Hob placement, kitchen island or wall facing

[vivimimi]

Hi all, We are renovating the kitchen and adding a kitchen extension. I'm in two minds whether to put the Cooker/ hob (gas) on the island/peninsula or the wall side. I like the idea of having the hob on the island so I can face the family living & dining area.

Till date I have always had kitchen with hob facing the wall hence always have faced opposite to my family and that has been a problem.

But I'm wondering about the practicality aspects such as smell/ odor ( we do asian cooking spices, curries etc); extractor fan; Under floor heating challenges (if any).

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks v much.

I have a hob in an island (already there when we moved in) and if I was renovating the kitchen completely I would go for one facing a wall instead.

The main issue for me is venting. We don't have an over island extractor fan, our hob has downdrafts and they don't seem to be very efficient. Also, our hob is gas and the flame gets pulled towards the vents. From my research, fitting an extractor hood over an island is way more expensive than one against a wall

I would much prefer to have a hob against the wall with an extractor fan above it, even though it's more sociable to have it in an island.

Sorry, I see you have a vent over your hob in the picture, I missed it! Check that the height of the hood works for you when leaning over the hob.

pros - family facing, sociable

cons - splatter but quite frankly I don't see the difference between wiping splatter off a vertical surface to a horizontal one, but some people seem to have real issues with it.

no underfloor heating issues. Extractors are limited in their effectiveness but you can get ones that pop out of the worktop OR suspend from the ceiling depending on what is above it.

A thread it chat about this really divided opinion!

I wouldn't personally. Add up all the times you are actively standing at a hob, stirring and adding things. Are these really times when you want to socialise? It might look good on a tv show but practically, (cleanliness, odours, steam) it is better having this to the side. Just make sure you have plenty space either side of your hob.

I prefer an island free of sinks and hobs so I can do an easy sweep of the cloth, tada, clean.

Though you wouldn't think it at the moment with the clutter on it right now!!

I love that my hob face everyone.

@2155User how do you cope with challenges other posters are raising, splatter, odour, steam etc. Do you have powerful extractor.

We have one on our island and I absolutely love it. We have a very discrete and effective overhead extractor which is boxed in.

When I'm tending the hob I'm not very talkative so that aspect isn't a massive pull in either direction for me, so long as the kitchen has room for people to be in it with me I'm happy. I'd rather my kids chopped veg with me, sat and chatted at the island while I cook, and they can't do that if they'd be getting spitting cooking in their eye, too near the heat. The splatter does go further when there is no wall and sometimes the floor would have slippy spots for that.
It's wall for me

We have our hob in the island. Love how sociable it is. We have an Elicia hood that sits flush with the ceiling, it is powerful and we have no steam issues. Not sure about the splatter issue, I’ve never really thought about it and just wipe the worktop as needed. It’s no harder to keep clean than arrangements we’ve had in other houses.

We put the hob facing the wall.
Our island is completely free of built in appliances and is a lovely big space for serving from.

Facing the wall. I use my island for chopping and preparing so prefer to face the family for that rather than for stirring the pan. Definitely. Also, hob on island would be messy I think and all the stuff that ends up on the island would annoy me even more if it was encroaching onto hob space.

Thanks all, We took the inputs here and manage to design a layout that meets both choices - Wall facing hob and also facing the living area. Here is design and render. The render is from Wren kitchens we visited today (dont like the worktop, will have to shop for the worktop and splashback separately).

I think the work area to the left of the hob is too small.

Wren kitchens get a lot of bad write ups on mumsnet.

I am Indian and am looking at design ideas. In my research apparently there is less splatter / staining when cooking on an island.

Have one in island and love it. We have an extractor that rises. Never noticed any splashes and so sociable . Would hate a sink in the island.

@GrumpyHoonMain like your profile name Grumpy hoon main ...

@Mummyshark2018 are these stylish extractors powerful enough, I heard somewhere the wall mounted ones are practical, powerful.

Yes I've found it just as good as the over head extractors. Tbh we don't put it on all the time as we have very high ceilings with skylights which are opened all the time.

The bora hobs with the built in extractor are meant to be good if your budget will stretch
barnconversionblog.co.uk/bora-induction-hob-review/

Cooking a nice meal whilst having a fun and relaxed evening doesn't happen imv. I'm carrying heavy roasting tins whilst someone reaches past to the fridge for the next bottle of vino or raises their voice to get an answer to some comment. Little space to put things down etc.
I like to be away from others so I can concentrate on the cooking.

We’ve had a bora hob with built in extractor fitted on our island and I love it!

I can talk to the kids while they sit at the island, watch TV and feel like I can still be sociable this way.

We do plenty of Indian cooking and the extractor has dealt well with steam and cooking smells in the open plan kitchen/dining/living area. Not had a massive issue with splatter - i’d say It’s easier to wipe up.

This is what ours looks like

The work surface to the left of the hob looks very small.
The work surface sticking out looks odd. I think because it's small and looks like it's just squashed in the corner.

I'd get a design from another kitchen company.

Wren are very bad at design and their products and fitting is awful.

Please get a second design.

This is the design I picked up for my kitchen yesterday. Well the cooking and sink bit. I decided on the sink on the island because my ceilings are quite low so I didn't want an overhead extractor fan. I was also a bit wary of gas on the island. If I'd gone for the job on the island I would have changed to an induction job for safety I think.

Sorry op but that design definitely doesn't wow me