Cooker Hood Installation Costs UK 2026 — What to Charge to Fit an Extractor Hood

Hood Types and What They Cost

The type of hood the customer chooses sets the tone for the whole job. Some sit in a wall unit and take 30 minutes; others hang from the ceiling over an island and need ducting run through a void. Here's a breakdown of the main types with current UK supply prices for the unit alone.

Visor and Integrated / Canopy Hoods

These are the cheapest and most common. A visor hood slides out from under a wall cabinet, and an integrated canopy hood is hidden inside a bespoke cooker-hood housing unit. Both are fitted at the bottom of an existing wall unit directly above the hob, so the ducting run is usually short and straightforward. This is the bread-and-butter swap-out job.

• Budget visor hood: £60–£120
• Integrated / canopy hood: £100–£250

Chimney Hoods

The familiar stainless-steel or glass chimney hood mounts flat against the wall above the hob with a tapering flue cover running up toward the ceiling. They're a popular mid-to-upper choice and look the part, but they need solid wall fixings and the ducting runs up inside the chimney cover before turning out through the wall. Levelling and packing the unit so the flue sits flush takes time.

• Chimney hood unit: £150–£500
• Premium / wide (90–100cm) chimney hood: £400–£800+

Island Hoods

An island hood hangs from the ceiling over a hob set into a kitchen island, with no wall behind it. This is the most demanding install on the board. The ducting has to run up into the ceiling void and across to an external wall, the hood must be braced to a joist or noggin that can carry its weight, and the cabling has to be concealed. Never quote an island hood at the same labour as a chimney hood.

• Island hood unit: £300–£800+

Downdraft Extractors

A downdraft extractor rises out of the worktop behind the hob and pulls steam downward into ducting run under the floor or through the cabinet plinth. They free up the wall and look clean, but they're the priciest units and the hardest to duct — the run goes down through the base unit and often under the floor to an external wall. Treat these as a specialist job and survey carefully before pricing.

• Downdraft extractor unit: £400–£1,200+

Ducted vs Recirculating — and Why Ducted Is Better

Every cooker hood install falls into one of two camps, and it has a big effect on both your labour and the result the customer gets.

A ducted (vented) hood pushes the extracted air outside through a duct and an external grille. It removes steam, grease, moisture and cooking smells from the property entirely. This is the better-performing option by a wide margin and the one to recommend wherever the layout allows it. The downside is the work: you need a route to an outside wall and a core drill through it.

A recirculating hood draws air through a charcoal (carbon) filter to strip out odours and then blows it back into the kitchen. It does not remove moisture, so it does little for steam or condensation, the charcoal filters need replacing every few months, and extraction performance is noticeably weaker. The only advantage is that no ducting to outside is required — which is why it's the default where there's no practical external wall route (internal kitchens, flats, island hobs a long way from any wall).

Always quote and explain both. A surprising number of homeowners have lived with a recirculating hood for years and assumed it was "broken" because it never cleared the steam. If you can run a duct outside, sell the ducted option — it performs better and it's the higher-value job for you.

Core Drilling Through the Wall

For any ducted install where there isn't already a hole, you need to core drill through the external wall. A diamond core drill — typically 100mm to 150mm depending on the duct size — bores a clean hole for the ducting and external grille. Through a standard cavity wall (brick outer, block inner) this is straightforward; through stone, engineering brick or a wall with a steel lintel it's slower and harder on your kit.

Account for the making-good afterwards. The internal hole is hidden behind the cabinet, but the external face needs the brick or render reinstated neatly around the grille. On a rendered or pebbledashed wall this is more involved — you're patching a finish that has to be colour-matched.

• Single core drill through cavity wall: £60–£150
• Core drill through stone / engineering brick: £120–£250
• Render or pebbledash making-good: £40–£120 extra

If you don't own a core drill, day hire of a rig and bits runs roughly £40–£70 — build that into your materials line. Many fitters who do regular hood work simply own one because it pays for itself in a handful of jobs.

Ducting Runs and the External Grille

The duct itself is cheap; the run is what costs time. Rigid round duct (usually 125mm or 150mm) performs far better than flexible aluminium hose — flexi-hose is convoluted inside, which throttles airflow and traps grease, and on long runs it can leave a powerful hood feeling gutless. Use rigid duct with smooth bends wherever you can and keep the run as short and straight as possible. Every bend and every metre of length reduces extraction.

On the outside you fit an external grille or, better, a gravity-flap cowl that closes when the hood is off to stop draughts and keep birds and insects out. On an island hood the run goes up into the ceiling void, which means lifting boards or working from below and may need a backdraft shutter at the hood.

• Ducting kit (rigid duct, bends, clips): £30–£90
• External grille / gravity-flap cowl: £15–£45
• Ducting kit + grille combined: typically £30–£120
• Charcoal filters (recirculating, per set): £15–£40

The Electrical Connection

A cooker hood is wired to a fused connection unit — a fused spur — not a standard 13A plug, unless the manufacturer specifically supplies it with a plug and the customer wants it on a socket. The hood draws little power, so the electrical side is small, but kitchen circuits are involved and this is where the trade boundary matters.

Adding a new fused spur, altering kitchen wiring or anything involving a new circuit is notifiable work under Part P of the Building Regulations. If you're a kitchen fitter rather than a registered electrician, you'll need a competent person — a Part P registered electrician on a scheme such as NICEIC or NAPIT — to make the connection and self-certify it, or you notify Building Control. Where you're simply connecting to an existing, suitably located fused spur, that's usually within scope.

• Connect to existing fused spur: usually within your labour, no extra
• New fused spur / electrician's attendance: £80–£180
• New circuit with certification: £150–£300+

Make the electrical position clear in your quote. If a sparky needs to attend, say so and price it as a line item — don't absorb a third-party cost into a round labour figure and lose money on it.

Labour — What to Charge

Labour is where the type of hood and the ducting route do the heavy lifting. A like-for-like swap of an existing visor hood, reusing the existing duct, is a quick visit. A fresh ducted chimney hood with a core drill is most of a day. An island hood with ceiling ducting can be a full day or more for two people.

• Like-for-like swap (reusing duct & supply): £80–£150
• New ducted chimney hood (half to full day): £150–£350
• Island or downdraft with ceiling/floor ducting: £300–£600+

Most standard ducted installs land in the half-to-full-day band at £150–£350 labour. Day rates vary by region — expect the upper end in London and the South East and the lower end across much of the North and Midlands. Price the labour off the actual route, not off "it's only a hood."

Worked Examples

Numbers in isolation are hard to use. Here's how three typical jobs add up so you can sanity-check your own quotes.

Example 1 — Budget visor swap

Existing visor hood failed; customer wants a like-for-like replacement under the same wall cabinet, reusing the existing duct and fused spur.

• Visor hood unit: £80
• Labour (like-for-like swap): £120
• Total: ~£200

Example 2 — New ducted chimney hood

New chimney hood on an external kitchen wall, no existing duct, core drill required, connecting to an existing fused spur.

• Chimney hood unit: £280
• Ducting kit + external cowl: £70
• Core drill through cavity wall: £90
• Labour (half to full day): £250
• Total: ~£690

Example 3 — Island hood with ceiling ducting

Island hood over a hob in a kitchen island, ducting run through the ceiling void to an external wall, new fused spur required via an electrician.

• Island hood unit: £550
• Rigid ducting, bends, backdraft shutter, cowl: £110
• Core drill + render making-good: £160
• Electrician (new fused spur, certified): £180
• Labour (full day, ceiling work): £450
• Total: ~£1,450

Cost Drivers — What Pushes the Price Up

Two installs of the same hood can differ by hundreds of pounds. Before you commit a price, check these:

• External wall access and core drill distance: A hood on an external wall is simple. A hood on an internal wall means a long duct run to reach outside — more duct, more bends, weaker extraction, and sometimes a recirculating compromise.
• Island hoods: Ceiling ducting, joist bracing and concealed cabling make these the most labour-intensive job. Always survey the ceiling void and confirm there's a clear route to an outside wall.
• Render and brick making-good: A clean brick face is easy to reinstate. Render, pebbledash or stone has to be patched and matched — add time and a making-good line.
• Recirculating vs ducted: Recirculating saves the core drill and ducting run but performs worse; flag the trade-off so the customer chooses with eyes open and you're not blamed later for "steam everywhere."
• Wall construction: Stone, engineering brick or a hidden lintel slows the core drill and is harder on bits. Identify it before you quote a flat drilling price.
• Electrical scope: Connecting to an existing spur is cheap; a new spur or circuit pulls in Part P certification and an electrician's time.

Survey the job, don't price off a phone call. The difference between "there's already a duct and spur" and "it's an island hood with no route outside" is the difference between a £200 job and a £1,400 one.

Quick Reference: Cooker Hood Installation Prices UK 2026