the time - stops kitchen steaming up and smoke alarm going off

I use mine all the time as I cannot bear cooking smells to linger. They mostly seem to get absorbed into my clothes and hair if I don't have the extractor on.

Ours is also on an inside wall. I have fitted Lakeland smoke and grease filters... after having cleaned it out when we moved in (disGUSTING amount of grease).

I use mine if I'm frying anything, or cooking anything smelly like sausages or fish.

Essential! This house and the house before didn't have them... you have to take the batteries out the fire alarm every time you fry anything!

Thanks all. We are in this house 9 years and have always hated the kitchen. Layout is brutal. Never realised how much planning went into new kitchen tho and am (stupidly) terrifiied that I am going to make a pigs ear of it....!!!

Yes we use ours loads.

Its very efficient but I have used crap ones elsewhere that don't do anything other than make a lot of noise.

I use mine, of course I took care to put the cooker on an outside wall where it was easy to make the vent (you can hire a core drill which makes a neat and accurate hole through the wall). It has to vent outside to do any good, but you can get ducting that will not show if it runs along on top of the wall units found in most kitchens. It is available in white rectangular plastic that is easy to paint to make it blend in.

A recirculating hood is entirely useless, except as a kitchen ornament. Not only does it fail to remove the steam and humidity from the kitchen; as it does not suck air outside, it prevents the sligh pressure difference which prevents cooking smells and steam drifting round the rest of the house. An extractor creates a slight airflow, so prevents smells drifting through the doorway.

Opening a window only helps if the wind direction causes air to be drawn out of the kitchen through the window. Otherwise it might blow in, and blow the smells and steam into the house.

If you have a house which suffers from damp and condensation, failing to use a kitchen extractor is the third most common cause.

We had the same dilemma as I wanted to have job near island which meant no extractor- against peoples advice we decided to do this and am very glad - no regrets at all.

Should say hob not job

We use ours all the time as we have no doors downstairs so the smells etc. circulate otherwise and DH insists on it

Our hob is not on an outside wall, and in our new design for our kitchen it won't be either. You just run a tube along to the outside wall and then plaster it in/box it in.

Yep - use it all the time. Like jamaisjedors our hob isn't against outside wall - we ran a tube along the ceiling to the outside wall...and it's boxed in with a cupboard door front.

Every day, probably more than once!

yes loads and when i change the filter i am v. glad i do

No, because it vents into an enclosed lean-to. It also blows the fuse if you switch it higher than 1.
It's easier just to open the back door.

Hardly ever use it- I just open the kitchen window Mind you, we only cook max once a day> I think if I was cooking more than that I would have one

Always do. Even though the noise drives me mad.

use it pretty much every time i cook on the hob

I use mine to get 9wo baby to sleep while I am cooking tea - white noise! Pre-baby I hardly used it as a) I hate the noise and b) not convinced it does anything.

"b) not convinced it does anything. "

is it extracting or recirculating?