Do I really need a kitchen extractor?

2 years ago

I can imagine the looks of horror but I'm debating not bothering. Hob is on a peninsula with a sloping roof above. There is a skylight nearly and also an MVHR extract nearby (opposite sink on diagram). Any experiences of living without one? In my current rental I tend not to turn it on as so noisy and nothing bad has happened so far...

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PRO

OnePlan

2 years ago

@hedgehog99 a new toaster is on my list !
Re your hob - why not buy a standard hob and fit a down draft extractor in the cabinet behind . Will be more cost effective!

Comments (15)

Wumi
2 years ago
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.
Jane
Original Author
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
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.
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Ok, so I appreciate that these two are not easy to compare. There must be a way however of testing them both fairly and get results that give the consumer an idea of comparison. "..we extract at the point the vapour is produced 100% effectively". I take it with this you mean the extraction is 100% effective and not the vapour produced is 100% effective. What does "100% effectively" mean? It seems to suggest that the cooking smells are completely emitted. This is surely disingenuous or at the least misleading.
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Have you tried living with it and if so does it work or can you see that steam [for example] escaping up the sides of the extractor. Ideally this extractor would be ducted to outside, if its in recirculating mode than you're going to struggle as all it does is 'clean' the air and having it at 1100 wide may make minimal difference. The power of the extractor to the size of the room is also very important, ideally the maximum extraction rate of the appliance should be 10x the volume of your room. Also there's lots of contemporary extractors on the market today which aren't shaped to match the footprint of the hob below, some are cylindrical tubes and others look like glorified light fittings so having a matching extractor to the hob below isn't always a customers requirement if they prefer a particular look/design. To use the extractor properly, ideally turn the extractor on when you start to prep your food, so then the air in the room will be circulating towards the extractor when you start cooking. Having a gas hob helps as this is considered a 'hot' heat [electric hobs are 'cool' heat] as the effect of the gas flames warms the air so you have columns of rising warm air around the cooking steam and smells so it doesn't fan out as it rises, so in practice you may 'get away with it'. Bear in mind with most extractors, having a wider version doesn't mean that the motor is any wider inside the extractor and a lot of them may be only the glass surround is wider for a 1000 wide to a 600 wide unit for example. As Isla stated, unfortunately in the suppliers terms and conditions the onus would be upon you to make sure that everything is suitable even though your kitchen supplier has supplied the appliances, which does seem unfair as you the customer is not a professional and a lot of what you see in a listing is a load of codes and shorthand descriptions. If you purchased from a local independant than possibly you mentioning that you find their service very disappointing and that you will be leaving a negative review may help, but if you've purchased from a national like wren, then they will just say 'you signed' and couldn't give a f$£% if you leave a bad review.
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Mrs Homeowner
2 years ago
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.
Andrew
2 years ago
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?
rinked
2 years ago
Example why: https://www.zehnder.co.uk/blogarticles/cooking-omelette-releases-more-harmful-dust-exhaust-fumes-study-reveals
Daisy England
2 years ago
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
Ellie
2 years ago
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.
PRO
OnePlan
2 years ago
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 !! )
Sonia
2 years ago
I dont have one. i always open a window when cooking, even in the winter!
Mary Ketchley
2 years ago
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.
Jo Bloggs
2 years ago
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.
Jane
Original Author
2 years ago
Some great suggestions here. I definitely need to check if the MVHR extract has sufficient airflow for BC approval.
hedgehog99
2 years ago
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.
tamp75
2 years ago
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.

Do I really need a kitchen extractor?

OnePlan

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Do I really need a kitchen extractor?

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