Induction hobs with integrated ventilation - no reviews available on new models

[lizzie]

I got a price list (attached)  from the uk Bora rep back in March, These are retail ex vat. No idea how much if at all they may have changed in the last months.

 

I bough a BFIU which is the flexzone induction with recirculation.

 

Bear in mind to the price of the hob itself you have add the extraction package.

170111_Pricelist_PCB_Z2_EN_GB-Pfund_01-2017.pdf

[Andrew Patterson]

That price list is really useful, thanks.    When you say

5 hours ago, lizzie said:

Bear in mind to the price of the hob itself you have add the extraction package.

I take it you mean for the classic/professional ranges? The Basic range has the extraction included doesn't it? I'd need to add ducting, but no additional fans (providing duct run is <6m) is how I read their documentation. Really hoping I'm not missing something which means even more money!

[lizzie]

1 hour ago, Andrew Patterson said:

That price list is really useful, thanks.    When you say

I take it you mean for the classic/professional ranges? The Basic range has the extraction included doesn't it? I'd need to add ducting, but no additional fans (providing duct run is <6m) is how I read their documentation. Really hoping I'm not missing something which means even more money!

I’ll check my invoice tomorrow...... I thought I had paid for it extra but maybe that was on a quote for another product

 

[Guest Alphonsox]

Certainly the BIU has everything integrated and included in the price - I would assume this is the same for the reset of the Basic range.

[lizzie]

yes right you only need replacement filters. Sorry I was remembering another brand that needed an expensive box with it for the extraction. Panorama box or something, it was a local german kitchen showroom trying to push me into that brand -  think it was  Caple- he must had a good deal going with them because I told him numerous times I didnt want it but he just kept pushing it.  He didnt get the sale on the kitchen but for some reason that box popped into my mind when doing the earlier post.

 

Sorry guys old dame brain fade!

[Bev]

Has anyone know of any reviews of the Miele KMDA 7774 or the Miele Smartline range?  I'm not sure whether it's even available in the UK yet.  I would like 3 x 2 zone induction hob, but would only need 1 extractor unit, as the extra 2 zone would only be used when I need all 6 pans going, not that often an occurrence, so I don't feel I need another extractor unit.  I've read what's been said about the BORA and Gutmann, but it looks as if the Gutmann 3 x 2 hob, plus 2 extractors comes in at about £7500.  It looks as if the Miele Smartline 1 x 4 induction hob, downdraft extractor and 1 x 2 zone induction hob comes in (or will come in) at about £4000.  Anyone any thoughts? 

[ryder72]

Miele hobs and hoods leave a lot to be desired.

 

For the type of product you are looking at, its best to go with products made by specialist manufacturers such as Gutmann, Bora, Novy etc. The others are made by private label contract copy-cat manufacturers and dont quite come close on quality and performance.

 

My recommendation would be to carry out a realistic assessment of how many cooking rings you are really likely to require and base your purchase on this. Most people only require 4 well spaced out cooking rings and this is where the Bora Classic type solution could be very effective. For instance the Gutmann Abajo 4 zone hob outperforms anything else on the market and will come in around the £3500 mark. I have just seen another product called Novy (very well regarded in Europe but new to UK) who do one around the Bora Classic pricing. It looks MUCH better too.

[Stones]

On 12/10/2017 at 10:55, Alphonsox said:

 

It's recirculating - The island consists of two rows of 60cm units with a 15cm gap between them. The Bora vents into this gap. The air then flows down to floor level where it finally exits into the room via an oversized gap above the kick-boards on either side.

 

What I am now considering - following your recent thread  - is to mount an ozone generator behind the kick-boards to eliminate any residual smells before they get vented back into the room.

 

I've just updated the thread having bought and used a smallish ozone generator.  

 

 

For your application, if wanting it to run in tandem with the extractor, one with a far lower output would probably be required.

[Bev]

Thanks Ryder.  I'm going to go to the BORA lab to see the real thing.  I was going to try and see the Gutmann Abajo, but it appears no one in Surrey or Sussex has it, and it means a journey to St Albans.  It also looks like I would have to get the Gutmann ordered through a UK dealer kitchen company rather than go to Blanco direct (so I expect they have their cut too), as the kitchen will be made by a local small kitchen and carpentry outfit.

 

Also- and this might sound daft, but I've never had an induction hob before- I notice that the Abajo has a big cross on each hob. I presume that the induction works if any pan is touching any part of the cross.  Otherwise, if you had to cover the centre of the cross the Abajo would only manage 2 pans (I'm talking about the Abajo that is cooking zone, downdraft and then cooking zone, and all the pictures show only one pan on the zone.)

[lizzie]

@Bev I have had the bora fitted. Its a flexi induction and recirculation as we have MVHR.  

 

I was always a cook on gas girl until a year or so ago and in a rental  house with induction, moved rentals and back to gas with a stonking great range 8 gas burners ugh I hate gas now give me induction any time.

 

My bora is flexi so I can bridge zones and use the whole space.  If you have never had or tried induction then I would say go to any kitchen showroom with induction hobs on demo  (doesn't need to have integrated extraction), see how the induction with defined rings and the difference in how flexi  works, you may find a flexi does what you want instead of the domino type you are looking at. I had some with gas. Don’t need them now I have the use of essentially the whole glass plate to cook on. It is really very different.

 

I am exceedingly pleased with my Bora, the extraction is fantastic, its a brilliant piece of kit and worth every penny.

 

Siematic showrooms usually had a good range  of hobs on demo (are they still in business?).

 

Enjoy your choosing.

[vivienz]

Lizzie - which version of the Bora extractor did you opt for? Is it as quiet as the manufacturer claims?

[lizzie]

19 minutes ago, vivienz said:

Lizzie - which version of the Bora extractor did you opt for? Is it as quiet as the manufacturer claims?

The BFIU and yes it is very quiet. I'm open plan and its certainly good enough. We have tested a few things on it as kitchen is in and hob is working but we are not in yet ...we have no bathrooms!

 

I am hugely pleased with it I wanted the funky ring in the middle and 'invisible' controls rather than slot vent and knobs. 

 

 

 

[vivienz]

Thanks, good to get a second opinion. A Dutch friend of mine has been raving about them but not enough for her to bite the bullet yet!

[lizzie]

30 minutes ago, vivienz said:

Thanks, good to get a second opinion. A Dutch friend of mine has been raving about them but not enough for her to bite the bullet yet!

I’m sure she wouldnt regret it. I have Island 5.2m long and Bora is set into honed granite.....its a defininte WOW as well being brilliant piece of kit

 

 

[Bev]

Went to see the BORA stuff. The classic has flexi as well and you could probably get 3 small pans on one zone.  Rather than go for the classic 2 zones, extractor, 2 zones, extractor, 2 zones, the BORA professional 2 is wider and you can get 2 pans side by side on each zone with one extractor in the middle.  It's cheaper too ( but still expensive).  Still want to look at the Gutmann though

[ryder72]

So an update on this much discussed topic-

 

We are in now and the kitchen/hob is working. We have a bespoke Gutmann Abajo with a 2 ring induction/hood/2 ring induction/hood/induction wok configuration.

 

I am very impressed with the performance of the hob. Even stir frying on the wok didnt allow any discernable amount of smoke or odours to escape and what little did was dealt with by the overrun on the hob and the MVHR.

 

Hob is easy to use and powerful. Gutmann use the K-Glass from Schott, not the normal Schott Ceran. This is a completely opaque glass with higher scratch resistance.

 

Extractor is very good and Gutmann's tests reveal a higher air suction speed compared to Bora.

 

I am going to lag the duct pipework with some 25mm rockwool to leave a load under the units to provide further noise dampening and see how that performs but overall I am very impressed.

 

Sadly Gutmann hasnt been as effective as Bora at marketing their product but having worked with them and supplied probably 100 Gutmann hoods over the year I rate them very highly indeed.

 

[vivienz]

@ryder72 - thanks for the update.  What's the best way to purchase either the Gutmann or Bora stuff?  The Gutmann abajo looks very interesting; would it be better to import it from Germany or purchase in the UK, do you think?

[ryder72]

Both Gutmann and Bora are available through kitchen showrooms in the UK. For starters the specification is often different, especially on hobs where access to 3-phase power in much more prevalent on the continent than it is here. You can buy them online from online retailers but you may run into warranty and service issues if they are required. The UK service set up will be able to identify that the product is not a UK spec/sourced and refuse to touch it on the basis that the sales revenue was not recognised in the UK so the service cost wont be borne by the UK operation.

 

The Abajo is a superb product.

Edited February 17, 2018 by Nickfromwales

[cg458]

On 08/02/2018 at 12:43, ryder72 said:

Both Gutmann and Bora are available through kitchen showrooms in the UK. For starters the specification is often different, especially on hobs where access to 3-phase power in much more prevalent on the continent than it is here. You can buy them online from online retailers but you may run into warranty and service issues if they are required. The UK service set up will be able to identify that the product is not a UK spec/sourced and refuse to touch it on the basis that the sales revenue was not recognised in the UK so the service cost wont be borne by the UK operation.

 

The Abajo is a superb product.

I’m trying to source one now and understand there is currently a promotion running on them?

Edited February 17, 2018 by Nickfromwales

[xuerebx]

Hi everyone - first post here. Been scouring the internet to get some reviews on the Bora Basic and finally found this thread.

 

I am set to purchase the Bora Basic soon (BIA, so without the flexi as that is over my budget, and with the outside duct-out exhaust vent). My only concern/questions are the following, if someone could kindly help out:

 

1) Did anyone have a look at the energy efficiency labels? When you take a look it's rated as C, and the flexi cooking area is rated as B. I'm not so keen on this, because every other normal separate hob and hood are rated as A, A+ or better. Furthermore, one of Bora's competitor, Elica's Nikola Tesla is rated A+. In Malta (where I'm from), both the Bora Basic and the Nikola Tesla have the exact same price, from different suppliers. It's just a bit strange how something as expensive as the Bora would not be energy efficient on par with other hobs and hoods.

 

2) For anyone using the duct-out system, do you know how high the ducting is? I would be passing mine from underneath the tiles, and need to know how much space they will be taking (someone told me 20cm space between the tiles and the concrete ground, but this seems quite high). Just need to be sure.

 

Thanks a lot!

[xuerebx]

No replies? Really close to making the order, would just like to see people's thoughts on (1) above.

 

Got a reply on (2) - it's 8cm (height) by 15cm (width).

[lizzie]

I totally love my bora. Just this minute finished cooking a steak (for my poorly woofer).  I think its the best hob I have had to date and I have had a few inductions.  I have flexi with recirculation and it works like a dream.

[Moira Niedzwiecka]

@lizzie just seen the photos of your kitchen. Wow, its fantastic.

I love the hob sunk into the granite.

What a wonderful idea, no chipping the edge of the hob.

[Bev]

I've just bought a Gutmann Abajo with 2 induction hobs and the extractor in-between.  It's not been delivered yet, but is proving a nightmare.  You can only buy it through a recognised Blanco dealer, which I did, but they had never even heard of the Abajo and it took a week to get a quote.  They said get in touch with the tech guys for tech help about installation, but they refer you back to your kitchen planner.  Our kitchen planner is building our kitchen, but he won't be up to date with putting in a ducting system.  The real problem is we want it on an island and the ducting to go underground to the until just inside the outside wall when it can come back up in a cupboard and be vented out through the wall.  Bora have a section about putting it under the floor- Gutmann have nothing.  Bora says putting under the floor can be done in certain conditions, and has reinforcement to withstand loads- Gutmann doesn't.  Apparently the bends we need to put in will lose 20 pascals(?)Tech guy suggests boxing in the plastic ducting to protect it from weight.  With a vertical joint taking the ducting down, and another taking it horizontal, it looks like it would end up about 180mm below the floor.  I wish I'd gone with Bora now.  Has anyone dealt with underfloor ducting before?

[ryder72]

Gutmann is available to Blanco dealers but they only really push it with a select few dealers (maybe 30-50) out of their 2000 odd accounts so expect your dealer to do no more than act like a sales agent.

 

Your Gutmann hood can be connected to underfloor ducting and then brought back out but use Naber 220mm ducting ONLY or you will suffer with the consequences of excessive noise and loss of efficiency. With the type of ducting length and bends you are planning there is going to be an inevitable loss of efficiency. As  regards the load bearing capacity of the ducting, you will find this information with loads  of caveats from any hood supplier.

 

Is there any reason you wont consider one of these hoods in a recirculation format. The recirculation options from both Bora and Novy are good with Novy having the advantage of operating at a muuch greater air pressure, quieter in operation and a 7-8 year service life of the filters.