Kitchen's Kitchen

I should say what my problem is with Bora, etc.

First up... I don't have a problem with cooker hoods at all, so what would I be gaining and what problems would I be introducing?

I want a specific hob and it takes virtually no depth, so my oven and washing machine both fit under parts of the hob, and a cupboard to the left is all usable for pots. No matter how I did it, a ducted system is going to compromise part of that as there's more going on under the counter.

My hob will also be against an external wall... I don't have the problem of needing to route the air somewhere nor of hanging a hood in the middle of the room, etc. If I had an island, ducted induction makes a lot more sense.

But then... I'm all about the functional and am trying to build a high-spec but extremely simple kitchen... no magic, all of the function on display and everything working pretty much as you see it. I like that heat rises, and hot vapours from cooking would rise directly into a visible hood and out through the external wall. I like that most of the work here is done by the heat of the food itself, merely catching the rising steam / vapours is very light work for a hood and beautiful in it's function.

When I look at a ducted induction system, well they go against nature... to pull steam and vapours to the side and down they need to pull a high volume of air in at a relatively high speed. To then ensure it's quiet they need to increase the fans and size of the holes they pull this through.

Hence this:

But this has side effects... nothing significant, but it's certainly not for free. For the magic of "no hood!" this large visible hole exists, or a popup exists... and it's pull-based... which means it's effectively also blowing over the food. The more effective it is, the more that effect of blowing / sucking air over the food exists.

What happens when you blow over a hot soup? or a hot drink? It cools. Evaporative cooling in effect.

It feels then like we're doing a hell of a lot for very little:

• Under counter space compromised
  
• Trying to be magic, but has to work really hard for it
  
• Not needed for my space as my hob is on an external brick wall and I am re-using an existing vent hole
  
• The entire magic effect has a very small impact on the cooking itself by cooling food
  
  

For me, it goes against the spirit of the kitchen I'm building. I prefer the non-magical, function that is visible.