Extraction, the invisible decision

The physics are simple and clever: cooking vapour rises slowly enough that a strong cross-draught at pan level can capture it before it climbs. BORA built its systems on exactly that claim — extraction at the surface, faster than the vapour rises — and in doing so freed the island from the hood above it. No canopy, no bulkhead, sightlines intact across the room.

The trade-offs are honest ones: downdraft ducting runs through the floor or plinth, which means the decision belongs at slab or screed stage in a new build (retrofits usually run recirculating instead); tall-pot steam at the back of a large pan is the weakest case; and the good systems are serious investments. Gaggenau, Miele and Wolf all now field strong downdraft or surface-integrated answers alongside BORA.

Where the architecture wants absolutely nothing visible, ceiling-integrated extraction — flush cassettes above the cooking zone — keeps the island free without floor ducting. It suits high-specification new builds with accessible ceiling voids, and it handles tall-pot steam better than downdraft by meeting the vapour where it goes.

Two cautions: mounting height matters (past roughly two and a half metres, capture weakens and the fan works harder — check the model’s rated height), and serious cooking wants ducted-out cassettes rather than recirculation. Both are planning questions, not purchase questions.

The hood still wins two arguments. Physics: a deep canopy over the cooking zone remains the most forgiving capture geometry for high-volume, high-heat cooking — which is why professional kitchens have never abandoned it, and why Wolf’s pro hoods pair naturally with its ranges. And design: a sculptural canopy in blackened steel or brass can be the room’s centrepiece rather than its compromise.

Between statement and invisible sits the concealed hood — full-power extraction hidden inside joinery or a plastered chimney breast. In wall-kitchen layouts this is often the rational default: hood performance, minimalist elevation.

Ducted extraction — vapour expelled outside — outperforms recirculation in every case that matters: grease, steam and smell leave the building instead of being filtered and returned. Recirculation has improved (activated-charcoal systems are genuinely acceptable for light cooking and unavoidable in many apartments) but it recycles humidity, which open-plan living rooms feel.

Duct runs are the detail that decides everything: short, straight and wide beats long and elbowed, and every bend costs performance the brochure’s extraction figures assume you don’t have. This is why extraction is specified with the kitchen design, not bought with the appliances.

And the South African footnote: no indoor system is designed for braai smoke. If the covered patio braai vents toward the kitchen doors, plan the outdoor extraction — or the prevailing-wind orientation — with the same seriousness as the indoor system. Open-plan indoor-outdoor living is exactly where good extraction earns its keep.