60cm vs 90cm Chimney: Which Size Fits Your Kolkata Kitchen?

The choice between a 60cm and 90cm chimney is simpler than most guides make it. The chimney must be at least as wide as your hob — never narrower. A two-burner hob takes 60cm; a three- or four-burner hob needs 90cm, which covers the large majority of Kolkata flats. Everything else is secondary to that one rule.

Key takeaways

• Match or exceed the hob width. This is not a preference, it is physics.
• Two burners → 60cm. Three or four burners → 90cm.
• A narrow chimney over a wide hob leaks smoke past both ends regardless of suction.
• Undersizing to save money is the most expensive mistake in chimney buying.
• Wider also means better capture for the rear burners you should be frying on.

Why width matters more than suction

People obsess over m³/hr and treat width as a fitting detail. It is the other way round.

A chimney captures smoke by sitting inside the rising plume. Hot air from a pan rises and spreads outward as it goes. If the hood does not extend across the full width of the cooktop, the outer edges of that plume simply pass either side of it and into the room.

No amount of extra suction fixes this. The motor cannot pull smoke that never entered the capture zone. A 60cm chimney rated 1500 m³/hr over a 90cm hob will perform worse in practice than a 90cm unit rated 1200.

Which size for which hob

Note the three-burner row. Many people assume a 70cm hob is fine under a 60cm chimney because the difference looks small. It is not — that 10cm shortfall sits exactly where the outer burner’s plume rises.

When 60cm is genuinely the right answer

Two situations, and only two.

You have a true two-burner hob and no plan to change it. A 60cm chimney covers it properly, costs less, and takes up less wall.

The wall physically will not take 90cm. Some compact Kolkata kitchens — particularly older Salt Lake and Dum Dum properties with a window or cupboard immediately beside the hob — genuinely cannot accommodate a wider unit. In that case, fit 60cm and consider moving to a two-burner hob so the pairing works, rather than running a wide hob under a narrow hood.

Does a wider chimney cost much more?

There is a price step between 60cm and 90cm, but it is usually smaller than people expect — and considerably smaller than the cost of living with a chimney that does not capture properly. If budget is the constraint, the better economy is to drop finish and control type rather than width. Touch panels and glass fronts change nothing about extraction.

See our Kutchina chimney price page, or chimney under ₹15,000 if you are working to a fixed ceiling.

Two things that matter alongside width

Mounting height. Roughly 65–75 cm above a gas hob. Fitted higher for headroom, smoke disperses before capture — which undoes the benefit of getting the width right. Covered on our installation page.

Suction. Once width is correct, target 1200 m³/hr or above for Indian cooking, more if your kitchen is enclosed. Width decides whether smoke is captured; suction decides how fast.

A practical habit

Whatever size you fit, use the rear burners for frying where you can. Rear burners sit further inside the capture zone than front ones, so more of the plume reaches the hood. On a 60cm chimney over a marginal hob, this alone makes a visible difference.

Written by RS, RS Appliances / GITA, the authorised Kutchina dealer and service partner in Kolkata.