Extractor fans

trailingspouse

When I designed my kitchen, funds were short and I decided not to put in an extractor fan. Also, it's a small kitchen, so it could have been a bit overpowering.



But I'm thinking about kitchens again now, and wondering if I should put one in? How often do you use yours?



I can see how they might be useful if you're doing a lot of boiling, or if things get burnt and you need to get rid of the smell - but at the moment I just open the kitchen window if I need to.



Are they worth it?

RelievedSheff

Our new build came with a large extractor hood (six burner hob so it is a big extractor to cover them all) and we use it pretty much every time we cook.

The house is still drying out properly so we try and extract as much moisture as possible from the air to help it along. We also have both windows open and the patio doors most of the time but still use the extractor as well to remove the steam and cooking smells more quickly.

We have not been in this house for a winter yet, we only moved in over Easter, but we suspect it will be used a lot over the winter when it is too cold to have the windows and patio doors open but we still need to extract steam, etc.

Davesnave

One of the things it will trap in the filter is grease particles which will otherwise travel around the room and settle on walls and other surfaces.



Worth it, IMO, if like me you do a lot of stir fry.

Aylesbury_Duck

Another vote for fitting one, for the reasons above. Come winter, this forum is full of people concerned about condensation and damp in their homes, some of which comes from moisture arising from cooking.

EssexExile

If the hob's on, the extractor is on.

FreeBear

Mine gets used quite a bit. Typically when cooking rice, pasta, frying. I'll often put the extractor on full blast when opening the oven - Cuts down on the chance of the smoke alarm going off.

My kitchen is also quite small, but I'm glad I fitted the extractor when I did. It is the only item on the wall, so the kitchen doesn't have that cramped & cluttered look that you'd get with wall cupboards.

akira181

I have an over cooker recirculating hood and a ceiling extract ducted to external as my kitchen has no windows. I use the ceiling extract every time I cook to remove smells and moist air and the over cooker hood gets switched on as well whenever anything greasy or oily is involved.

Your kitchen has windows so you may get away with a over cooker recirc for grease but would you open them in winter or when it's raining?

A recirculating cooker hood catches most of the grease and dumps the moist air back into the room. My last flat had a recirc hood and most of my cabinets and walls still got a buildup of grease over time. I rarely used the windows though as I had to climb onto the sink worktop to reach them.

In short, I'd fit an extract, ducted to external if possible.

happypie

if you decide to go then go for one which lets air out.
i chose one with filter which filters steam/smoke/bad air and release filtered air back in room, because i didn't know much about it then.
however later an mould expert told me that mine is useless. it's not going to solve mould issue as steam is still getting released in room.

Slinky

We've just moved from a house without an extractor to one with. We use it regularly and it's noticeable that when we come downstairs in the morning, there aren't the lingering smells from last night's dinner, which is particularly good when OH has been cooking fish.

RelievedSheff

A quick picture of our extractor hood.



Excuse the streaky splash back!

trailingspouse

Thanks for all the advice!!


I don't suffer from condensation, and the kitchen window only steams up if I'm boiling something for a long time, like a Christmas pudding (and I generally do those in the microwave these days!). I do a bit of shallow frying if I'm making a curry or stir-frying - I never deep-fat fry. And I'm not aware of kitchen smells the next morning, even after making curry or cooking fish - everything gets put to soak as soon as it's been used, and then put in the dishwasher.



I've never installed one in a kitchen myself, but I've had kitchens where they've already been installed. I don't like the idea of that grubby filter sitting above my food. Also, I frequently hit my head on them (for example if I want to lean across to see what's happening in a pan on one of the rings at the back).