Plinth heaters? Noisy? Over priced? Efficient??

[cbigs]

Sorry it's dull but just as the title says, we want the wall space in our kitchen extension but it will be an open plan area so are plinth heaters ( connected to central heating not electric) any good? Anyone got them?

We have one and never use it. On occasions when I have it is nice to warm the cold tiles up but we wouldn't have paid for it especially (came with the house!).

You could consider a hydronic plinth heater, which is part of your central heating system boosted by the fan.

they seem prone to going wrong. I suppose compared to ordinary wall radiators they have fans and switches to fail, and narrow tubes that can clog.

p.s.

if the extension is not yet built, this could be the ideal time to consider wet UFH.

I would say they're a great solution, they're less reliable then a radiator but more reliable than a cooker extractor in my experience.
Benefits are they're way cheaper than ufh and less disruptive, and don't take wall space. They also heart the room quicker as the air is mixed.
Down side is the wind from the fan and they make a noise. Also a bit more costly than a basic radiator.

Thanks everyone , seems a mixed bag of responses though which is difficult

I have hydronic plinth heating in my new kitchen and I love it!
I haven't found any drawbacks so far.

Oooh pink! Do tell? Are they loud?

We wanted lighting in the plinths do you have that? Do they heat the whole room ours will be open plan so quite a large space how many do you have?

They're about as loud as a fan oven. And they would be OK with plinth lighting although you'd need a gap where the heater is.
We're also going to put one in the bottom step of our hall too, to save space on the wall.
In terms of power it would struggle to heat an old house, but a modern well insulated kitchen dinner would not be a problem. Your architect or hearing engineer would have an idea of heat loss so would be able to tell you.

Don't use it but we do have a separate radiator. The first couple of months when we did sometimes turn it on, it was relatively quiet but had that electric heater burning/stale air smell. If I had the choice I'd just have radiators or under floor heating instead.

Thanks guys this is all helpful. Does anyone else have pets? Dp is muttering about pet hair clogging them? we do have four cats and two dogs to be fair

I would go for UFH instead personally, but that's because I hate warm air blowing around, it makes things feel stuffy to me.