How to choose an extractor fan
The importance of a cooker hood is often overlooked but an extractor fan is an essential kitchen appliance. Kitchen extractor fans work to remove steam, grease and cooking odours from your kitchen. Not only does this stop strong food smells, it also helps keep your kitchen clean by minimising grease and moisture build-up.What sort of extractor fan do I need?
Which cooker hood is best for your kitchen will depend on your kitchen layout and cooker position. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the different extractor fan types so you can decide which best suits your needs.We offer a wide range of designs across all of our extractor fan types, ensuring you don’t have to choose between practicality and style.
Ceiling Cooker Hoods
Ceiling extractor fans sit flush in the ceiling making them excellent space-savers. They’re popular in modern open-plan kitchens for their sleek design – such as the EVX90 model.You don’t need to worry about how you’ll reach your ceiling extractor fan to work it either! Ceiling cooker hoods like the EVS90BL come with a remote that can be used to control its star-effect lights, multiple speeds and timer.
Chimney Cooker Hoods
Chimney hoods remain one of the most popular types of extractor fans for kitchens. From modern flat glass extractors to more traditional angled chimney extractors, there’s a style of chimney hood for every kitchen style.It’s called a chimney cooker hood as it has a flue, which is sometimes referred to as a chimney. The chimney is attached to a hood canopy which sucks in cooking odours, grease and moisture via an internal fan and pushes it up the flue.
Chimney cooker hoods are ideal for cookers that are placed against a wall as they can be installed directly above.
Downdraft Extractors
If you are looking for a modern, streamlined design then a downdraft extractor is the perfect choice. Rather than being installed above your hob, downdraft cooker hoods are fitted behind or to the side of your cooker. When not in use, they simply slide down beneath the work surface leaving a clear, clean space.This type of extractor fan is perfect for kitchens with low ceilings or minimalist kitchens where you want to keep very clean lines throughout. They’re particularly suited to those with a hob built into an island. Models like the EDD92BL even have touchscreen controls for a truly modern appliance.
All that is required to install a downdraft extractor is space underneath the work surface for it to slide down into. As long as you have cupboard space near your hob, you’ll be able to install a downdraft cooker hood.
Integrated Extractor Fans
Integrated extractor fans are built-in to a wall unit with a decorative door covering it so they seamlessly fit into your kitchen. Because they’re built into your kitchen cabinetry, integrated cooker hoods are perfect for both modern and traditional kitchens.Integrated extractor fans, like the EIN60FSI, also make cleaning easier as there is less surface area of your extractor on show.
Island Extractors
Islands have been an especially popular addition to kitchens over the last few years. Placing a few kitchen stools around an island can make cooking a more social, family experience.Choosing a cooker hood for your island can be difficult as more traditional options which often need to be fitted against a wall, like a chimney hood, aren’t always available. However, you can still enjoy the design style of a traditional chimney hood with models like the ECHK90 chimney extractor.
Island cooker hoods work by installing the extractor fan over your kitchen island, directly above your hob. They create more of a focal point than ceiling extractor fans or downdraft extractors, signalling the cooker as the heart of your kitchen.
What size cooker hood do I need?
Now that you understand the styles of kitchen extractor fans available and know what style best suits your kitchen, you need to make sure it’s the right size.We recommend your cooker hood is at least as wide as your cooker or hob, this is to make sure the filters are able to cover your entire hob area to make extraction as effective as possible.
Does the cooker hood need to be the same size as the cooker?
While your cooker hood doesn’t need to be the same size as your cooker, it’s important that it isn’t smaller because too much steam and grease will escape – meaning the hood isn’t doing the job it’s intended to do. If you have a 90cm hob for example, a 60cm chimney hood isn’t going to be as efficient as a 90cm hood would be.You can choose a wider cooker hood though. Some people prefer a larger cooker hood as it creates a real statement and is able to capture more steam.
How do cooker hoods work?
Cooker hoods extract steam, grease and cooking odours; not only does this leave your kitchen smelling fresher, it even makes it easier to clean. Without a kitchen extractor fan, you’d soon find condensation damage, grease build-ups and stale food smells lingering in the air. Not a pleasant thought!We’ve looked at the different types of extractor fan, but they all use either charcoal filters to recirculate or ducting to filter the air outside. Some can be recirculated with charcoal filters or ducted (no need to do both), while others are recirculation only – it’s best to check the hood suits your needs before buying.
Recirculation Cooker Hoods
Recirculation works by fitting an extractor fan with a filter. Most modern recirculation extractor fans will have two types of filter, an aluminium grease filter and a charcoal filter. The aluminium filter can be removed from the cooker hood to clean but the charcoal filter will need replacing every now and then, we recommend about every six months. You can find more information on how to clean filters in our extractor fan cleaning guide.Recirculation cooker hoods extract steam, grease and odours from your kitchen and push them through the grease filter and charcoal filter to clean the air. They are slightly less effective than an extraction fan with ducting because they need to process the air but still a great kitchen addition.
Because they don’t require any ducting to be fitted, a recirculation cooker hood is generally less expensive when it comes to installation. Recirculation extractor fans are also especially popular as they tend to be quieter.
Extraction Cooker Hoods
Ducting is fitted to your kitchen extractor instead of a charcoal filter, the ducting will then go directly to the outside of your house. This type of extractor fan doesn’t filter the air in any way, which a recirculation extractor fan does.Because they don’t process the air, they are more powerful than recirculation extractor fans. This does also mean they’re louder as they need more power to push the air through the ducting to the outside. However, they don’t require any filter replacements.
You can find out more about fitting ducting in our guide to fitting extractor fans.