extractor fans - must I?

[toomuchtooyoung]

have survived quite happily so far without one but having new kitchen soon and dm is adamant I won't be able to survive without one.

I find them so noisy. are there any that don't sound like I'm under Heathrow flight path, which I already am!

yes

why are you getting a fan not an extracting hood?
(circulating hoods can be a fasionable kitchen ornament but fulfill no other purpose)

a 2 or 3 speed one can be on slow or fast depending whether you are boiling an egg or frying garlic.

extracting hood, ah so that's what's they're called. I've always just opened a window

there are heaps of brands, Elica seem quite good.

slow speed will be quiet. Plastic visors will get filthy. Stainless is easy to clean.

practice opening the shop's display one to see how easy it is to change the grease trap mat (it will get disgusting, but they can be washed or replaced easily, and new mats are quite cheap.

If the hood is on an external wall, a core drill from a tool hire shop will make a neat round hole. If not, rigid rectangular ducting can be led on top of wall units out of sight.

I like a hood which is wider than the cooker, to catch steam or smoke that drifts sideways. They are usually 600mm or 900mm wide, for some reason the 1metre wide ones are scarce.

thank you pigletjohn, I will go and have a look. I've only ever seen and heard ones that are really loud, so hope to be pleasantly surprised

but still can't help thinking I've managed for 40 odd years without one, what have I been missing ?

you've been missing a kitchen where the walls and the tops of your cabinets aren't coated with smelly congealed grease and fluff.

ah, probably true for the tops of the cabinets, I've never looked up there, and certainly never cleaned! but I do tend to clean the walls, and don't fry food. maybe that's helped

in 40 years? !!!!!!

well since I was a teen and cooking. parents didn't have one, student digs didn't have one, first flats nada.

clearly I'm just one mucky puppy

we have one. I never turn it on.

We have one and still have a layer of grease on the top of the cupboards and walls!

good to hear that I'm not alone in my lack of extractor fan usage