Depends on what kind of cuisine you cook. If you do a lot of frying (saute, stir fry, shallow fry, etc) oil particles will travel around the room and rest on surfaces. If you’re concerned with look and sound, you could look into downdraft extractors.

Thanks. I will only have one big set of drawers with will be the ones under the hob so I am reluctant to lose that space. With a downdraft hob do you know if they can use the space in the cupboard behind the hob in an island arrangement? The island part (peninsula in my case) will be 120cm wide.

Hi Jane,
I'm with you. I hate extractors (the look and sound they make). I've never used them in any house and tend to have windows or door open instead. We are about to redo our kitchen and from chatting to people I think you have to have one to be signed off by building control. We are knocking down walls etc which is why building control are involved, but for just fitting a new kitchen it's nobody's business but yours.
If you don't want one, don't fit it. Your kitchen - your rules 😁.
But selling later it may be brought up but can always buy a cheap one to bung in pre sale.

If you are in England or Wales then an Building Regulations require an extractor fan in a kitchen under Approved Document F - Ventilation.

As far as I can understand if this is a replacement kitchen then any existing extraction must be retained or replaced. Only if there is no existing ventilation is it permissible not to install any.

But, from a practical point of view, if you burn the toast on a winters morning how do you get rid of the smell?

Example why: https://www.zehnder.co.uk/blogarticles/cooking-omelette-releases-more-harmful-dust-exhaust-fumes-study-reveals

I don’t have one. Never had a problem. I just leave the door or window ajar. Son has one and I’ve never seen him use it

I hate extractors, the way they look and sound. I think they can ruin a lovely kitchen. I have a simple bathroom style extractor which I put on when cooking.

Personally I would have one . Technically you should have one as good or better than what was there previously.
Logically - it’s your choice if you don’t wish to comply. But the toast conundrum would push me towards having one . ( I’m terrible for burning toast !! )

I dont have one. i always open a window when cooking, even in the winter!

I don’t know how effective an MVHR system is but we barely used our fan in our old house. We had quite an open plan area and the ceiling above the hob was vaulted. We did have an simple extractor fan in the external wall but it only went on if we were cooking something really smelly or oily. I really think it depends on the house. My current kitchen steams up at the drop of a hat so I use the extractor. I don’t like it but it seems more necessary here.

We had a kitchen extension a few years ago so had to install an extractor for building regs. However, they were satisfied with a small (approx 7 inch ) vent type thing that was flush with the ceiling that extracted through the roof via a ridge tile so it wasnt noticable from inside and wasnt obtrusive inside.

Some great suggestions here. I definitely need to check if the MVHR extract has sufficient airflow for BC approval.

What's with all the toast burning? We have a timer on the toaster so it pops up when toasted, not burnt. New toasters needed all round? :)

We only have a recirculating extractor in our current kitchen. I open the windows a lot, but it isn't sufficient - you can still smell last night's dinner sometimes, and I'm forever cleaning dusty grease off the open shelves and light fittings. I do a lot of wok cooking which may be to blame. In our new kitchen we're having a Bora downdraft extractor - it's an extremely expensive solution but important to me as the kitchen will be open plan to the rest of the house, no door. I'm currently in discussions with the kitchen company and Bora about the ducting being fed through the cupboard behind, rather than the pan drawers under the hob. Seems like it is possible and I'm hoping that will work as the pan drawers are more useful to me. However we did also debate just going for a wall-mounted small extractor. I think if you do that it's important to invest in a good one, and the success of it will depend on how close it is to the hob itself.

We didn’t in our old house but did end up with a lot of grease on top of kitchen cupboards. We do have one now with washable filters & it’s surprising how much grease accumulates even though we don’t do much frying.