Hob on a kitchen island? Any experiences?

[moogdroog]

We're in the process of buying a wreck of a house, which gives me the opportunity to totally remodel everything. Once we've knocked the totally botched two room extension into one, we'll be left with a quite large kitchen diner.
Been thinking about having hob on a kitchen island, as it will give me a view of the garden, playroom and dining table (and I do like to cook, me). Any experiences? Good or bad idea? Is an extractor fan solution going to cost me the earth?? Any tips?

Disclaimer - you might be hearing quite a lot from me in the next month or two!

We have a new induction hob and it's the bollocks - it heats large vats of water quicker than a kettle but cools down very quickly, and it's a flush one too so so easy to clean. It's programmable - as in, you can leave it to cook for 15 minutes and then it switches itself off. It's very responsive - not like some electric hobs I've used in the past. Does sauces and wok frying equally well. There are a few threads on here about how good they are. The only issue I have is that it's very easy to put a pan of water on and walk away and return to find the water all over the worksurface... but that's because we used to have gas and I'd put a pan on for pasta and wonder off and only return when I could smell gas the hob started to hiss with steam where the water was boiling over. Because the hob doesn't get hot, there's no noise when it boils over.

Agree with helliebean about having a similar colour so it blends in (we haven't though ) We had no problem having it set in.

Yes, and it is so clean. I love it after a gas hob. One quick squirt of hob cleaner and it is shiny and sparkly. I will say that an induction hob cooks the best steaks ever too and the heat is so controllable.
Do bear in mind you might have to change all your saucepans though but it is honestly worth it to not even notice a hob in a kitchen... it's just there .. quietly efficient and looks good!

I love induction hobs too! They are fab, and I use the timer function all the time. I like gas for stir frying though.

I prefer free standing induction hobs. They are so much cheaper, you can be flexible about where they are placed and most importantly, if anything goes wrong, it is easy to replace.

Used the pop up units and even on highest setting you could see the steam not being pulled in and it was top of the line.

I love our induction hob after the initial niggles of which pans could go on which spot due to size and really don't want to move back to gas now.

I second both the hob in the island and induction.
We considered a sink in the island, but our sink is always full of/ surrounded by junk. With a hob, you tend to clear up when cooking is over so it looks pretty tidy most of the time. We have an overhead extractor- mostly glass so not too obtrusive.

We are looking at adding these to the island to act as both a dining area and a barrier.

I would love to have a hob in the island but worry about safety. With 2, hopefully 3 small children I think it's asking for trouble.
My 2 year old is a climber and she would be able to climb up both sides to reach it. Also of something got knocked off a pan of boiling water could go on the floor not against a wall.
Presumably no-one else has had this problem?

Staverton you could make the island higher than the standard work top so somewhat safer.

Le crueset work

For those who asked: my hob with the 'pop up' downdraft extractor is made by Wolf, and it is about 5 years old. I've not had any trouble with it. It was expensive, but certainly not more than other 'high end' appliances.

www.westye.co.uk/product_details.aspx?pID=64&sw=1

I think if you want a hob in a kitchen island, it is a good alternative. (make sure you scroll through the various photos). As I said before, I didn't want a large cooker hood hanging down, so this was a good solution.

I have an induction range and it is on an island. I chose it for safety for my GC and cats. It was expensive. No vent fan, which is a problem when I cook bacon and would like smell to leave---I do cook it in oven though. This is a replacement slide in range and I could have got a JennAire with downdraft but liked mine better. DH could have installed ductwork. I love cooking with induction, glass top is easy to clean. When you buy pans, take magnet with you as pan needs to have magnet stick to bottom. I do wish I had more space on side, it is code now to have nine inches. We figured we had gotten along for two years without a vent fan so we really did not need it. I hate cooking bacon so now buy precooked. This post is kind of disjointed.

Sorry but I really don't like islands in kitchens. So I would say don't do it!

Our kitchen is more or less exactly like this ( except its a mix of Ikea and some elm we got a joiner to make ), ie hob on island.

I lovelovelove it - its fantastic for when people come over, very sociable. I hate extractor fans and only have a very small one on the back wall that I put on in extremis ( if I burn something I open the big doors on the right )

I'm not a fan of stools at islands so don't have any - we have a big table for people to sit at instead.

Hi moogdrog and all - we are doing our house up soon. Would love to hear what you all did to yours. Love the island in kitchen ideas.

I did go for the hob on island idea in the end, and treated myself to an induction hob, but am yet to see the finished results. It's been a long road what with the extension that fell apart and all but it should be installed in the next week or so. Will update then.
Only thing I would say is that the extractor issue has been a bit of a hassle.

I desperately wanted an island but my new kitchen just wasn't quite big enough. So I have a peninsula which still means that I am facing into the room. However I have not got a hob on my peninsula but a preparation sink - I reckon I spend very little time using the hob as I have an Everhot cooker (where the oven is always on) so just start things on the hob then they cook on their own in the oven. I spend far more time preparing stuff, so I have a prep sink in the peninsula with another sink and dishwasher in the units behind, which is where all the dirty dishes go.

Hi Moogdroog, is your kitchen finished yet? Your hob island- how did you manage the extraction in the end? I have not started mine yet, the planning is into year 2!!!

Hi smellycoat - yes!
I've now been in the house for 3 weeks and I'm getting used to the kitchen and love having the hob on the island. We got an Ikea free hanging island extractor in the end. It's ok, I'm sure there's much better out there though. Ducting it out through the almost flat roof caused a few headaches though, and still isn't quite sorted. The ducting kit seemed difficult to get hold of.
All that aside, having the hob on the island is great. Lovely to cook not facing a wall. Though if I did it again, is chuck a bit more cash at the extractor.