We've recently started an extension which is going to become a 5m x 5m kitchen with a part-pitched ceiling (c.3m center-height).

Kitchen plan has the hob in the island close to the centre of the room, which means either an island extractor, a downdraught, or a ceiling hood.

- Island extractor isn't desirable because I'm going to keep hitting my head on it and it's going to be visually 'in the way' - not what we want from a feature kitchen, and especially if you want to have a conversation with someone while cooking.

- Downdraught with a 5-ring hob (a must-have) becomes very expensive as it's then a separate item in the island, which is also a separate cut in the quartz. Don't really want either of those. Plus we'd need to duct out through the floor which has already been laid (to concrete), or recirculate which isn't as effective.

- ...which leaves a ceiling extractor. But with a 3m high ceiling, that's a 2m rise from the hob, which is pushing it. My research suggests that means we either need a higher flow-rate or a box-section dropped-down from the ceiling (more time/cost, but can do if needed).

...which is where it gets messy. There's a lot less in the usual places about ceiling hoods, so I've had to hunt further afield. All the 'affordable' brands appear to have shocking customer service / warranty response (even Luxair, who appear to have TrustPilot sewn up but get shocking reports on wiggling out of warranty claims and careless engineers everywhere else). Leaving the likes of Bosch/Neff at the 'adequate' end (but flow-rates appear to be borderline for our dimensions), or moving up to Miele/Novy as you head into posher territory. And I'm told Caple are white-label for various manufacturers.

What have people on here fitted (& how easy/difficult was it), and does anyone have any experience of longevity / reliability (brands in general, not just ceiling hoods)? Don't want to put something 'cheap' up only to have to replace it 2 years in or have an argument about a worthless warranty, but don't want to stretch the budget here if we don't have to.

Thanks,

Martin.