Guest Blogger: Choosing the Right Range Hood for your Kitchen

Guest Blog #63, Entry #498, April 16, 2011

If you are in the market for choosing kitchen appliances, don’t forget that choosing the right range hood is just as important as choosing a stove. Depending on your decorative style, your type of stove, and how you want to vent your kitchen, will give you an idea of how to choose the right range hood for your home.

Tuscan range hood is beautiful and functional

Today, my Guest Blogger, James Harper on behalf of the Kitchen Appliance Centre. gives you information on choosing the right hood for your kitchen

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A range hood is probably the most essential modern kitchen appliance. Often called cooker hoods or fume hoods.  A quality cooker hood will efficiently extract smoke from the kitchen, preventing dirt and grime building up on surfaces and walls, as well as removing lingering smells and averting the accidental activation of smoke alarms.

Cooker hoods start with basic ductless units to systems that incorporate lights, multiple settings and even timers. Ideally it is best to choose a more advanced cooker hood, although features such as timers are far from necessary. Choosing a high quality cooker hood will ensure it is efficient at doing the job it was built to do. Cheaper cooker hoods will not do such a good job, and can often turn out to be a waste of money. Choosing brands such as Franke cooker hoods will ensure you get a product that will not only efficiently remove most of the smoke produced when cooking, but that will also last the test of time. Franke cooker hoods are made by Franke, who are renowned for their ability to consistently produce only the highest quality kitchen appliances including cooker hoods, taps and sinks.

Range hoods come in a variety of styles

Cooker hoods can come in a variety of styles. Most commonly they are built from stainless steel, but they can be built using tiles in order to blend in with the décor of the kitchen. Stainless steel cooker hoods should complement most modern styles of décor, but it is worth considering alternative cooker hoods should you be aiming for a more classic or traditional feel to your kitchen.

Today you will mostly find only two different types of cooker hoods; venting and recirculating. The most efficient hoods are venting. These require a connection to an exhaust duct, which extracts smoke from the kitchen and places it outside. This means that venting cooker hoods can be quite complicated to install, however they are worth the effort and expense. You will find that most cooker hoods from quality brands, such as Franke cooker hoods, will be of this type.

Downdraft hoods can eliminate an overhead hood

The alternative, recirculating (or non-venting) hoods are basic, and therefore cheap, but also rather inefficient. Recirculating hoods simply blow air around a room, doing little to prevent any of the problems cooker hoods are designed for.

Cooker hoods are also available in a number of designs (good manufacturers, such as Franke cooker hoods, will usually stock a huge range of designs suited to all purposes). A fantastic space saving option is slim-line hoods, which can be installed underneath cabinets to be pulled out only when needed. Other designs can even incorporate a wall-mounted microwave above the range.

Whatever type or style of cooker hood you choose, it is important to clean the equipment frequently. Exposed elements can be cleaned with sponges and soapy water, or a mixture of ammonia and water if there is any particularly stubborn grime. It is vital that the equipment never comes into contact with any abrasive materials such as scouring pads, as these will damage the hoods.

This article was written by James Harper on behalf of the Kitchen Appliance Centre. James is a talented writer on a number of topics including homeware and appliances including Franke cooker hoods.

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