The Bora X Pure Downward-Extracting Induction Cooktop

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  John Whitley

  a month ago

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  Speaking from experience, I tend to simply curse anything other than properly designed range hoods for the primary task of removing particulates and fumes from cooking.  In short, it’s effectively impossible for cooktop or pop-up extractors to do a good job “because physics”.  In this regard, cooktop extractor fans have a similar challenge as industrial dust collection systems.  The intuition, however, is easy.  Think about blowing vs. sucking air through a straw.  It’s easy to blow through a straw and feel the stream of air at quite a distance away, as you’ve created a directed stream of air.  But think how close do your hand needs to be to the end of the straw to feel air being sucked in. In the suction case, air is being pulled evenly in a (hemi-)spherical space.  This is why the hood on a range hood extractor is important: as collection space for the hot, rising gases so the extractor fan “has time” to capture and remove them.  Without a properly designed above-mounted range hood, it’s inevitable that a huge amount of the cooking fumes simply escape upward and away.  Most recently, my experience with a nominally well-regarded pop-up extractor was that it was just a “slingshot” for greasy cooking fumes into the adjacent space. I think there’s a strong argument that this entire category of extractor is a particularly bad kind of “form over function”.

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    Phillip Priolo

    John Whitley

    a month ago

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    I agree that minimalism can go too far. Physical dials and buttons are so much nicer to use. I'd be worried that food splatter (spaghetti sauce boiling) would get in this thing easily. On the induction / gas topic: It's awesome with cast iron. My favorite way to cook from experience in a converted van.
    
    Downward extractions sounds great for cooking spicy foods. Get those spicy fumes away from my face before I cry and cough from all those habaneros and ghost peppers.

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    William Holden

    John Whitley

    a month ago

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    I think you make a good point. Maybe a decent solution without requiring a hood would look something like a desk lamp that can reach over the various burners and stay where you put it. (It could even have a light in it). Or maybe you market them to look like lights that double as ventilation units? It would pull air from where you need it down under the cooktop through its supporting hose. And usually you only need to pull air from one burner at a time right? Or you could have two the for profession home chef?

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  Sihle Joclyn Gqadu

  a month ago

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  The Bora X Pure Downward Extracting Induction Cooktop is the best side of minimalism that I've seen thus far. Clean lines, uncluttered but simply not forgetting that it makes the kitchen look and feel futuristic whilst performing the necessary job that it needs to do. Viewing the physical aesthetics of the product I agree a hundred percent that minimalism is key but also removing the physical buttons or knobs for controllers removes that ease you have when automatically turning a key when opening the door or switching on the lights. I often cook in the kitchen early in the morning before going to work and sometimes the smell of the food I've just cooked lingers onto my clothing and having a downward extraction will decrease the smell and steam you're exposed to. I think one thing that minimalistic products fail to do sometimes is to add some warmth or emotions to a space. Maybe that can be resolved with a quirky feature (not to make look cluttered) but to make the product have a certain character and presence in the kitchen. This product has offered ease in the kitchen and will decrease the amount of frustration when a passionate chef is in the kitchen and makes an impossible mess. With normal stoves and extractors, it will be a mission to clean it well and to also get into all the slots food has sunk into.

  
  

  
  

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  Ray Jepson

  a month ago

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  I designed a range hood before.  I would tend to say, maybe.  It looks like the hole is large and with relatively little obstruction, so it's possible to get a large air flow without too much noise.  Whether it works as well as shown, I'm not so sure.
  

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  Frank Borsboom

  a month ago

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  I've seen these type of extractor pop up in a couple of new kitchens (friends getting new houses), and I'm surprised at how well they work! They seem to work just as well as over hanging fume extractors but without the overhead volume, making the kitchen a much more open space.
  

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