Majjie's Blog

Of course you may have already heard of Westin ... but their cooker hoods are not widely available on internet shopping sites, so I thought I'd bring them to your attention. With more and more kitchens being situated in big open plan spaces ... where you're likely to be dining, relaxing and generally entertaining friends ... high performance, quiet and efficient cooker hoods are becoming much more desirable. 

Westin do three types of cooker hood ... a range of standard wall mounted or ceiling hoods; a choice of hoods to build-in (to the ceiling, kitchen furniture or worktop); and custom cooker hoods to any design at all (within reason, of course!).

In the standard hood ranges, I particularly like (from the left) the MO208 wall mounted cylindrical hood (it also comes in an island version - the MO404) both of which are a slender 362mm wide; the MO403SCH49 cylindrical island hood with an oval glass screen; and the SL36 hood with it's double oblong design (it too comes in an island version - the SIL8) :

These cooker hoods come with internal fans/motors like most of the standard cooker hoods that you see - but these all have a secret weapon ... they can be used with a remote motor, either in-line or externally. The SL36, for instance has a standard extraction rate of 800 cubic m/h but that can be increased to 1800 cubic m/h with the right wall mounted external motor and 200mm diameter ducting.

Westin emphasise the importance of good ducting to the efficient performance of any cooker hood - a detail overlooked by many people ... including some fitters! Why do you need high performance extraction you ask? Well, you need high extraction rates if your room is very large (ideally the air in the room should be changed at least ten times an hour) and also if you're using high performance range cookers, or hobs, with very powerful burners - especially if you have griddles or indoor barbecue options.

The most notable hoods in Westin's built-in range are probably the ceiling hoods. You may not have seen these before. They are designed to fit into the ceiling between the joists and are operated by remote control. Obviously they are less efficient than conventional cooker hoods, at removing local fumes and steam above the hob, but they are designed to keep the air in the room fresh. They're also really useful if you have an island hob but don't want a big statement cooker hood in the middle of your room. This is the standard CBU1 version:

Downdraft extractors, which fit into the worktop, can also be quite unobtrusive, of course - but I don't really like them. They're not very efficient at extraction; they're difficult to vent out; and they take up valuable worktop space. If you want one, though, Westin do, of course, have a standard version or they will make you one. 

It's for their custom cooker hoods that Westin are famous (well famous in the kitchen industry anyway!). Have a look at this neat curved stainless steel hood:

I stole the picture from the website of The Used Kitchen Company (where you can get some bargain pre-loved kitchens) - I hope they won't mind as I've given them a plug. I'd tell you who designed the kitchen too - since it's an ex-display model and I love the look - but it doesn't say (you can currently buy the hood - with the units shown here and the honed black granite - for £4,500). 

Custom made cooker hoods are good for a special look in a bespoke kitchen (like the one above) and they're also great (if not essential) for those who have very unusual rooms and ceiling heights. You wouldn't get a standard cooker hood to fit easily into this kitchen:

And how about these extra tall cylindrical hoods which Westin have made to match the Aga (I love the hoods although the kitchen is a bit minimal for my taste):

And finally ... in-your-face, industrial looks are sometimes entirely in keeping with the kitchen style and the room. This cooker hood would completely dominate a smaller room but it looks right at home here and, without it, the cooker flue would look silly:

Built-in cooker hoods can also be custom made, of course, but they will usually be designed with performance in mind, rather than looks. Westin are definitely the people to talk to, if you're planning to extract a cooker hood up an existing chimney. In general it's not a good idea because standard cooker hoods are not powerful enough to lift the air up that sort of height. The flue is usually too big and old soot can be dislodged. You can just imagine what a fire risk it could be, if the air and any residual grease in it, are not removed from the chimney and the steam condenses and trickles back down to the base board, bringing soot and grease with it. Westin can advise on the size of motor needed for the height of your chimney - and whether, or not, a new flue liner is required.

One more thing to mention - is the noise made by Westin cooker hoods - or rather the lack of it; an important factor when choosing a cooker hood for a sociable, living kitchen. They've developed a Super Quiet Fan which was described to me by Richard Cooley, Westin's Sales Manager.  It's all a bit technical ... but basically, they're using a DC motor which is smaller and cheaper to run than an AC equivalent; it's better at starting the air moving; more resistant to back draughts and; because it's "pushing" all the time, instead of working in pulses, it's a lot quieter. Noise is measured on the dBA scale which measures sound in the human hearing range. The thing to remember, though, is that it's a logarithmic scale. A cooker hood which is 4 or 5 points lower on the scale, than another hood, could be half as noisy. 

You can get standard Westin cooker hoods from kitchen companies and other retail suppliers ... or you can contact Westin direct, to get a quote for a bespoke cooker hood (or ask about retailers near you). Of course, if you want a cooker hood designing as part of your bespoke kitchen ... you know who to get in touch with ...