Kitchen extract? or not to extract? - that is the question!

[tartanterror]

I hate the cooker hoods with greasy re-circulation filters. Instead I want to install a continuous extract fan which self-boosts when it senses humidity for the whole kitchen as part of a whole house ventilation strategy. It will be located on an external wall about 2.5m away from the hob.

I want to have a uniform run of wall units over the hob which don't step up and a linear LED light below them for a very streamlined look.

The kitchen supplier is doing me a layout design and is insisting I have a cooker hood and a "top" unit which ruins the whole aesthetic.

My mum didn't bother with a cooker hood which has been completely fine but her units do step up over the hob.

What do the regs/guidance say about these things?

As an aside, all the talk about measurements and building regs on this thread is somewhat scary: we fitted our own kitchen and DH is from the US so is familiar with different standards, so I have no idea now whether our entire kitchen arrangement is a UK regs bomb waiting to explode 😅

I have a sensor extractor fan in the bathroom which is supposed to operate on humidity and light. The sensor stopped working within a few months so I don't trust them. Much prefer one I can just manually turn on and off.

@tartanterror the lift up doors don’t lift higher than the top of cabinet as the fold in half and up. The kitchen fitter adjusts them so they open up and flush and no higher. If that makes sense

Such a low height would be in the way of your eyeline. Do you really want a low one?

We have an integrated extractor hidden in cupboard above our induction hob.
There is no step up in level as all the wall units are mounted at the higher level

We've stayed in a holiday rental with one of the extractors hidden in a cupboard with no step up. It was really horrible to cook anything on the hob as it was just too low. Not helped by the fact that the big ring was at the back. I'm not even particularly tall, my husband had to squat to see what was going on in the pan!

A sensible height is one that means you can't bang it with your head when you lean over the hob to look in a pan. The makers specify MINIMUM clearances but unless you are very short this will be too low for comfortable use.

This. A step up is not just for fire and heat safety, it’s also for ergonomics. It’s really uncomfortable trying to cook (or wash up) with something low right above.

The dimensions of this kitchen are making it very fiddly to plan!
I'm using the planner on DIY Kitchens which has lots of useful automatic features but that also comes with the downside that it is difficult to customise things.

Here is my work in progress....Thoughts so far please?

For an integrated extractor over the ceramic hob I need to leave 550-650 between hob and underside of the units.

I have a boiler in the corner cupboard by the window and might need to make up a panel using doors and timber framing as it looks like a cupboard might be difficult with the flue/heights/location of window lintel etc

Thanks!

"I need to leave 550-650 between hob and underside of the units"

The worktop height will be about 800mm so this will put the bottom of the cabinets at about 1400mm

That might be considered rather an awkward overhang above a hob. It's well below eye level.

second this mine is like this I am fascinated by it 🤣

I need to check the heights next because there’s something odd with the sizes quotes in the planner. I think I need to add on plinth and worktop heights. I was assume the worktop would be around 900mm above the floor…

I’ve measured our current cooker hood and it sticks out 450mm from the wall and it’s at about 1600 off the floor. So I’ll double check but the flat run of cupboards at 300mm projection shouldn’t come close to my nose!

Our integrated ones and the bottom of the cupboards is much higher than 1600 from the floor.
I can’t remember exactly but our worktops are at 900 as dh found the old ones way too low.
the bottom cupboard starts above his head so no risk of hitting and he’s 186cm, so its probably 1900 or higher. ( our room height is about 2400).

I know the fitters were going to put lower as that was standard but I’m pleased we went up. I wouldn’t have had any upper cabinets if we didn’t need the extra storage

Just measures. The top of our worktops are at 93cm. Then we have an 80cm gap above hob to bottom of extractor.
so 173cm from floor

AO have a very quick guide to clearance heights for the "hot zone" and extractor units which is quite useful: https://ao.com/help-and-advice/guides-and-advice/measurement-guides/hob

Here's my latest effort... that has 680mm between hob and wall units. I will put a full height back panel there and then a short upstand on the wall with the window under the sill. Possibly all in a terrazo-style compact laminate as this is for a 1960s flat and a nod to mid-century would be good.

One of the reasons for hiding the extract is that this is at the end of a living, kitchen, diner space so I'd like to minimise the "kitchen" part to avoid it dominating the space.

Any other thoughts/ideas gratefully received!?

I notice that the measurements they show are all the MINIMUM clearances, though they do not say so.

Some people make the mistake of thinking this is the "correct" clearance.

Same with kitchen worktops. I think they used to all be 60cm. But if you can, go deeper as you have more pre space. Even 5-10cm, and even just on one side makes a difference

I agree 650 is a good width for worktops. We used them on our old IKEA kitchen to make a service void behind the full depth units. The DIY kitchen units are 560 to leave a 40mm void in the bavk for pipes and wires.

Yes it would make things a bit tight. Fortunately I’ll be exceeding all of them…