We're in the process of fitting a new kitchen and we've got our new
shiny induction hob on a peninsular. There is therefore no wall to
put an extractor fan on, so as part of the work we ran 110mm soil pipe
between the joists and have a hole coming down in the ceiling over the
hob position. I made sure there was lots of battens next to the hole
for hanging an island hood.

The hood is a Baumatic ISL5SS. Very good value, but that's about its
only redeeming point. It's not very well made, the instructions are
dire, some of the techniques in the method are daft (have you tried
screwing a poor quality self tapper into a too-small hole in 2mm steel
plate, with the hole 10mm from the ceiling?) Tip: self-tap the hole
BEFORE mouting the ceiling plate.

The instructions tell you how to calculate the length of angle iron
needed to hang down. All very simple stuff, except we discovered
while doing the building work our ceilings are only 230cm, so about
10cm short of normal.
To achieve the 75cm over the worktop that I want is impossible using
the method in the instructions.
Using the method in the instructions it would be just 45cm off the
worktop!

Using a different method of assembly, the highest I can get the thing
off the worktop is about 64cm which still seems too low to me.

The limiting factor is the stainless steel canopies that are 60cm long
and have to put on in two stages, making a stepped look. My other
half reckons the 2 stage canopy will look ugly, and I think she might
be right.

I've looked at others and none seem to go as short as I need, so I
can't even send it back and get something else.

I think my only solution is to drill holes in one canopy and just use
the one canopy. This way I can get about 70cm off the worktop AND I
wont get the 2 stage ugly step. If I need to go shorter I will need
to cut down the thin metal canopy, which is specialist since its
stainless steel.

Has anyone fitted this hood (or the Caple/Electrolux identical models)
and had problems?

Painters10