Dear Marie, From technical and performance point of view you need to take into account weather it is a ducted out or a recirculating fan, how often and what you cook. For aesthetics please consider the size and the finish of the existing cooker when choosing the hood. You might find interesting solutions at http://elica.com/GB-en/hoods Best regards, Victoria

TBH I would be reluctant to have a cupboard directly over the hob for this very reason. It's a real bugbear of mine, greasy cabinets and surfaces from cooking. I would also imagine that rising steam may also cause problems down the line. That said, we've just bought an Elica (being installed next week) for our new kitchen, because they have a good reputation (as far as I'm aware) and seem to perform well, but as for others I'm afraid I can't be of much help. I'm interested to hear of other people's experience with grease build up in your scenario, but I guess it also depends on what type of cooking do.

When replacing an existing kitchen in UK, the current recommendation is that you replace your old extractor with one that’s as good as or better than the previous one . If it’s above the hob it needs to remove a minimum of 30 litres per second if it’s elsewhere in the room it’s a minimum of 60litres per second . There are advantages of having a higher extraction rate than these - ie less moisture in the air - less sticky residue on door fronts and shelves etc! The m3/ph is just another form showing what it does/how efficient etc and can be useful if you want to work out the volume of the room and the air you want to remove etc . Hope that helps ?! It’s basically what your builder suggested - he’s obvs got your back ! Nice to have one on board who’s not trying to help you overspend !!

Hi, Airuno do a couple called the Slimline Classic and the Eclipse. The motor sits between the joists and the body of the hood sits on the ceiling. The motor can be rotated 90 degrees so you can duct across or along the joists (although a little shaving is required if installing across joists). Alternatively in the budget range, there is the ViandPro Aria. This will sit flush between joists at only 207mm high, but can only be ducted along the joists. So if your joists run the opposite way to the hob, this won't work.