Recirculation hood - what to pay attention to?

We are currently in the middle of kitchen planning and after much back and forth I have decided on a recirculation hood.

The hood will be an island hood. Now I have already noticed that there are immense quality differences. But how do I determine what is really important? Price is a big factor, but I also don’t want to have a stylish, inexpensive design hood hanging there that ultimately only stirs the air a little and otherwise doesn’t perform well.

Therefore, I am happy to get input – what minimum recirculation capacity should it have? What else should be considered? Are there manufacturers that are clearly recommended or ones to avoid?

I'll put it this way: a hood for €250 will not meet your expectations. Since I am currently planning my new kitchen, I have also already looked around a bit. For me, however, it should be a chimney hood with external ventilation, even though the efficiency of chimney hoods doesn't seem to be that great. But I don't want a recirculation mode and choose the hood to be wider than the cooktop. In addition, the hood has edge extraction. I am currently leaning towards a model from Silverline, but I have no experience with it so far. They produce in the mid-price segment and have nationwide service in Germany. Price-wise, of course, everything is open upwards; well-known good brands: Berbel, Gutmann, Miele, Franke, etc. I haven't dealt with the island hoods from Silverline yet, but you can take a look on the homepage.

I'll put it this way: a hood for €250 will not meet your expectations.

Definitely not a recirculation hood, but I wouldn't say that for an exhaust hood - because we have such a €250 headroom model.

Very stylish, but I was skeptical too - but I am very satisfied because, for the first time, we don't smell anything in the house when someone is cooking.

And therefore I am very glad not to have sunk the previously considered €1000-2500 there.

Let's put it this way - I would definitely like to stay well below 1000 €. Since it's an isolated solution, it's more expensive anyway, that's what I've already found out. I already have Silverline in mind... so it might be worth taking a closer look.

Compare:
Fan performance [m³/h],
Activated carbon filter should be present for recirculation operation,
A ceiling fan should have a remote control due to the height,
Device dimensions should be slightly larger than the cooktop,
And above all, compare noise levels.

Phew - for "well under 1000" the options for good island hoods are getting scarce...

Personally, I would focus on headroom (slanted hoods) regardless of all other data. For me, nothing would be worse than not being able to look into pots from above or having to constantly bend over. If there are tall people in the household, in my opinion the kitchen island is off the table anyway. Or you go for a downdraft. But then the budget gets in the way again...