cooker hood inside a chimney flue?

[kats]

Hi folks
We have just opened up a fireplace in the old breakfast room which is to be our new kitchen. We are hoping to site our range style cooker in the hearth, however we are concerned about the type of cooker hood we will need to use as I've read somewhere that you can't extract up a chimney flue as it causes condensation and the water from that can damage the masonary.
Has anyone done this kind of thing and if so what system have you used. Your advice will be invaluable to us.
Here is a pic of it.


[Open Image] [Hosted by PhotoGalaxy.com]

 

[Gervase]

One thing to be wary of is to find a liner that can be cleaned - either by removing the hood filter or via an inspection plate. Grease and fat condense easily on the sides of the liner, particularly if it goes all the way up to rooftop level, and this can be a fire risk, as well as dripping down in an unpleasant mess on the hood filter. Obviously that depends on how much the hood is used, but restaurants have to clean theirs every three months or so.

 

[Nemesis]

A house extractor isn't the same as a cooker extractor though is it? Or do you mean cooker extractor? Depends on how much use it gets I presume. Yes, there have been people here in the past reporting problems with condensation, and if a chimney has soot deposits (which ones haven't?) they can start to leach through the walls with the damp.

Personally, I can't see the attraction of siting a cooker in a chimney breast with restricted height. Danger of banging your head on the lintel when attempting to stir and peer into pans, and lifting off a pan means nowhere to put it without carrying it to a work surface which isn't adjacent.

And when draining a pan full of veg in boiling water, lugging it to a sink sited a fair way off isn't something I'd be keen on either.

 

[Moo]

, I can't see the attraction of siting a cooker in a chimney breast with restricted height. Danger of banging your head on the lintel when attempting to stir and peer into pans, and lifting off a pan means nowhere to put it without carrying it to a work surface which isn't adjacent.

And when draining a pan full of veg in boiling water, lugging it to a sink sited a fair way off isn't something I'd be keen on either.

That's exactly why we resisted the temptation to put a cooker in a similar situation. It would have looked good, but -----[/i]

 

[Nemesis]

We looked at a house where the cooker was at the opposite end of a long kitchen, set in a chimney breast with hardly any height above it.

Pans would have to be lugged several yards to the sink to fill and drain. The nearest work surface was several yards away.

Seemed a very odd place indeed. We didn't buy!

 

[Nemesis]

What is a house extractor ? The OP is clearly talking about a cooker hood and I simply replied to that.

Some people have extractor fans set into walls or windows, taking steam etc from the room. Not dedicated cooker extractors.

I think use is possibly the key here though.

 

[Mark]

I think building regs specify a minimum height above the stove that has to be clear, that looks too low to me.

And isnt that cement? Gasp! Shock!! Horror!!! :shock:

 

[AMc]

Our 'range' LPG cooker is in an old fireplace with the hood venting up the chimney. It never occurred to me that it would be a problem as the hood has a grease filter and I would expect the hot/cold crossover to cause any condensation there too - I would have expected the hood to bear the brunt of any water issues and there is no sign of damage to the hood or the decoration above after about 12 years use. As I didn't do it I don't know if the chimney was lined - I suppose I'll find out when we finally move into the bigger kitchen - another thing to worry about
It's a Baumatic 140W hood recessed into a piece of plywood screwed into the base of the chimney.

We have an island 'behind' the cook but wibbling round the kitchen to the sink is irritating as is not having a work surface next to the cooker to put things down for a moment - like spoons etc.

The lintel on ours is just above eye height which means I have to stoop in to look in pans at the back. Looking at that picture I think you'll have a job getting a cooker into the fireplace itself but if you do it will be a pain moving pans at the back past ones on the front.

Based on that photo alone I wouldn't put the cooker there if I were you (but I'm not so you may choose to ) I can't say you won't have condensation issues, but as far as I know we don't.

 

[Nemesis]

I was trying not to think about the cement. I am currently trying to do my submission to the CSC (late...) on

http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/clg/clg_200607_pn39.cfm


Hmmm.


Maybe I should be thinking of cement.

Anyhow - condensation has been mentioned here in the past as an issue, but different houses always bring different problems.

And as far as kitchen planning is concerned, sink, cooker and worksurface are best all fairly near each other, IMHO.

 

[ljhilditch]

Hi,

We did a similar thing in our kitchen http://hilditch-house.blogspot.com/
We opened our chimney up a little and our builder built the canopy above. We put in an extractor fan, although we do get a lot of soot and have yet to install a flue liner. I don't have any problem walking from the cooker to the sink, it's really not a big issue. It's the main focal point and it makes a big impact.

Good luck with your plans!

 

[Ian Bond]

Great job on the fireplace / canopy, am jealous!!!

And those floors - lovely - did you restore them yourself?

My kitchen fireplace lintel is far too low, and I'm not going to alter it. The hob was infront of the blocked up fireplace, so a range oven will have to go back in that position. I'll probably block the opening up with a board, slightly recessed to show the stone surround off. And put a vent in to keep the remains of the chimney aired.

It would be great to have a range in the hearth proper though - pity my old Yorkshire range had gone - could have used that ....

 

[K8]

I personally would put the cooker elsewhere, the stooping thing could be a pain and instead but a nice small stove in to provide focal interest and warmth
sorry that was pointless really and I can't help with your question either :?

 

[ljhilditch]

Great job on the fireplace / canopy, am jealous!!!

And those floors - lovely - did you restore them yourself?

....

Thanks,

We're really pleased with the floors, had them done professionally, didn't want to mess them up! We're very lucky to have them in such good condition.

Laura

 

[kats]

Thanks for all your interesting comments.
Firstly we weren't going to leave the height as it was but were going to open it up to the min height specified in the regs.
Secondly it isnt cement you can see it is sandstone.
Thirdly I wouldn't have a problem going to the sink from the cooker, it isn't that far!
However we have decided against it even though it would have been a great focal point, fitting a cooker hood/extractor would be quite difficult.
We've now decided to put a unit with wine rack in there and light it with a spotlight. I'll post some photo's when completed.
I love reading your comments and seeing pics of your own projects, they are all great.

 

[Nemesis]

It would be not too good conservation either to mess about with such an interesting original feature.