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Samsung HC9347BG
by nasarali
I had bought a built in oven and hob and needed something to compliment the look plus update the kitchen. This was to replace a bog standard Wickes extractor fan that was starting to look very grubby. At just over £200 you may think it would be more cost effective to buy another extractor fan, but if you are style conscious, you cannot ... do without one of these.
Packaging wise, it was a bit of a pain to get out, the instructions were not really that easy to follow, i found that i had to go over them again and again in order to fully understand what they were trying to get across. You get all the screws you need with this and some extras, either that or I missed a step in the instructions, but it hasn't fallen down yet so i think I'm safe.
You do not get a vent kit, which is basically an aluminium pipe, some silver gas tape, expanding foam and a wall plate. The screws are also only good if you happen to live in a modern house with not much space between the plaster and the bricks.
After buying some extra long screws with the right plugs and also the above mentioned vent kit, i set about installing this. I made some screw holes for the body in the wrong place, and then realised it would not fit so I drilled a bit further down, which again were not quite right. A few more attempts later i had it in the perfect place. Its a good thing all these holes are hidden behind the vent and the hood.
The hard part was getting the body onto the screws which took me about 20 minutes, once this was done, the rest was easy. It was just a matter of fitting the pipe into the existing hole which lead outside, using the foam to fill the hole, then taping the gas tape to the other end. I then fit the bracket to the ceiling and fit the steel hood to it. All that was left was to screw on the glass bit and job done. All in all, it took about an hour, but then I took my time. If the instructions had been a little more clear i may have done it in half the time.
Style wise, it looked superb, it instantly made my kitchen look a lot classier, plus all my mistakes were hidden behind the hood. Using it is simple, there is a button to turn on the lights, which are a pair of energy saving light bulbs. And 3 speed settings for the suck action. 1 being the lowest and 3 being the highest. It does get noisy at the highest setting but not enough to distract you. It apparently has an extraction rate of 470m3 per hour, which does not mean a thing to me, at 3 though it does work quite well and gets rid of all that greasy, steamy smoke.
It comes with a pair of filters that are probably only useful if you do not have it attached to a vent kit. These are easy to remove and clean. There is also an option to buy a charcoal filter in the manual. Again probably only useful to people with no vent kit.
Overall, I would recommend this as it will make you kitchen look better as long as you also go for a built in oven and hob at the same time.
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Neff D8600
by flodombey
This hood which sits over our matching Neff hob top and oven was installed already when we moved in. It was brand new at the time and we were the first tenants so have been the sole users for the last 3 years.
The hood is impressive and powerful and my only problem with it is that it is a pain to clean and seems to be a dirt ... magnet on the top and panels (I know the whole point of the underneath is to attract the smells and fumes from any cooking directly beneath it).
The hood is a pale silver colour and size wise it matches the hob beneath it inch for inch. For me it sits at the right height and being short I do not notice it's presence above my head when I am cooking. For my 6ft husband this is not the case and he has to be particularly careful not to clout himself on one of the alarmingly sharp corners as they sit around his head height. As I am only just over 5ft this is not an occupational hazard for me (and luckily it is me that does most of the cooking).
The hood doubles and both a light and an extractor fan. Right at the front there are two sliding switches, one turns the light on and off and the other has two speed settings and an off setting for the fan element.
The light is incredibly useful and I frequently use it as we have spot lights in our kitchen and often when cooking I only use the floor lamps (energy saving bulbs) and then use the extractor light as it is dedicated above the cooker and provides specific light where I need it. In the three years we have been here I have not as yet had to change a bulb but the two 40w bulbs are either side of the sliding switches right at the front of the hood so this would be easy enough.
The grille is easily removed by pressing in a clip device in the centre just behind the switches. This means it is easy to clean and believe me you do need to clean it regularly, you will be amazed at how much sticky, greasy gunk it accumulates over the space of a few months.
I have to say it is very powerful and reliable, I frequently use it when cooking curries and other particularly fragrant dishes to drag the odours away from our living space as our kitchen and living area are all open plan. This is very useful and it seems to work. It has also proved very handy when my husband griddles things as he loves to get the griddle smoking and this fan is capable of pulling all the smoke efficiently in.
The top panels do need cleaning regularly, as I have said. They seem to get covered in a lesser residue similar to the grille mesh, sticky and a bit greasy. Because of the colour this looks less than appealing and you have to keep on top of it, you also need hot soapy water to get it off as a damp cloth will not do it.
We use this hood all the time and it has proven useful, reliable and efficient. Living open plan as we do this is an integral bit of kitchen kit and I am very glad to have it. We did not pay for this item, it was already installed when we moved in, but it costs around £199 RRP. If we ever install our own kitchen in the future I would certainly look for one of these based on our experience.
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Baumatic BT7.1GL
by Numpty2009
Although most kitchens seem to have one I have never really used a cooker hood until the last couple of years. I have always cooked with the backdoor open or at least some of the windows open in order to ventilate the kitchen and remove those cooking smells. Recently however, we decorated the kitchen and decided to install a cooker hood. ...
This Baumatic hood was purchased as it looked good and was a very good deal in a local electrical suppliers. You can also buy it from many nationwide chains, including surprisingly M&S!
THe hood itself has a stainless steel chimney, with a class canopy. The name Baumatic is embossed into the steel chimney. On the canopy itself are the controls and underneath the hood is access to the carbon filters and the lightbulbs. The hood itself has 3 speeds you can also use it with or without the lights although we leave the lights on during the evening as an alternative to the main kitchen lights.
The 3 speeds seem to vary between slow and useless, slightly slow but fairly useless and extremely fast and not useless, but so noisy you feel like your standing underneath the engine of a Boing 747! I don't tend to cook with much fat so luckily I can live without using the extractor at all on some days however, on the days that I need it I find it very hard to work at the stove and have the extractor fan on as the noise is deafening.
The hood does appear to be doing a reasonable job though as my kitchen hasn't been decorated for 4-5 years and it is remarkably free from grease (and I am not one to scrub down the walls!). MOst of the grease from the kitchen however, does appear to have collected around the hood itself as underneath the hood has to be wiped down frequently using a very strong degreaser. The grease also collects around the controls, which doesn't make for a pretty experience when turning it on and off on occasion. This maybe a problem however, with most fans as I haven't really used one before it is hard to make a comparison.
In summary, it seems to be doing its job as my kitchen is remarkably clean considering, however, its far too noisy and collects the grease! MM maybe I should stop cooking and eat out more! that might make my kitchen cleaner!!
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