Novy has landed in Australia. We installed the display at their HQ.
Novy is a Belgian kitchen ventilation specialist that has only just started rolling out here. Our team fitted out the display kitchen at their local headquarters, so here is a plain look at what the brand is, what makes a Novy quiet, and what an installation involves.
The Addison Appliances team31 August 20266 min read
Novy is a name most Australian homeowners have not run into yet. In Belgium it is the market leader in kitchen ventilation, but the local rollout is still early, and there is not much on the Australian website to look at. So when Novy asked us to fit out the display kitchen at their headquarters, it was a chance to get hands on with the product well before it is on most kitchen showroom floors.
What Novy does is narrower than most appliance brands. It builds cooker hoods and venting hobs, which is an induction cooktop with the extraction built straight into it, plus a small lighting range. That is the whole catalogue. The pitch is that a well made extractor should be quiet, should disappear into the kitchen, and should not need a bulky hood hanging over an island bench.
This post is a straight rundown of the brand for anyone weighing one up: where Novy comes from, how the extraction works, the main ranges, the ducted versus recirculating question, and what our team does when we install one. Novy is made in Belgium, distributed in Australia by Andi-Co, and installed across Melbourne by us.
The install
Our team fitting out the Novy HQ display
A quick cut of the Addison Appliances installers fitting the Novy cooktop, extraction and rangehood into the display kitchen and commissioning it.
In photos
The Novy HQ display, as we left it
Slide through the finished install. Tap or click any photo to zoom in.
Click to zoom
The finished install: cooktop, integrated extraction and rangehood in place
The brand
A Belgian ventilation specialist, not a full line appliance maker
Novy started in 1907 as a bicycle and motorcycle workshop in West Flanders, then moved into kitchen extraction decades later and stayed there. Today it is Belgium's market leader in cooker hoods, employs around 250 people, and still develops and builds its products in Kuurne rather than outsourcing them. More than a century of doing one thing shows up in the detail: the way a hood seats into cabinetry, how the controls feel, how little noise it makes on a low setting.
Because Novy does not chase a full catalogue of ovens, dishwashers and fridges, the ventilation is where all the engineering effort goes. That is the reason a kitchen designer might specify Novy over a matching suite from a single brand.
Established
Founded 1907
1907
Belgium
Began as a bicycle and motorcycle maker in West Flanders before specialising in kitchen extraction.
Focus
Ventilation only
110+ yrs
One category
Cooker hoods, venting hobs and kitchen lighting. No ovens, fridges or dishwashers to divide the attention.
Made in
Kuurne, Belgium
~250
People on site
Products are developed and manufactured at the one West Flanders site, not contracted out.
Most people expect a rangehood to roar. On the display unit you can stand next to it running and still hold a normal conversation. That surprises everyone who tries it.
Australian support: Novy is brought in by Andi-Co Australia, which handles warranty and spare parts locally. That matters for a newer brand, because it means service does not have to go back to Europe.
The technology
Peripheral extraction is why a Novy runs quiet
Most rangehoods pull air straight up through a filter in the centre of the canopy. Novy took a different route. In 1973 it developed peripheral extraction, patented the following year, where the air is drawn in around the edges of the extraction surface rather than through one central point. Spreading the intake over a longer perimeter means the fan can move the same amount of air while spinning slower, and a slower fan is a quieter fan.
In practice that is the thing people notice first on the display: on its lower settings the extractor is genuinely hard to hear over the cooktop itself. It also means the extraction can sit low and flat, either just behind the hob or built into it, instead of a large canopy at head height.
Novy quotes airflow and sound figures per model rather than one number for the whole range. We can pull the exact m3/h and dB(A) for the specific unit you are looking at when we quote the installation.
The range
Four venting hobs, plus hoods and lighting
Novy's venting hobs are the part that gets the most attention, because they remove the overhead hood entirely. There are four to choose between, and they differ mainly in how the extraction is presented on the benchtop.
Novy Easy. The extraction unit sits under a flat grille flush with the cooktop, so the whole surface reads as one clean sheet of glass.
Novy Up. Small extraction towers rise up between the cooking zones when you need them and drop back flush when you are done. Zone layouts can be configured from two up to eight.
Novy Panorama. The flagship. A glass extraction tower sits along the back edge of the hob and raises to capture steam and grease before it reaches the room, then lowers out of sight.
Novy One. A single central intake with a discreet tilting flap, aimed at kitchens that want the extraction to all but vanish.
Alongside the venting hobs, Novy also makes conventional and ceiling mounted cooker hoods, and a small kitchen lighting range. If you want a separate induction cooktop and an overhead or ceiling hood rather than an all in one, that is still a Novy option.
Airflow
Ducted to outside, or recirculating with a carbon filter
Every Novy can run either way. Which one suits your kitchen usually comes down to whether there is a practical path to an external wall or roof.
Ducted
Vents outsideSteam, odour and moisture leave the house entirely through ducting to a wall or roof vent.
Needs a duct runBest decided early, while cabinetry and the benchtop layout are still on paper.
No filter to replaceOnly the washable grease filters need routine cleaning.
Recirculation (Pure)
No external ductAir passes through a coated carbon filter and returns to the room, so an island bench with no path outside still works.
Apartment friendlyCommon choice where body corporate rules or the build make ducting impractical.
Filter maintenanceThe carbon filter is a consumable and needs replacing on a schedule.
Pure filter life
Up to 900 cooking hoursNovy rates its recirculation carbon filter at roughly 900 hours of cooking between changes.
About 3 to 5 yearsFor a typical household that works out to somewhere in the three to five year range.
Simple swapA replacement filter clips in without tools once you know where it lives.
Controls
InTouch lets the hob talk to the extractor
On the venting hobs and on paired hob and hood setups, Novy's InTouch system links the two so the extraction responds to what you are actually cooking rather than waiting for you to reach over and adjust a dial.
The extractor speed follows the heat setting, ramping up when you turn a zone up and easing off when you turn it down.
Automatic pan detection means a zone only powers up when a pan is on it, and moves the setting with the pan if you slide it across.
A run on timer keeps the extraction going for a few minutes after you finish, to clear the last of the steam.
One control surface for the whole cooktop and extraction, rather than two separate sets of buttons.
Worth knowing: the fewer times you touch a greasy control panel mid cook, the less cleaning later. It is a small thing that adds up over years of daily use.
Installation
What a Novy installation actually involves
A venting hob is more involved than dropping in a standard cooktop, because the benchtop cut out, the extraction path and the power all have to line up. Here is how our team runs it.
1
Site assessment
We measure the cabinetry and benchtop, check the space under the bench for the extraction unit, work out whether you are ducting outside or recirculating, and confirm the power point is where it needs to be.
2
Cut out and fit
The benchtop is cut to Novy's template, usually by your stone fabricator to our marks. We seat and seal the hob, mount the extraction unit, and connect either the ducting or the recirculation filter housing.
3
Commission and hand over
Power is connected by an electrician, then we test the extraction through its speeds, pair the InTouch controls, clean up, and walk you through running and maintaining it.
The questions we field most often now that the brand is starting to appear here.
Yes. Novy is distributed here by Andi-Co Australia, with local warranty and parts. The range is still being rolled out and not every model is on showroom floors yet, so the quickest way to check availability on a specific unit is to ask us or Andi-Co directly.
No. Every Novy can run in recirculation mode, where the air passes through a coated carbon filter and returns to the room. Ducting outside is the better performer where the layout allows it, but recirculation is what makes a Novy work on an island bench or in an apartment with no path to an external wall.
On a venting hob, yes. The induction zones and the extractor are built into the one unit and share one control panel. If you prefer a separate cooktop with an overhead or ceiling hood, Novy makes those too, and InTouch can still link the pair.
Through Andi-Co Australia as the local distributor, so any service or parts stay in the country. We register the installation details for you at hand over so the paperwork is in order if you ever need to call on it.
That is the main reason people choose one. A venting hob pulls steam and grease down at the cooktop, so there is no canopy blocking sightlines across the island. Pair it with recirculation and you avoid a long duct run through the slab or ceiling as well.
Thinking about a Novy for your kitchen?
Send us the details and we will come back with what the installation involves for your bench and layout.
