Often installed over cooktops or ranges, a range hood—also called a vent hood or kitchen hood—assists in capturing, filtering, or expelling cooking steam and grease above your cooking surface. In addition to their built-in fan, range hoods occasionally have lights to help light your cooktop.
Range hoods come in a variety of sizes and styles to fit your kitchen and culinary appliances. There are ductless range hood choices that filter and recirculate the air back into your kitchen, as well as those that use ducts to vent air outside the house. Find out more about the sizes and varieties of range hoods. For instance, the Whirlpool brand sells kitchen hood liners and blowers, canopy hoods, downdraft hoods, and convertible range hoods.
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How does a range hood work?
The hood uses a fan to pull in moisture, smoke, and grease during cooking. Through ductwork, hoods with outdoor ventilation extract that air from the house. Recirculating range hoods clean the air using a number of filters before redistributing it into the space.
Before you begin cooking, run your kitchen hood fan for a few minutes to help produce suction and ensure that there is no delay in venting. After cooking, running the fan for a few minutes can also assist remove any leftover smoke and smell. You will need to clean the filter frequently if you choose a ductless range hood that circulates air.
Do You Really Need a Range Hood
When you cook on any kind of stove, whether it’s gas or electric, particles of food, water, smoke, and grease evaporate into the air. In the short term, this can lower the quality of the air and fill your home with smells, and in the long term, these particles can end up leaving dirt all over your kitchen. Depending on your location, a vent hood may be required by code, but regardless of your needs, most people can benefit from a range hood, even if they only steam vegetables or don’t cook much. If you fry, sear meats and proteins, or sauté a lot, you’ll need a range hood even more.
Are there other possibilities for ventilation in the kitchen?
There are microwave-hood combos that can perform double duty and downdraft ventilation systems that rise up from the countertop when necessary, in addition to the conventional range hood that is positioned over your cooking surface.
What factors should I take into account while purchasing a range hood?
Power
The volume of air your ventilation system can move in a minute is measured in cubic feet per minute, or CFM. Generally speaking, gas stove venting specifications require a greater CFM rate than those for electric ranges.
Sound
Older ventilation systems may seem noisy to you if you’re accustomed to them. Low sound level technology makes it possible for newer range hoods to be quieter.
Lighting
Choose a hood with bright lights that allow you to see your whole work area because part of its function is to illuminate your cooktop. LED task lighting on ventilation hoods is a common option.
Venting
You may be unable to ventilate your home to the outside due to its construction, in which case you may need to use a recirculating hood. If so, find out if using a recirculating hood is allowed by your state and local regulations. Observe the suggested maximum vent length, as this may affect performance.
Pairing
Be sure to match the size of your cooking surface to that of your hood. Pairing should be size-for-size at the very least (30″ hood with 30″ cooking surface).
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