Cooker Hood in an HDB Kitchen, Singapore: Where the Socket, Duct and Hood Go Before the Wall Is Tiled

Guide · By Larry Hoo, HDB Licensed Renovation Contractor · 29 Oct 2026

Pictured above: a slimline cooker hood hung on a tiled kitchen wall above a gas hob, with a white wall fitting high on the left and a stainless sink under a grilled window, from our project archive (140PP). The hood looks like the simple part. Behind it sit a power point, a route for the air, and the fixing that holds it up, and each one had to be settled before the wall was finished.

In most kitchen renovations the cooker hood is the last appliance chosen and the first thing that goes wrong. The owner buys a hood from a showroom or online, it arrives in week seven, and only then does anyone ask where it plugs in, where its air goes, and whether the wall cabinet beside it leaves room for it. By then the wall has been tiled and the cabinets have been made. The hood is not at fault. The wall was closed before anyone knew what was going on it.

This guide is for an HDB owner who is about to renovate a kitchen and wants the hood to fit first time. It uses only what this site already publishes: our programme for a 4-room flat, the electrical rates on the room cost calculator, and our kitchen package ranges. It gives no price for a hood, because we do not publish one. What it covers is what the hood needs from the wall, and the order the decisions have to be made in.

The short answer

The hob comes first, the hood follows it. The hood hangs over the hob, so the hob position has to be fixed before the hood position means anything. If you are keeping a gas hob and moving it, that is a regulated gas job in its own right.
The hood needs a power point in the right place. On the room cost calculator, an isolated power point for oven, hood or hob is a separate line at $150, against $90 for an ordinary light or power point. Ask which line your quotation uses for the hood.
The hood needs a way for its air to go. Some hoods send air out through a duct; some pass it through a filter and return it to the kitchen. Which kind you buy decides whether anything has to be opened or run, so choose before the electrician and the carpenter start.
The hood is hung from the wall. Mark where its brackets go before the wall is tiled, so the fixings are not drilled through finished tiles afterwards.
Give the hood model to every trade. The electrician, the tiler and the carpenter all work around the same appliance, and each needs the installation sheet, not a description.

Why the hood is decided about a month before it arrives

On our published 4-room programme, masonry, plumbing and electrical work are weeks 2 to 3. Waterproofing and tiling are weeks 4 to 5. Carpentry installation, which is where the kitchen cabinets are fitted, is weeks 6 to 7, and painting, doors, hardware and sanitary fittings are week 8. Those are the stages in a full renovation of a 4-room flat; the timing for your own flat depends on its scope.

Read that against a hood. Its power point is wired in weeks 2 to 3. The wall behind it is tiled in weeks 4 to 5. The hood itself cannot be hung until the wall behind it is finished, so it comes at the back end. That is about four weeks between the moment the socket position is fixed and the moment the appliance arrives. If you only choose the hood after the wiring is done, you are choosing it to fit a socket that someone else placed.

The power point: where it goes and what to ask for

A hood has to be powered, and the question is where the connection sits. Three things catch people out:

A socket hidden behind the hood. If the connection sits where the hood body or its cover will be, it cannot be reached later without taking the hood down. Decide whether you want the connection hidden behind the cover or on the wall beside it, and say so before the electrician starts.
A socket in the wrong place for the hood you actually buy. Hoods differ in where their cable comes out. The installation sheet shows it. A position drawn from a showroom photo is a guess.
The wrong line on the quotation. The calculator lists an isolated power point for oven, hood or hob at $150 per point and an ordinary power point at $90. They are priced as different items, so ask which one your quotation counts for the hood, and whether the hob and the oven are on their own points too. In the photo, the white fitting high on the left wall is the kind of thing that has to be placed on purpose, not found later.

If your plan has an induction hob rather than a gas one, the electrical side grows, because the hob itself is an electrical load. Our gas pipe works guide covers that decision; the point here is that the hob type is settled before the hood is.

Where the air goes

This is the part most owners never ask about. A cooker hood does one of two things with the air it draws in: it sends it out of the kitchen through a duct, or it runs it through a filter and returns it to the room. A duct hood needs a route from the hood to wherever the air leaves. A hood that returns its air needs no route, but it depends on its filter being changed.

Which one you want changes the work:

If the hood is ducted, the route has to be clear before the false ceiling, the wall cabinet and the tiling go in. A duct that has to pass a cabinet or a ceiling bulkhead is a drawing problem, not a site problem. Our kitchen cabinets guide notes that a hood usually needs a clean run for its duct, and that the height above the hob comes from the hood's own installation sheet.
If the hood recirculates, ask what the filter is, how it is replaced, and whether the owner or the maker supplies it. It is a running cost the quotation does not show.
If you are unsure, do not guess from the showroom. Ask the seller which type the model is and keep the answer in writing, because the carpenter and the electrician will rely on it.

Fixing it to the wall

A hood is hung from the wall by brackets, and it is not light. Where those brackets go is decided by the hood's own sheet and by the height you want it at, not by where the tiles happen to fall. If nobody marks the position before tiling, the choice is to drill through finished tiles later or to refit around a tile that has just been cut. Ask for the bracket positions to be marked on the wall before the tiler starts, and ask the tiler to know where they are.

The height above the hob is a figure the maker gives for that model. We do not quote one here, because it differs from hood to hood and the installation sheet is the authority.

The hood and what is beside it

In the photo, the hob sits next to the window and the sink sits under it. That arrangement works only if the hood stays clear of the window. Three checks on your own plan:

Width. The hood has a fixed width, and the wall cabinet beside it is cut to leave exactly that gap. If the cabinet is made before the hood is chosen, one of them has to change.
The window. Check that the window can still be opened fully, its handle reached, and its grille cleaned with the hood in place. A hood that touches the window frame is a design error.
The wall cabinets. A hood that angles out from the wall needs the cabinet next to it to leave room. The carpenter needs the model before drawing the cabinet, not after.

All the carpentry in our kitchens is made in our own Singapore factory, and the measuring is done once the walls are finished and the points are fixed. Our guide on when the carpenter should measure kitchen cabinets explains why the hood, hob, sink, oven and fridge should be chosen by model before that day.

If you are buying the hood yourself

Buying your own appliances is perfectly fine. It changes who owns the problem when the hood arrives late, arrives damaged, or does not match the hole that was prepared for it. If you supply it, give the model number and the installation sheet to the contractor before the electrical stage, and keep the delivery date in the programme. We have written about what supply-only really costs.

What it costs

We do not publish a price for a cooker hood, so we do not give one here. What is published: as a standalone package, a kitchen renovation runs $8,000 to $25,000. The basic tier ($8,000 to $12,000) covers re-tiling, painting and replacing the hood and hob. The standard tier ($12,000 to $18,000) adds new laminate cabinets and a quartz countertop, and the premium tier ($18,000 to $25,000) adds sintered stone, soft-close hardware and integrated appliances. Where your kitchen sits in those ranges depends on a site visit, and the hood model is one of the things we will ask about at it.

Checklist before the electrician starts

Gas or induction hob decided, and its position drawn from a fixed wall.
Hood model chosen, with its installation sheet in hand.
Ducted or recirculating confirmed in writing; duct route drawn if ducted.
Power point position for the hood drawn, and the line it is counted under on the quotation checked.
Bracket positions marked on the wall before tiling.
Width of the hood given to the carpenter, with the window and the wall cabinets checked against it.
Delivery date of the hood written into the programme if you are supplying it.

Planning the hood and hob of your kitchen? WhatsApp us on 9107 2601 with your flat type, your estate and the hob you plan to use, and we will arrange a site visit to go through where the hood, its power point and its air route go. Any price depends on that visit. You can run the published electrical rates on the room cost calculator, see the published 4-room programme on the 4-room HDB renovation cost page, read how we handle kitchens on our HDB renovation contractors page, and see more of this flat in our project photos.

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Frequently asked questions

Where should the power point for a cooker hood go in an HDB kitchen?

Decide it before the electrician starts, from the hood's own installation sheet, because hoods differ in where their cable comes out. Choose whether the connection is hidden behind the hood cover or on the wall beside it, and have it drawn. On our published 4-room programme the electrical work is weeks 2 to 3, about four weeks before the hood is hung.

Does a cooker hood need a duct?

It depends on the model. Some hoods send air out of the kitchen through a duct; others pass it through a filter and return it to the room. Find out which kind yours is and keep the answer in writing. A ducted hood needs a clear route drawn before the false ceiling, the wall cabinet and the tiling go in.

Is a cooker hood power point priced differently from a normal socket?

On our room cost calculator, an isolated power point for oven, hood or hob is listed at $150 per point, while a light or power point is $90. Ask which line your quotation uses for the hood.

When should I choose the cooker hood during a renovation?

Before the electrician starts and before the carpenter measures the kitchen cabinets. The hood's width sets the gap in the wall cabinets beside it, and its power point and brackets are fixed well before the hood arrives.

How much does a cooker hood cost?

We do not publish a price for a cooker hood, so we do not give one here. As a standalone package, a kitchen renovation runs $8,000 to $25,000, and the basic tier of $8,000 to $12,000 covers re-tiling, painting and replacing the hood and hob. Any price for your kitchen follows a site visit.

Larry Hoo — HDB Licensed Renovation Contractor (HB-09-5667H)

Larry Contractors Pte Ltd · 15+ years · 500+ projects · own carpentry factory in Singapore. Read more about Larry →

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