Another kitchen question - extractor fans

[lisbapalea]

I think I might clog this board up soon with all my questions - apologies!

Can anyone tell me positive tales of recirculating / recycling extractor fans, as opposed to ones that vent to the outside world?

Our architect tells me that recirculating hoods are much better than they used to be, but DH says they're next to useless, but I don't know when he last experienced one so I am not sure who to believe!

I do cook a lot on the hob, but we don't deep fry anything - is a vented out hood a must to avoid cooking smells etc?

Our kitchen ceilings are low and beamed, which I think is one of the reasons why the recirculating option has been recommended, but I don't think a vented out option is totally implausible, just trickier to build into our plan.

Any opinions welcome!

I can't comment on how vented and recirculated compare, but could the vent go into the ceiling and run above the ceiling/below the floorboards of the floor above out to the side of the house? That's what we had hoped to do until we worked out our joists run the wrong way, which means the vent would have to run through the joists (ie. perpendicular to the joists) rather than alongside the joists (parallel to the joists).

Where we want our extractor fan lies beneath a cupboard on the landing on the first floor, so we're now considering the vent going up through the cupboard into the loft and out through roof. As least until we work out how much it will cost to do that! Failing that, we'll end up with a recirculating one.

A recirculating hood can make an attractive kitchen ornament, but fulfils no useful purpose.

An extractor takes the steam and smells outside the house, and creates suction which draws airflow from the house and prevents smells diffusing into other rooms (this works better if the kitchen door and window are shut).

An extractor fan is less efficient than an extractor hood, as the hood captures fumes at source, before they can spread.

According to building regs - ( pasted from webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20151113141044/www.planningportal.gov.uk/buildingregulations/approveddocuments/partf/faqs)

"If you carry out any ‘building work’, and there is an existing extract fan or cooker hood extracting to outside in the kitchen, you should retain or replace it. However, if there is no existing ventilation system you need not provide one. Replacing an extract fan or cooker hood with a similar type, and using the existing cabling, is not building work, and so need not be notified to a building control body."

Basically - in plain English you can't make any changes to ventilation that make things worse than they were before - so if a previous hood ventilated outside your new one should too . If you can't vent out over the hob then add a recirculated hood if you like BUT also add a wall extractor that complies elsewhere in the room !

Thanks all. We currently don't have any kind of extractor so haven't got a precedent that we need to follow.

But it does sound like a vent-out extractor hood is what we should go for.

Any recommendations on brands to look for and what style looks best with a shaker style kitchen?

I like Elica.

However their web site is very difficult to follow. Phone or email them and ask for their glossy brochure. JL carry a few, but the range is huge.

If you see a retailer selling one surprisingly cheaply, check the spec, it might be a low-power version with only one fan, where the model is normally sold with two.

They almost all come with the vent coming out of the top, not the back, so allow space for an elbow.

I like to fit a hood or canopy high enough that the cook can't bang their head into it.

btw I prefer a hood or canopy (I am turning towards canopies now) to be wider than the cooker, so it catches any sideways drift of steam or fumes.

Washable metal grease filters are very convenient and often made in sections that fit in the dishwasher.

I had recirculating and was planning same in new kitchen but builders have managed to build in external one by studding kitchen wall to create a cavity (they did this for several reasons, most of which I can't remember) and then putting in flat ducting which exits the house at ground level (kitchen is in basement). Then I've chosen a fairly powerful extractor to help with poor subterranean air circulation and to be consistent with my overspend on everything policy regarding kitchen stuff

Having recently done a load of research on this, I second everything piglet john has said.

I'd only add that the filters in my hood go in the dishwasher. It's great.