Martin-W

Can I resurrect this topic, please? We're facing the same dilemma, but are coming to the "they're all flimsy and will break or will get food/drink spilt in them" headache after we've ordered the kitchen (so can't move cabinets around to create some plug-space). Layout is a central island with hob one side and breakfast bar (so 300mm recess to cabinets) the other, plus quartz worksurface with waterfall ends (so we'd probably rather not cut-into the sides and have plug sockets visible there). ...so a pop-up of some description still feels like the right solution, especially as we do have two kids running around the place (literally in one case). OP - did you get the S-Box in the end, or something else? And has it been reliable for you / do you regret it? Anyone else had something that's felt durable and worthwhile? Thanks, Martin.

Another update. The UB47 has arrived, and it looks like some sort of Ukrainian anti-tank weapon - it's bloody huge! (and black) It's going to look very obvious sticking out of the roof, although thankfully it's a couple of tiles down in a valley-roof, so it's only going to be glaringly obvious from next door's garden and looking diagonally down the side of the house from the front, but may now be visible from the back garden Any other bright ideas? Venting through the wall (which now feels like it would have been the right solution if we'd talked it through with the builders 6 weeks ago) is going to be very difficult - the roof-space above the rafters (see image) is only about 750mm tall at the peak (which has a lintel supported on blue bricks, so no vent-bricks going there), and ~2m from side to side, meaning it'd HAVE to go diagonally right below the blue bricks and nestled between roof joists and rafters, so probably too close to soffits and structurally-critical stuff. (Only way we can do this is to drop a box-section down from the ceiling to house the extractor and the ducting, but that will spoil the look internally...which feels like a silly compromise not to spoil the look externally - internal ceiling line is currently a very neat trapezoid - pitched either side / flat across the central 50%+) I've even double-checked with extractor fan suppliers and roof vent suppliers, and between them they're adamant that the flow rate requires 6", non-reducing ducting and a mushroom roof vent. Am I missing something?

Quick update (for SAS as much as anyone) - builder has agreed to remove and refit an Ubbink UB47 6" chimney-style vent, with 6" ducting from the unit. If we can minimise the use of (corrugated) flexi, I think we're there - there's only about a 3-4' drop from the vent to the rafters at that point, and less than that horizontally, so it'll be short tubing anyway. The vent tile soudns well weatherproofed so I THINK we may get away without a non-return valve, and I'm just trying to work out if I need a condensation trap or not. Thanks for all the comments confirming the need for more ventilation - that really helped, and I'm now confident we're not going to muck it ALL up! ;o)

Quick update - going for a Bosch unit, as I know they've got a good customer service team if anything does go wrong. More than i wanted to spend, but buy-cheap/buy-twice. Box section has been built into the roof trusses to house, with a second 'inner ring' of 45mm trusses so if any replacement turns out to be slightly bigger we've not got to bugger around with the whole ceiling. Going to be vented out of the roof, will now have a proper 6" chimney-style vent out of the roof (which is only going to be about 3-4' above the unit) and just need to make sure that it gets 6" ducting all the way, ideally more solid than flexi. Thanks for the advice...it's really helped plan it all through.

Can someone tell me if I'm getting the runaround or if this is a legitimate thing, please? Coming to the final stages of ordering our kitchen, Howdens are almost certain to get the order due to a mix of price and quality. But they've thrown us a curveball. We've decided we don't like their paint finish, so we're going to get the fitting carpenter to paint the doors, decor panels etc. No problem - they've a "paintable" range, and I was led to believe (verbally!) that these items come ready-primed. Except now it comes to update the quote they're telling me they only supply painted doors so it'll be the same price and we just need to specify a neutral colour. Their own website just says "ready to finish surface", which is a lovely loose phrase. And googling tells me nothing. Has anyone else ordered this from Howdens (or worked for Howdens?), and can tell me how your kitchen arrived / whether this is true or not? It feels like a bit of a joke, and worse, it makes me worry that our carpenter will have to re-prep the surface prior to painting (which we'd assumed wouldn't be necessary). This isn't the first bit of sharp practice from Howdens now they think they've got our business, but we don't have any other comparable options at the moment (DIY kitchens would require more time from me than I've got and can't do a couple of the design touches we'd like). Thanks, Martin.

Thanks SAS, and know what you mean on the calcs...my head is hurting already! Above is an equivalent image to what we've got fitted. Reading around this feels more suited to a bathroom vent or passive venting than a kitchen, but I'm happy to be told I'm wrong. And guess what profile the 100mm tube is...yep, corrugated flexi! 😂

Shortly going to be fitting an in-ceiling cooker hood to our extension, which is currently planned to be vented through the roof. Roofers have been in and fitted a simple tile vent and a 100/110mm flexi-tube coming down from it. BUT...reading the specs for the cooker hood, it needs a minimum 150mm diameter tube. No problem - the ceiling's not in yet, we can change that. Another BUT...the roof tile they've fitted. Looks pretty restrictive. No point swapping the flexi-tube for a bigger one if I'm just moving the choke-point downstream. So, much googling later, I CANNOT translate roof-tile-vent "10,000mm2" into either a flow-rate or an equivalent tube diameter. It looks like it comes from Part-F and relates to passive, not active extraction. But this tile has a c.100mm x 100mm canted grille on it, which doesn't look very free-flowing. Can anyone on here offer any advice, please? In case it helps:- - Hood flow rates are "normal max" of just under 600m3 per hour, and "boost" of nearly 800m3 per hour - We probably can still duct sideways and out of the wall if that would be better than sending through the roof. Builders will probably moan a little, but we can negotiate on that. Roof would probably be better (cheaper/quicker) if we can make it work though? - ...and we can re-use the roof vent and 100mm tube in the loft as we need to duct out a bathroom extractor fan next month. Thanks, Martin.

Thanks all - appreciate the thoughts. Duct / vent isn't a problem - roofer seems very confident on that...just hope he's right. Spoke to a different kitchen company today - they had a very different perspective - they seemed happy with Elica and Luxair, slammed Caple as being white-label imports, and suggested that Bosch/AEG/Neff don't make their own extractor fans either. (That's an interesting one, but as usual google is not my friend here and I can't find out a thing) They suggested Miro as being a UK-based brand worth considering. Yet there are ZERO reviews out there for Miro. (Edit: Just discovered Miro import all their hoods from Frecan in Spain...who appear to be yet another mid-range brand without much customer service if things go wrong) I am SO f***ing confused right now...

As above - an island extractor is just like any other close-mounted one - it needs to be c.800mm away from the hob to be effective, which puts it right in line with my forehead when I bend over the hob...ask me how I know this! 😁 ...so I could fit one of those and raise it higher, but then it's still visible (dangling down) and doesn't work properly, which means a more expensive ceiling extractor is arguably more appropriate solution.

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 Caple/Novy as you head into posher territory. 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.