A great idea for the layout of your kitchen is always try to make sure that your appliances are in a triangle layout such as fridge, oven/hob and sink.

Hi, a hob on the island always looks stunning and makes the room more accessible to entertaining, like you said who want to be stood staring at the wall. Our advice if you are going to do this is to ensure there is adequate space for pan handles either side and I would go for induction hob to make it safer and easier to keep clean. In addition we are selling lots of compact steam ovens which means our client use the hob 60% less than they did before as many things go in the steamer..it's the future.

It's not always necessary to have a traditional style kitchen with a traditional country cottagy looking house. Modern kitchens can look great in traditional settings. An Island works well as long as there are no restrictions for the island hood which is important. I designed a kitchen using a range cooker integrated in an island which worked very well

A hob on the island is a real game-changer if you like cooking!
Ceiling mounted extractor fans can hang from high ceilings and they can even be turned into a feature:

We even sell unique over-head extractors such as this:

Hob on an Island is always great. It gives you freedom of working in an open plan room & engage with people in the room. no one wants to look at a blank wall whilst cooking!!

Hi Claire. I often design my kitchens with hob fitted into an island unit and it can work really well, especially if you have seating on the island and can enjoy chatting to friends or family when you are cooking. You just need to ensure that the extraction works as it should and therefore organise sufficient ducting through the ceiling. In terms of design, I think that you can successfully pair contemporary design with traditional elements into a more traditional house. I hope that this helps.

We often install kitchens with a hob installed into an island unit and works perfect if you enjoying being sociable whilst cooking with family and friends. hope this information helps

Hi Claire,

Just catching up with this conversation...

Island hobs are a great feature for any kitchen, as you said... they allow the area around although you will find them orientating towards the contemporary style of kitchens. I know you mentioned you prefer the traditional style so you'll just have to be clever with your extractor choice/design... (i'm sure you've already achieved the look you are after being that we are a few months late to the discussion).

I think everyone will be keen to see pictures of the final project.

Hobs on islands will allow you to look into the room while preparing food and therefore be more sociable. A ceiling mounted/down-draught extractor will not interfere with the view across the room.

Yes you can, works best with a ceiling extractor.

We offer kitchens with hobs on the islands. It's a trend that we have found to be getting more and more popular!

I'm also thinking of putting the hob on the breakfast bar. As I want to create an open plan space and intend on having seating at the breakfast bar, extraction is critical. I have found a great induction hob by Bora with extractor fan built in. This means you're not relying on an extrator fan at leat one meter above your benctop to suck away all the steam and smells. I have seen it in operation and it's very impressive. See http://www.bora-australia.com.au/#bora_products

Simples, A Bosch downdraft hood about 1500.00 but there are cheaper ones.

They can be recirculating or extract to outside. Set behind the hob. There is one pictured on our homepage. Mike

Hello all, I am designing my kitchen and as most comments above I think they look amazing. However, I note that currently - most hobbs ( on external walls) give off a large amount of grease, and spit out over the back wall/ work surfaces, If this is on an island , this would be un practical ?? Has anyone had this issue or any suggestions of how to overcome it ??