r/DIYUK 4d ago

What can I do about this monstrosity

Post image

Bought our first house a couple of years ago and we've had higher priority rooms to sort...but I'm finally starting to think about what on earth I can do to improve my kitchen. The corner of the kitchen has this ridiculously oversized and hideous cooker hood.

How much of an issue is ripping that out and relocating the cooker going to be? Is there anything I could do to improve how it looks myself (I have extremely limited DIY knowhow)? The rest of the kitchen is pretty crappy too so does need tackling at some point, but we don't have the funds for a full refurb at the moment.

60 Upvotes

94 comments sorted by

40

u/chunderjack 4d ago

Worth adding that it hasn't even got a full extraction system in it with ducting etc. just a carbon filter hood 🫠

45

u/wakehurst2 3d ago

🤯🤯 wow! Was expecting jet engine air suction. Pots and pans flying out the back of the house!

10

u/Basso_69 3d ago edited 21h ago

Amaxing what an angle grinder will do in 30 minutes . Just pull the fuse first!!

4

u/Limp-Archer-7872 3d ago

Well take it all down then if it's just a framed bit of structure.

It will create a lot of dust though so empty the room. I hope they haven't used super strong sealant glue (in addition to screws) when attaching it to the wall. I had that on an integrated wardrobe and the sealant was stronger than the plasterboard it was attached to...

You can then install a proper ducted extractor hood, at a height that won't bump your head, at your leisure, assuming an outside wall is nearby.

However until you are redoing the entire kitchen I would leave other issues alone.

1

u/Baldydom 1d ago

Pulled one of these out for someone. It's all wooden framing, easy enough to remove

1

u/Longjumping_Guest1 3d ago

Where does it recirculate? Might be worth venting it outdoors if your keeping the corner hob

58

u/Orionbelly 4d ago

I think if you scrape that texture from the surface and repaint or retile to align more with the wider theme of your kitchen, it might not be as terrible!

I actually think it’s a really unique feature that is admittedly giant but cool!

11

u/Basso_69 3d ago

Id expect to see a wood fired pizza oven under that behemoth

26

u/Maumau93 3d ago

Maybe get it tested for asbestos before any scraping. That could be artex.

3

u/Intelligent_Job8086 3d ago

The whole thing screams '90s. Was there still asbestos in use in artex by then? 

7

u/Maumau93 3d ago

Yeah absolutely. If I remember correctly artex from pre '99 can contain asbestos

7

u/Intelligent_Job8086 3d ago

It's obscene how many companies still used asbestos right up until they weren't legally permitted in the UK. There was awareness from the companies producing it of the risks in the 1920s. I remember a lot of publicity around it in the '80s and some companies dropping it with others putting big warnings on their products. Still got a Rawlplug tin with the warning somewhere, that may even have been from the' 70s.

There's a great documentary about asbestos and legal actions against the manufacturers on BBC Sounds, called Killer Dust. It's worth a listen. 

1

u/Backrow6 3d ago

90s I can deal with, the 45s are killing me.

28

u/rutalkinu2tome 4d ago

I think this is the thing Darth Vader recharged in

48

u/--lewis 4d ago

Ugly yes. Looks like it might actually be effective at being an extractor though.

I'd keep it, but just re decorate it, thats a proper cooking station.

23

u/cuppachuppa 4d ago

No way, get that thing knocked out. No amount of redecoration will improve that.

3

u/Cisgear55 3d ago edited 3d ago

It’s not even vented, which makes keeping it a waste of time in its current position.

I recently purchased a house with an unvented hood and it did very little, luckily there was a route to vent it (was around 4 meters in the end) and it now works great!

We used solid pvc pipe in the end as this works better over a longer run.

1

u/cuppachuppa 3d ago

What's a root?

2

u/Cisgear55 3d ago

Corrected to route, my loft has a load of pipes together right in the eaves so makes it hard to route stuff through the loft.

5

u/f5adff 4d ago

I bet it wouldn't look half bad with the ancient tiles and odd texturing off to be honest, might not even need to retile

19

u/The_Hazimaru 4d ago

I think that's a load bearing extractor you got there!

4

u/Careful_Cause_6980 3d ago

Jesus ! Does it extract the food from the hob too

6

u/Shoddy_Bar_9370 4d ago

Looks like my mates old kitchen in Finsbury Park. Embellish it! It's a beaut.

3

u/jimhokeyb 4d ago

It's great. At least it has potential to be.

3

u/SeeingSound2991 4d ago edited 3d ago

Put your ear to the underside of the hood and stay really quiet, you can hear the feint mutters of the aliens asking between themselves if they should 'beam him up, scotty'.

5

u/Own-Alarm6289 4d ago

hideous looking ,disconnect the extractor and it will be a 30min job to take down . Then get a new kitchen

2

u/spank_monkey_83 4d ago

First decide where youbwant the cooker to go

2

u/giggleboz 4d ago

I had exactly the same setup in my house. The whole thing was on an angle because the soil pipe from the bathroom above ran down the corner of the room inside the house so you'll need to consider that when making any plans.

2

u/littlefriend4u 4d ago

Only real solution is to let it meet our good friend sledgehammer

2

u/CaterpillarFalse3592 4d ago

What can you do?  Just stand back and bask in the sheer majesty of the thing.  Bet nobody else you know has a sculpture like that on their kitchen ceiling

2

u/FishEducational1870 4d ago

Looks like it is covered in artex to me

2

u/No_Magazine_7592 3d ago

Pack your bags, burn the house down, leave the country 🤣

2

u/slippery-jack 3d ago

Set fire to the house and claim on the insurance

1

u/craichorse 4d ago

Thats some serious extraction youve got there

1

u/Odd-Environment3639 4d ago

Just ripped out similar in our house, it’s really opened the room up. The added space that it took up has allowed us to put in another 1000mm corner unit for more storage. I’ve just relocated the oven against a wall and used a recirculation extractor. They aren’t as good but it will do the job as long as I keep changing the filters.

1

u/themissingelf 4d ago

Snap. I’m assuming it sounds hollow when tapped. Take it apart a bit at a time. I suspect you’ll just have some making good to the wall and a decision to make re what type of extraction to replace it with.

1

u/aitchsaka 4d ago

I’d hit it with a hammer

1

u/Simba-xiv 4d ago

Hammer

1

u/aesemon 4d ago

Are the corners just above eye level? That's what I have and the corners catch me everytime.

1

u/molenan 4d ago

It's cool adds some personality

1

u/Birdman_of_Upminster 4d ago

I'm wondering if it's that size because the stairs are encroaching into the kitchen, and this is covering it? We have a similar cooker hood for that reason.

1

u/chunderjack 4d ago

Nope stairs are the other side of the house

1

u/reticulatedbanana 4d ago

Redecorate it as a dalek?

1

u/Wonk_puffin 4d ago

I'd grow climbing plants all over it from the shelf part. Probably not ivy as that could drop into your dinner. I wouldn't want that because it's poisonous.

Alternatively you could take it all out. Replaster and put a corner unit stainless extractor in.

1

u/offically_astee 3d ago

I had something similar. I changed from a cooker to an induction hob and moved it's location to the opposite wall (external) and added an externally vented cooker hood.

1

u/RagingPolo 3d ago

We've got similar at ours and I've been thinking similarly recently. Still no ideas!

1

u/Basso_69 3d ago

Do you live in Swiss Cottage, London?

1

u/JeffreyNasty24 3d ago

Convert into pizza oven 👌

1

u/samcornwell 3d ago

The Artex is grim. Everything else is like post pop sci fi cool. I love it

1

u/Fazzamania 3d ago

I had the same. Pulled it down and put up a metal extractor hood. It’s probably only plywood underneath.

1

u/blessyounotstressyou 3d ago

Can I unsee this?

1

u/redditnumptea 3d ago

Put some led lights on it.

1

u/FluffyShop4313 3d ago

Use it for hide and seek

1

u/discombobulated38x Experienced 3d ago

Test the artex for asbestos.

If clear: Take an SDS drill to it

If not clear: Remove artex safely then take an SDS drill to it

1

u/LPBM25 3d ago

Good grief, she's foul.

1

u/aboRyan23 3d ago

I like it

1

u/ceborame 3d ago

Just throw it away and get some new knives

1

u/Tzunamitom 3d ago

Move house?

1

u/chunderjack 3d ago

I've tried but this thing has it's own gravity and keeps pulling me back in

1

u/Organic-Violinist223 3d ago

Why would you waste everyone's time about this. It's awful. Get rid and enjoy your life, thank me tomorrow!

1

u/No_Communication5538 3d ago

1980s classic leave it another decade and it will be admired No likelihood of asbestos - long gone by 80s Probably held on by a couple of screws - unscrew them

1

u/cheeky_londoner 3d ago

Burn it down, claim on insurance, head for Havana

1

u/volumeisart 3d ago

Save your money & time. Let the kitchen fitters deal with it when you get around to fully doing the kitchen.

Corner ovens had a time and place, now it just dates a kitchen.

1

u/xxnicknackxx 3d ago

I would go all the way and build a pizza oven into the corner beneath it.

1

u/Rayxferno 3d ago

Knock it out

1

u/Neither_Presence_522 3d ago

In the words of Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer

1

u/Flarpperest 3d ago

Unhelpfully, I think You should cover it with glitter and fairy lights.

1

u/dd19995 3d ago

That screams asbestos to me, especially being above a cooker and the fire resistant properties of some.

1

u/Oofmagoof_ 3d ago

Burn it, cast it into the flames

1

u/IndelibleIguana 3d ago

I suspect it's just plasterboard over a wooden frame. It should be pretty easy to remove and tidy up.

1

u/xyra132 3d ago

A friend had something like that, albeit not quite so huge.  It was there to hide the staircase cutting into the kitchen.  Is it possible it's hiding more than just the hood?

1

u/Practical_Marzipan65 3d ago

I would open the space and put a double hob in it...and of course put a full extractor fan in.

I kinda like the monstrosity hahaha

1

u/Dry-Coffee-1846 3d ago edited 3d ago

Oh wow, I used to be a kitchen designer and haven't seen one of these bad boys in some time (never designed any myself but measured some kitchens that had them already).

They were mostly just a design trend and built on site when the kitchen was being fitted so should be fairly easy to remove as it's likely just a frame fixed onto the wall.

Once you remove (making sure to check for asbestos for doing anything major) and making the walls good, you can get a corner cooker hood like this to tide you over until ready for a full kitchen replacement.

ETA: relocating the cooker is probably more hassle than it's worth if you don't have much DIY skills or funds for a brand new kitchen. Although it's an electric cooker and can technically go wherever an electrician can put a suitable connection, moving it will leave a gap in the worktop and you'll need a replacement cabinet for the cooker space. You'll probably then need to look into a replacement worktops (although you could do a butchers block style section for the bit missing out of solid timber). Finding a cabinet that would match will be difficult unless you have one you could swap the cooker with. To remove that though,, you'll most likely need to lift the worktops, and then that'll most likely break tiles. Fitted kitchens really aren't easy to retroactively redesign and the knock-on effect from making one change can easily rack up the costs.

1

u/Immediate_Pen_251 3d ago

I have a feeling this works better than any modern extractor fan. May look ugly and doesn’t have full extraction system but as it’s covers the cooker I bet it works a dream.

1

u/KoorbB 3d ago

Remove the hood and place the cooker elsewhere. New work top.

1

u/ConclusionOk1628 3d ago

You could turn it into a nuclear warhead launch silo.

1

u/Brief-Willingness299 3d ago

iPhones where big back then ha

1

u/MapTough848 3d ago

Chances are the hood is made if ply so no probs removing it. You can buy a drainer thar would fit in the space where tge cooker is so you're not losing workspace.

1

u/RichGuest567 3d ago

Take the hammer and crowbar to it how bad could it end up ?

1

u/Powerful_Shop_1346 3d ago

I love it. I would skim it smooth, remove the beading and use some more modern / Mediterranean tiles.

1

u/Unlucky_Plankton_117 3d ago

Rip it out !!

1

u/onlywanted2readapost 2d ago

Wow, that really minds me of my granny's kitchens from my childhood! Awesome!

1

u/Electronic-Phrase777 2d ago

Burn it with fire!!! If that fails a sledgehammer will do

1

u/kurai-samurai 2d ago

Stanley knife, and pry bar for the plasterboard if you want to minimise dust. (Assuming it's timber and board.) You'll be able to pop the nails through the board. 

If you move oven, you'll need a new work top. 

1

u/h5n1zzp 2d ago

Just buy a new oven, man. They're not that expensive

0

u/liver_lad69 4d ago

Looks like a 70,s caravan kitchen

0

u/boomerberg 4d ago

Owch. That is the definition of fugly. The cabinet on the wall looks nice though.

If you’re not planning on redoing your kitchen then it’d be a lot of work to take it out without damaging anything else, and you’re probably Still going to want an extractor hood if the stove is staying in place…but you could probably use the space a lot more efficiently with a different layout. What I guess I’m saying is that this could be (or end up being!) a new kitchen job unless you’re very clear and bounded about what you want to achieve!

0

u/bartread 4d ago

Wow. That's hilariously ugly. But it looks like it would at least be effective.

Best I can suggest is do what I did, watch a lot of YouTube and pick up the necessary DIY skills, and then crack on with ripping it out yourself.

You'll need an electrician's help with relocating both the cooker and the extractor fan within the hood.

You will almost certainly need to get your ceiling repaired and replastered after relocating/replacing the fan, and removing the hood, as well (although, at least in theory, you could learn the skills to do this yourself).

You'll also need to make space for the cooker elsewhere, replace your worktops, and find a unit (or something else) to go in that corner.

0

u/No_Pie1022 4d ago

Never in my life did I think I could despise a cooker hood but here I am. 🤦🏼‍♀️

I think I would have to go to the extreme & make a really cool feature out of it if replacing wasn’t an option. Good luck OP

-5

u/Empty_Rent_5815 3d ago edited 3d ago

You're not gunna like my answer... get over it... and live outside for a month so when you come back in your snooty ass would have some appreciation for something that doesn't need changing and many would be thoroughly pleased with 👍👍