The cooker hood/extractor fan/above-cooker lighting dilemma

[AbsintheMakesTheHeart]

(Do I get a prize for the most boring dilemma of the day?)

We're planning a new kitchen and had originally assumed that we'd have a stainless steel chimney-type cooker hood with an extractor fan (similar to what we have at the moment) over the range oven. BUT the fan can't be ducted to the outside and would have to have ineffectual carbon filters, and we don't actually use the one we have at the moment, so replacing it with another one seems a bit pointless. The only thing I do use it for is the lights. So, my question is, what kind of lighting could I have over the cooker instead? I can't seem to think beyond the traditional cooker hood or fake chimney-breast format but I'm sure there must be some nice/practical alternatives... Any ideas would be very welcome!

I don't even know how to phrase it for a Pinterest search. (Therefore I am LOST.)

one of the first things we did on moving in was to remove the useless cooker hood, not ducted outside and therefore pointless. We haven't replaced it - the kitchen is big and has windows.

for lighting, the new ceiling lights have been carefully placed and angled so they provide sufficient light in the right places. There are two strips of four lights which can be adjusted to point the right way.

So do you just have a splashback behind the cooker, and nothing over the top of it specialsubject? Does it look naked? I'm trying to think when cooker hoods became the norm and I'm sure there must have been a time when kitchens were perfectly complete without them!

I wish I had spent more time researching as the one we went for looks lovely but is really rubbish for lighting and is very noisy as an extractor! We rarely use it for either purpose and it may as well not be there!

Mine is like this at the moment because I couldn't decide what kind of hood I wanted. Looks wise I prefer it but I do want to find som extraction solution as I think it's pretty important in a kitchen.

My kitchen is a galley layout. I have white inset LED down lights that are set back enough so my head doesn't cast a shadow and they light the work surface. I don't like them much but they do the job of lighting the area well. I have them where they are needed rather than rows of them. I have pendant lights in the middle also which are prettier and take the eye off the spotlights.

is there no way you can run a duct above or inside the wall cabinets?

You will need a powerful wall extractor if you have no extractor hood or canopy.

If you are putting lights above the cooker I would have enclosed ones that won't get dirty, with a glass window for them to shine through. Some bathroom or shower lights are like that.

Thanks for all your replies.

PigletJohn we're not having wall cabinets as I wanted a fairly unfitted look, so I have a plate rack above the sink and an old pine cupboard with glass doors on the other side of the cooker. Also, we're having an extension built beyond the kitchen, so it's now going to be quite a way to the outside wall. I'm a bit of a fresh air fiend and there's usually a window open (except in the coldest weather). Thanks for making the point about the enclosed lights. I'm mentally crossing all those nice wall lights I've spent the afternoon looking at off my list again! Do you know if it's possible to install lights like you describe in a sort of shelf that could go above the oven? (Or would that look weird?)

Good point about your head casting a shadow with the down lighters, Lelivre. Hadn't thought about that. Will make sure I bear that in mind.

FanSpamTastic that's exactly how I've felt about the one we've had for the last 10 years, and yet I was automatically going to replace it for another one! Just had a sudden 'wait a minute...' epiphany that it was a bit daft!

at naked cooker...

it is just the hob (the oven is elsewhere in the kitchen) and there is indeed a gap above it, plus the splashback. As and when the kitchen gets redone we could put something above it, subject to gas safe rules of course. TBH we've actually got too many kitchen cabinets so I don't think I'd bother.

it is also against a very thick wall so no real chance of ducting. I keep an eye on things in the kitchen and we don't have condensation problems as we air the place as much as possible.

I also detest noisy extractor fans.

We have neither extractor fan nor light nor splashback (kitchen came like that). Haven't missed any of them. Light never an issue (kitchen has window + recessed lighting that is well positioned so I don't cast shadow over hob). If the wall behind hob gets splattered I just wipe it off (and it's just regular emulsion).

When I lived with my parents we had a cooker that was all in one. Oven, hob, grill, vertically arranged. No extractor fan. They still have this arrangement.

Why have we all got extractor things now?

I just had a visit from the IKEA planner who assumed I'd buy their £350 fan, with charcoal filters.

Seems a lot of money.

Well I don't know about anyone else, but keeping down humidity and getting rid of coking smells is what I want. When we had a properly vented extractor hood in our last house, it was brilliant. The crappy circulator thing in our current house is useless.

Hmm. It must depend hugely on the individual kitchen, it's placement and natural ventilation. If you don't have windows or doors to the outside, or if it's a small room, I can see it would be necessary. My kitchen.. When I stand at the cooker, if I look one way, down the hall, I see the front door. If I look the other way I see French doors to the garden. We don't seem to get humidity or condensation issues. The only time I've had a problem is sausages being fried on a high heat, I've run downstairs calling 'OPEN THE BACK DOOR!'

I think we'll have plenty of ventilation in our new kitchen, which will have a window and french doors leading off it. Reading all these responses, I'm definitely erring towards no extractor (aka naked cooker ) I've been told that if my cooker was in the actual new extension bit of the house I'd have to have one to meet building regs, so I guess I can enjoy feeling a tiny bit rebellious by evading the new rules.

(Another afternoon of browsing pinterest for lighting ideas beckons...)

Older houses tended to be less airtight with drafty windows/floor boards/doors so much less need to vent the kitchens. When we moved into a modern house I found out the hard way that trapped moist damp air gets drawn to cold walls/spots in the house, and mould and mildew can thrive there even if that room is otherwise 'dry'. So keeping the kitchen ventilated and doing things like keeping pots on lids when cooking are really important for the whole house. But...I still want kitchen extraction to keep down stale cooking smells, I'm considering a powerful bathroom extractor if I can find a suitable spot.

I hate cooker hoods! You can have an Xpelair type wall extractor e.g. this in your kitchen that meets building regs, if it has a humidity sensor it will come on when you've filled the room with steam. A good one should be fairly quiet.

IME whatever is within about 4 feet of the cooker gets greasy- hood, cupboard, wall, whatever. You just have to choose what you want to clean. We have a flat shelf and pans /utensils that are in regular use hanging under it.

Most cooker hoods are installed too low for tall people to use the cooker anyway.

Lights that are not directly over cooker but point to it are a good idea.