Painless Extractions (Siemens Integrated Extractor)

Member Name: SueMagee

Product:	Siemens Integrated Extractor
Date:	21/08/03 (1708 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Effective air extraction or recirculation at a reasonable price and with good illumination.

Disadvantages: Noisy on highest setting and fitted door can obscure view of hob if you're tall.

Sunday breakfast in the Magee household is usually kedgeree. I make it by frying some onions in butter, adding curry powder, rice and fish stock and then, when all that's cooked, stirring in smoked haddock, hard-boiled eggs and parsley. It tastes delightful, but it can leave your home smelling like a cross between the local chip shop and a curry house unless you've got a very good cooker hood.

I've got a very good cooker hood.

I cooked in my old kitchen for twenty years with nothing more in the way of ventilation than an open window or even a door if it was the chutney-making season, so when I planned my new kitchen the hood wasn't at the top of my list of priorities. I left the choice to the kitchen designer, asking only that it was effective and that it wasn't too obviously a cooker hood. He suggested the Siemens LE64130GB, which is currently available from www.direct-electricals.co.uk for £125 including VAT and delivery.

The hood arrived well-protected and all packaging could be recycled. It isn't a pretty thing at all, having a rather dull, metallic, lacquered finish. This doesn't matter though as it's designed to fit between two wall cupboards (600mm apart) and behind a door (55cm high by 60cm wide) which matches the kitchen units. This door is attached to the hood and by pulling it forward (it's hinged at the top) you switch on the extractor fan. If you peer under the door you'll see the controls on the base of the hood. Depending on your height you might find this to be a disadvantage as the controls are not visible unless you bend down. Unfortunately the door, when pulled fully forward, can obscure your vision of the hob if you are tall. The fan does work though when the door is only slightly open.

The hood needs to be fitted by an expert, with clearance of at least 650mm between the hob and the bottom of the extractor fan. My hob is electric, but had it been a gas hob it might hav
e been necessary to place the hood even higher. The calculations required are rather technical. Fitting of the door to the hood could be done by an enthusiastic amateur, but holes need to be drilled in precisely the right position and depth.

When the hood is fitted there is a choice of having the air extracted from the kitchen (via a grease filter) into the open air or having the air recirculated into the kitchen, in which case it will be necessary to purchase an activated carbon filter. I chose to have the air extracted but this did require a hole in the wall capable of taking a pipe with an internal diameter of 120mm. The route of the exhaust air had to comply with local authority regulations too. Frankly I was glad that the calculations and fitting were someone else's responsibility!

Rocker switches control the light and the speed of the twin motor. The light comes from two 60w bulbs, neither of which has needed replacing in eighteen months of use. The light can be used without the extractor fan and I've found this handy when I've wanted a particularly bright light directly onto something that I'm doing.

The hood has three speeds. I've rarely needed to use more than the lowest speed. This copes happily with Sunday's kedgeree or Friday night's chilli con carne. There will be little more than a light aroma in the kitchen but anyone standing by the outside wall of the kitchen would be in no doubt as to what was cooking. The sound level is quite low and doesn't intrude on conversation. I've used the second speed when I've cooked Christmas puddings and quite a lot of steam is produced. The noise is greater and it might be necessary to turn the volume up on the CD player. When I make chutney I use the highest speed, which is quite noisy (64 decibels) but a massive 380 cubic metres of air is being extracted each hour.

Pulling the door forward angles the grease filter over the hob and this does s
eem to be particularly effective at collecting vapour. I've never had any condensation fall back onto the hob. The filter is easily removed for washing (it's dishwasher proof) and just as easily replaced. I find that I don't need to clean the filter more than once every ten weeks or so, but you might want to do this more often if you use a frying pan regularly.

I'm pleased with the cooker hood, but if I was taller than 5'4" I might not find it quite so convenient. My husband, a good 6" taller, finds that if the door is pulled fully forward it interferes with his view of the hob. This would have applied to any integrated cooker hood and isn't a problem specific to this make and model.

I feel I got the best of the available models too. The closest would have been the Bosch Dhu635PGB (then £139, but I have seen it on offer at £115) but this takes only one 40W light bulb and the maximum extraction is 190 cubic metres of air at the same noise level. The kitchen designer chose well.

Now, who's for curried lamb tonight?

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