Hob on kitchen island?

[Barbararara]

I’m planning a kitchen extension and I’m thinking of putting the hob into the island, so that I don’t have my back to everyone when I’m cooking.

The kitchen designer isn’t keen on the concept.

Has anyone done this and would you recommend it? Or have you regrets?

@Remmy123 That does sound lovely and calm. I have a small “peninsula” now but none of my family can grasp the idea of having a solitary vase. It’s currently the family junk station. I’m not sure if a job would make this better or worse

@DesLynamsMoustache that’s what I’m imagining. At the moment I feel a bit isolated when I’m cooking, or else I’m shooing the dc our from under my feet.

This thread is making me realise that I have to do a lot more research on extractors.

Did anyone get an island hob and regret it?

Induction hob in island and love it. Also have an inbuilt extractor that rises when on. I wouldn't want my sink in the island.

I have a lovely clear island. My hob and sink is behind me. I don't care about having my back to the room as I'm cooking, because I rarely stand there and stir! I don't have any bar stools around the island either as they are uncomfortable and a bit too "designer" for me. My family or friends sit on the sofas at the other end of the room. I love the island space for baking, plating up or laying out food for a buffet. A sink would be too small and always full of dirty dishes. A hob would need to be used, cleaned and everything tidied away as soon as you've finished cooking or it looks scruffy and cluttered.

@A116 I think it was this one although the builders ordered it so it's possible they did it through a different supplier. Looks like it though.

It's about 2m above the hob and operated by remote control. Love it! Effective but completely non-intrusive. We looked at the down draft ones that lift out of the work surface but they're more than 3x the price and we were going to lose 2 cupboards on the other side of the island which was my dealbreaker....Not to mention I didn't really fancy cleaning the crud falling down the edges.

Thanks so much! That's really helpful and looks like exactly the kind of thing I'm after

Induction hob on breakfast bar here. DH wanted the sink there but I got my own way. He agrees we did the right thing!

We have induction hob on island and love it. We have the Neff pop up extractor behind it.
Great as you can chat to people / watch tv etc.
I would never have a sink on island as think it’s too untidy.

We have one drawer in our island used for junk 'keys and crap' rest of the time it's clear. I also have a 2 year old who loves sitting at island so hob not safe - apparently some b regs allow a normal bathroom extractor fan to use in the room to avoid ugly extractors in ceilings or extensive bora fans.

Can the hob go elsewhere so you can have a clear island?

I have a section cut out of my island to slot in a gas range oven. The extractor is flush with the ceiling. It’s lovely, no problems at all.

I had a hob on an island ( with an extractor above) and I hated the way any food splatters from the hob would go across the island. I'm not particularly tidy and I found the island in general became a dumping ground.
I now have a peninsula with a 1m20 high wall round it and the hob on that. For me it's perfect, I face out into the room when cooking but all the clutter and mess is hidden and any foods splashes go onto the wall which acts as a splash back and is covered on the inside in the same composite as the work surfaces. It means my cooking space is just a cooking space and clutter doesn't come into it.

Be aware if you’re planning a gas bib in your island, you’ll lose the top drawer space under it due to the depth required to sink it in. With induction, they are so slim you can still have a useable top drawer.

We weeny through a few design iterations with our recent kitchen, as I am not a fan of anything in the island (single vase girl here!) however we just couldn’t not get the space to work properly without SOMETHING having to go there. So I went with the induction hob up in one corner by the ovens/sink triangle, leaving the entire other end for four seating spaces (it’s a fairly large island) and it is glorious. No regrets whatsoever.

I also love having the induction job. I thought I would hate it, having been a gas person all my life, however new house has no mains gas which took the choice away. I was very grumpy about it but almost 6 months in and I am now very smug about how much less time new me spend cleaning the job of over-boiled pasta water/hot cocoa (2 mins) compared to old me with the gas job (20 mins plus much swearing and general faffery)

Posters with kitchen islands. Can you tell me what size your kitchen room is? Trying to figure out if my new kitchen is big enough for an island.

Our induction hob is on our island and I love it! There is seating on the other side so I can watch the kids doing homework etc while cooking. The sink area can get messy, but the island stays tidy once cooking things have been packed away. We ended up with a small extractor (within regulations) in the wall in the end, as it wasn't going to work from the ceiling within our budget.

@A116 my hood is an elicia one. I don't think they make that model anymore.

I actually have a peninsula rather than an island to maximise on cabinet space. I like it and the gap between the back run of units /peninsula is such that two people can be in the kitchen comfortably at the same time working.

Peninsula is 230x90cm

I have an Elicia too but it sits completely flush with the ceiling. It looks beautiful but the original one broke after only 5 months and it took another 3 months of fighting with them to get it sorted thanks to their truly terrible customer service. So much as I want song their praises for the design, I really would not recommend Elicia.

Thanks for the pictures and recommendations (or not). Really helpful.

I put my hob on the peninsula so it was facing out towards the table, so much better than having my back to people. I can keep an eye on the kids while I'm cooking.

Hob on peninsula 2.4 m x 1 m. Luxair ceiling extractor above, one of the best kitchen decisions I made. Suggested by kitchen designer. Extractor unit expensive though - much more so than wall one - and working well to date (9 months)

With young kids I wouldn't because it's harder to control grease splatter and their access to all the hot pans is far easier if they're sitting at the island. The extract fan noise is also more intrusive if it's over and island and the room will get far smokier when frying.