...saw this lurking on the featured threads ! Quite fitting as now its all done and fitted and you will be having supper in there for the first time tonight ! Was great working with you, and your delightful family, to make your dream a reality !!!!! anyone who wants to see the finished design will have to look to see if they can find it on my pro page !!

We have a ceiling mounted extractor in a very large room and it works really well. We ended up with a Brittania BEST extractor (bought from John Lewis) simply because we have a structural steel running above and the position of the internal ducting fit best with that model, though it's a bit bigger than we ideally wanted. The slightly lowered section of ceiling around the extractor is also because of the steel and wouldn't otherwise have been needed. We were actually told that there is a minimum height, rather than maximum, for it to work properly - see http://www.besthoods.co.uk/2011/08/ceiling-extractors-8-things-you-need-to-consider-before-buying-a-ceiling-hood/ It's very powerful and we've had no issues with it. A family member has the pop up option and that has been a bit of a hassle - it's not that powerful and ends up getting dirty from cooking every time.

@NG sintered stone is like a porcelain and so the edge and the sink cut out will be plain and polished. In the same way any drainer grooves will be plain plus most sintered stone is so thin that the drainer grooves probably aren’t very deep or very effective. Speak to your kitchen designer to find the best option: Over mounted sink with drainer Flush fit sink with drainer Under mounted sink with drainer. Multi level sink with accessories that act as a drainer. Sink and drainer manufactured in the worktop material

Is the cooker planned to go against a external wall? You have a few options but it sounds like your steel beam might be right in the way of the duct if it's going straight up. If it's set back and you don't have another floor above, the duct can easily go through the roof. If you have a second floor above then it's more difficult. But there is plenty of ways you can duct out the back wall without wall cupboards. for example the cover for the ductwork can be placed all the wall up to the ceiling even when the duct has taken a turn out the wall. There are contemporary looking exhaust units that will cover the turn straight out to the wall, with no obvious duct work on show. Or you can just get a pop up exhaust or a flush ceiling mounted one. The latter two in my opinion aren't as effective.