Induction hob ... with an extractor?

[Matus]

OK, I am aware that this can be a bit ... divisive ... topic, so let me please explain.

We will be replacing our gas hob with an induction one. That much is given. Our hob is (and will remain) implemented within a free standing cabinet. Currently - we have an over-head extractor that is open loop (the air is pushed outside of the house) AND it has an amazingly idiotic design as it has a shape of a inverse 'T' hanging from the ceiling with the collecting area being completely flat and only the very central part of it actually does the extraction. This makes it very inefficient even though the suction power is not all that low.

Anyhow - since there appears to be enough space within the cabinet - I have started to consider a hub with a central extractor (e.g. like BORA Systems) to deal with the extraction (especially when there is smell to be suppressed).

Now - I am fully aware, than this is no 'perfect' solution, but what we have today isn't either and especially in winter I would prefer not to evacuate so much heat while cooking (and especially since we will switch from gas to induction the heat production will be less). I would still have the option to use BOTH extractors as the current one would - at least for the time being - remain in place.

I would love to hear your experience (and eventually also opinions ).

 

[Jovidah]

My two cents after deep diving kitchen stuff for quite a while earlier this year for my girlfriend... up front:
-I would always maintain the ability to directly ventilate outside if you have it. It's just the healthier choice. Recirculation filters simply do not filter everything that you'd want to filter out of cooking gasses. Recirculation is also inferior in noise and output. You end up having to deal with expensive filters, either replacing carbon filters continuously or having high up front cost for something like a plasma filter. The energy savings from using recirculation are also not as much from what I've seen of people who do the math. Yes you ventilate air, but most of the thermal mass in your house is in the solids which remain in place, so the total energy savings are actually rather marginal.

Then onto the integrated extraction systems... from doing the research, asking people's experience etc a few big downsides pop up:
-You lose the easy cleaning advantage of induction. You end up with this dirty fat pit in the middle of your stove that's a bit of a bother to clean around. They're significantly more annoying to clean than a conventional setup.
-It just doesn't work as well as a proper hood above the stove. Output generally isn't what you'd hope, they have to make more noise and work harder to try to reach a similar result, etc.
-You lose a lot of volume in the cabinet below the stove, installation is a lot more complicated.
-It's generally the more expensive option when you look at what you get.
-You become very limited in choice of layout of your stove. The sheer majority is basically 2 flexzones or 4 burnes with the vent in the middle. So even the 80-90 cm models generally function like an entry level 60 cm stove that can only fit 2 frying pans.
-In general these seem mostly suited to people who just don't cook that much or cook with only 1 or 2 pans tops (and preferably waterbased, not frying, and small pans with low height). They're also mostly a solution for island cooking so you don't have to somehow hang a big hood in the center of the room. They're a solution to a problem you don't have.

Personally I'd just upgrade your existing hood and go with a conventional induction cooktop in whatever size you want.

 

[Matus]

Much appreciated, thanks.

 

[Boynutman]

I found that with induction there is much less moisture generation (from burning gas). Especially in summer all that cooking/gas moisture can be excessive.
So maybe with induction running the overhead hood on a low setting will be sufficient in most cases, avoiding excessive energy waste.
When fyring etc you can always turn it up.

 

[MarcelNL]

In modern houses with geothermal heat or air heatpumps you cannot extract air to the outside as in winter it would take several hours to heat up the room again.

My daughter has such a Bora unit with central extraction and she swears it works fine, I suspect it has a lot to do with what you cook...I do not imagine it can keep up with 7KW of stir frying.
I'm using a recirculation system with plasma filter, it works decently for more mundane cooking but struggles with more 'enthusiastic' cooking.