Does anyone have a kitchen extractor fan on an internal wall?

[Sundaycoffee]

About to splash out on a new kitchen. Due to the size and layout of the kitchen, the oven and hob can only be place on an internal wall, so no extraction to the outside.
Is it worth me getting an extractor fan or are the internal wall/recirculating ones totally pointless?
There is an old one in situ currently that has never worked so I've never used it and usually throw a window open bit smells do linger and not ideal in winter having to leave the window open too long either!
Should I get one or use the space for additonal storage instead??

Get a hob with inbuilt extraction. It sucks air down and out through a vent in the kickboards

If it’s a bungalow, they can install a hob/stove vent that go via ducting through your attic and roof.

Our extractor hood is on an internal wall and vents externally . The pipe runs between the upstairs floor joists to the outside wall.

Not particularly illustrative but this is ours. It's on the wall shared with our neighbour in our semi.

Is that a big job? I am in a ground floor maisonette so wouldn't have access from to fit from above either....

Recirculating cooker hoods are okay, as long as you change the filter regularly.

Ours is on the internal wall between the kitchen and the dining room. The ducting runs above the kitchen cabinets (boxed in to match the cabinets) and then out through the back wall (next to the boiler flue). It was done as part of the kitchen installation so don't have a cost for it. It's great and means we don't have to open the window when it's freezing or blowing a gale and our house doesn't smell!

I'm in a galley kitchen with doors each end so there's not really anywhere for me to hide ducting as the cupboards don't have a straight run around the room at any point😑

We managed without one at all for years and just cracked open the window a bit - not ideal but no great shakes either. If you're limited on room, I'd consider using the extra space for storage instead.

I have, and I have absolutely no idea where the steam is sucked out to

Same here. I've never thought about it before. Got me worried now!

We are currently having a new kitchen installed as well as restructuring a galley into a kitchen diner. The hob was on an internal wall before, with zero extraction, and we have no choice but to keep the hob on an internal wall (albeit a new wall).
Having no extraction at all for a year wasn't ideal and while recirculating may be better than nothing, I'd speak with your builder/kitchen fitter on whether there are any options to add ducting.
Ours crosses the room above the ceiling (which had to be taken down/ between floor joists. All was done from below, no need to access the upstairs in our case.
Work is still ongoing but the ducting is now completely hidden. It's worth looking into! If ducted isn't possible, go with the best recirculating option you can find.

@Sundaycoffee they lifted the floor upstairs so not a massive job. As you can’t do that you’d have to take the ceiling down or run it internally and box it in.

The recirculating type are not nearly as good, in fact junk imo having made the mistake of buying one for my nephews apartment. Particularly if you enjoy cooking. The worst thing about them is they just move condensation around the room so you need an open window to get rid of it. If the kitchen doesn't have a window it's very much an issue when you boil spuds and veg.

Our hob is not on an external wall. We have just added an extractor fan to the ceiling near the external wall so not directly above the hob.

Same. Mid terrace so the only outside wall is the doors to the garden. It was done by taking down the ceiling, no disruption to upstairs.

Recirculating ones are good if you fry a lot. They filter out the tiny fat droplets (as long as you keep the filter clean).
For steam I would put a fan on an external wall, even if it's not above the hob.

An externally vented hood is obviously the best of both. It depends on the direction of the floor joists if this is possible for you.

Ours had ducting that ran above the top of the wall cupboards. You couldn't see it because the cupboards almost reached the ceiling and there was cornicing on them.

I was going to say similar. You can use rigid rectangular ducting (think letterbox-shaped) laid flat along the top of the cupboards. No-one will see it.

We had a recirculating one, changed the filter regularly. It was fine but nort brilliant, we also cracked the window open too. It was noisy. Maybe newer ones are better as that was 20 years old.

We’ve now got a downdraft one that vents through a duct under the floor to outside and that’s better. It’s noisy on full power though.

I was advised have a recirculating one over the hob and a separate extractor on the external wall.

Dont have gas, it is terrible for air quality and exacerbates breathing problems.

This might be my only option! I'm having downlights fitted too, so they potentially will have to fit a false ceiling anyway to fit these. If so maybe the ducting could run behind the ceiling. I'm assuming this is going to cost a bomb!

Not sure this will work for me as I don't have cupboards all the way around and it would need to run over a doorway!

Ah, in that case this wouldn't work. Using similar flat ducting above a false ceiling sounds like your best bet. You can get ducting as little as 29mm deep (e.g., 225 Flat Channel 1m | Toolstation), which should fit above any false ceiling deep enough for your downlights. The builders can run the use battens for the false ceiling parallel with the actual floor joists or perpendicular to them, so the false ceiling can be built to accommodate whichever direction the ducting needs to run.