What is a Bora hob? Do they work well and are they worth the money?

Cooking is a passion of ours: my passion falls solely on the eating element of it! We knew when we were building that gas wasn’t going to be an option as we’re not on mains gas, and after nearly 6 years of those horrendous electric hob hot plates we knew we would need to investigate the best hob solution for the barn.

When we were designing the layout of the kitchen, we decided to have the hob on the island, as sinks are magnets to clutter and mess (and I struggle enough with that as it is!) so decided that would be best on the back stretch of worktop. We don’t actually have any windows in the kitchen, so to be able to ‘cook with a view’ it made sense to put the hob on the island.

But that immediately gave us another issue. We’d sold ourselves the idea of cooking with a view…and then realised that we were going to need an extractor. The traditional over-head cooker hood would block the best of the view, so we set about researching alternatives. We have seen the disappearing extractors which appear from nowhere to create a shield which should direct all the vapours towards it. We read mixed reviews about these, especially for the smellier and messier cooking such as steaks and fry-ups.

Then it was on a visit to the Grand Designs Live show where we came across the bora hob, with its integrated extractor. You’d be forgiven for thinking that the central ring was some sort of wok cooking element: it is in fact the extractor. Having an extractor below the level of whatever it is cooking sounds like it could never work, as surely all those fumes and steam travel up? The bora hob creates its own circulation bubble which moves the air around and back down into the surprisingly powerful suction hole.

How does the bora hob work?

I have to admit, I was a little sceptical. True, at the demonstration we had seen how the steam from a pan of boiling water didn’t drift off and was pulled downwards into the extractor. But how well would it work in real life? Cooking a fry up or a particularly spicy curry? But after the coming to the conclusion that any of the different extractor styles wouldn’t be suitable – either for getting in the way of the view or for not having a good enough performance – we decided to trust all the reviews we’d read and take the plunge with the bora.

There are three different styles and specs in the bora range: all with slightly different extractor styles and shapes but with essentially the same engineering behind them. And then within each range, there are a multitude of options regarding the choice of induction, electric, flexizone, teppanyaki grill…

We opted for the ‘basic’ model, with recirculating extraction as our polished concrete floor had already been laid by this point so there was no way of getting the vent outside without digging up the floor. We loved how flush it was with the worktop, and we went for the flexizone which means that larger pans and griddles can be cooked evenly rather than being restricted to the ring locations.

Is a bora hob worth the money?

The extraction on the bora hob is absolutely fantastic. Turn it on as soon as you start cooking to get the best from the air ciculation before it’s really needed. The smells and fats are miraculously sucked downwards, defying gravity and logic, and even in our open house home the smells rarely linger. Top marks from us for this!

The design of the bora is class: it is sleek, minimal and fits any kitchen decor. It’s incredibly easy to keep clean, and the vent section lifts out and goes in the dishwasher when necessary. We have ours mounted on the worktop, but you could also have it undermounted. We didn’t think was necessary though as it’s so low profile.

The efficiency and responsiveness of the heating elements is fantastic: it took a bit of getting used to after our stone-age hob but we quickly adjusted and now love how well it cooks everything. If I were to have one minor gripe, i’m not sure how well the flexizone works. When cooking using a large pan there are definite areas which get hotter than others but it still cooks it brilliantly.

The Bora Induction Hob is easily our favourite gadget in the kitchen!