Extractor fan inst ad of cooker hood

[camelfinger]

I’m planning a renovation of a small kitchen. The current extractor fan is recirculating only, which I am getting rid of. If I get an extractor fan fitted to an external wall (a bit like one you I’d normally get in the bathroom) can I do without a cooker hood?

You can get an extracting cooker hood. As it will be over the cooking rather than flush on the wall, I think it would work better than just an extractor.

I hate recirculating cooker hoods, they pretend to do a job, but they are a very poor second to an extracting hood.

Thanks Annette. I should have made clear that because it’s a small kitchen I was hoping to save some space by not getting a hood. And the cooker will be against an internal wall so the ducting will have quite a distance to travel.

We have neither. We just open a window if needs be. We are in a Victorian house and the old one broke around 8 years ago, so when we redid the kitchen last year we just left it off.

Ok, then I would say it would depend on how good and how far away your smoke detector is.

Last place I was in had a very good smoke detector (which is not a bad thing) which was close to the kitchen area and we had a recirculating cooker hood. I’m sure the neighbours thought I was a bad cook 😯, but simply cooking something like bacon set it off. I’d have to have the kitchen window and front door open to stop it from happening. Not really the best in winter or rain.

Building regs state you can. When I was looking into it, I was recommended this https://www.extractorfanworld.co.uk/vent-axia-454060-silhouette-150xt-6-inch-kitchen-extractor-fan-timer-337-p.asp?gclid=eaiaiqobchmiydr4ubyz2givybxtch1epqeqeaqyasabeglsvdd_bwe

I asked DH this exact question yesterday. I just think cooker hoods are so ugly and take up so much room and I'm not convinced they're any more effective than an open window. But DH thinks differently, so we're getting one 😏

Yes you can do what you suggest, the fan has to be higher extract rate if not next to the hob, but as they are smaller and more efficient they are often lower noise regardless. Id get one with a humidity detector and a pull cord or switch.

Yes you can. We have an extractor fan mounted above a cupboard instead of a hood and it's much more aesthetically pleasing. The fan should be 60l per second to comply with Building Regs. But I also agree that opening a window is probably more effective!

But DH thinks differently, so we're getting one

And he is the boss so no negotiation there!

you could have a canopy, or an extractor unit hidden in a cupboard above the cooker. The Elica Eliplane is a good example, there are lots more (see the Dimensioned drawing).

It is preferable not to have real cupboards or shelves above your hob to reduce the risk of reaching up and getting burned or scalded.

A duct can be hidden on top of your wall cabinets, or inside them if they are tall.

If you have an wall fan it needs to be more powerful because it is not capturing the steam and odours at source, so less efficient and may be noisier as they rarely have adjustable speeds.

I'd suggest one that comes on with the lights over the hob, otherwise you will forget to turn it on until your house is filled with fumes of kippers and frying onions.

here's a good pic of what I meant.

We have this one roughly above the hob, the controls are by our light switch at the door but on auto mode it turns itself on if I eg boil a pan of water for pasta. It meets building regs.