Chimney vs Non-Chimney Cooker Hood

[buckie10]

Hi Folks,

I've just redecorated the kitchen and binned my old recirculating cooker hood. Just googling for a new one and most seem to be of the chimney type. Apart from the aesthetics is there any difference in operation between these and the panel style ones in recirculating mode? I'm suspecting the chimney is there just to shove the gubbins in if you want external extraction, but I have been known to get things wrong in the past

Cheers,

Buckie

PS Anyone got any recommendations? I only want a recirculating one but I'd like it to perform as well as possible at the grease/smoke/smells bit and I'd ideally like to be able to reuse the filters but I don't want a chimney one if at all possible cause my kitchen isn't done out super-modern-space-age and they all look like something off of Star Trek (kitchen is 3mx3mx5m, give or take, so I should get away with most units).

 

[JohnD]

A recirc is pretty well useless. It won't take the steam out, or the heat. It will trap some of the disgusting grease but less of the smells. As it does not create any suction it will not stop the results of cooking drifting out of the kitchen and around the house.

What's the reason you don't want an extractor? Is the cooker on an internal wall? If so, how far is it to the nearest external wall, and are theer tall wall cupboards you could put ducting on top of?

 

[buckie10]

Well, a few reasons... I live in a flat in a victorian tenement and the combination of boring through 2-3 feet of sandstone wall, coupled with having to live with a run of conduit spoiling the original cornicing and the general brushed aluminiumness of it all has always put me off. The room is big, the ceiling high and the ventilation is good - massive sash window - so I'm not so worried about moisture just want to deal with keeping the largest part possible of the grease/smoke/cooking smell in the kitchen/round the cooker/in a filter; ie don't want every smoke alarm in the flat going off if I want to fry myself a steak. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to be able to attack my cooking as though I was doing it in a fume cupboard but on balance I think I'd rather get a recirc that can do the best job possible - if that's possible

buckie

 

[JohnD]

How about supplementing it with a nice sucky extractor fan?

 

[buckie10]

I'd had a think about that before too and it would be a better solution but (and I'm not trying to be unnecessarily difficult here ) I'd either have to put it through the stonework again (oh, I'm also 3 floors up too - so scaffolding or some snazzy do-it-itself solution from inside would be needed) or mount it on the window which is a) a sash window with the original victorian picture glass in it and that's b) wafer thin and c) too nice to wreck.

I might eventually go for shoving it through the wall but not in the short term. My combi boiler is in the kitchen as well and I've heard that you need to take that into account if you're putting in an extraction system.

Anyhoo - given that I've already talked myself out of it, can you tell me if the chimney ones are just ducting or a different technology?