Hello World! Welcome Friends! The fact is, no matter how clean you are when cooking or how meticulous you are at keeping things organized, you will inevitably have cooking grease and moisture on kitchen surfaces. If you are reading this, then you are inspired to shake things up (New Year’s resolutions, anyone?).
No, you don’t need to remodel your entire kitchen, but you should think about re-creating the character in your kitchen. Think range hoods. Upgrading your range hood could be the missing piece of the puzzle not only for cleanliness purposes but also for the stylish element of the kitchen space.
A Range Hood for Your Kitchen? Why They Matter
This may sound trivial, but every time you cook a meal, you end up with about a teaspoon of cooking grease. Left unchecked, cooking grease can be problematic. A range hood is a ventilation appliance designed to clear the unwanted byproducts of cooking.
Before you make your grand plans for your kitchen, consider plans for adding a hood range to this space. Besides the functionality, the perfect range hood can become the centerpiece of the kitchen, letting the surroundings shine at their best. Now hang on! Range hood buying is not a spur-of-the-moment decision.
Aesthetic should not be your only consideration. Installing one that does not meet the specifications of your needs is a recipe for ineffectiveness. Worst yet, you could end up with an incompatible hood to duct. Bye-bye aesthetic, hello costly home maintenance costs. So, it goes without saying, get this right from the get-go.
Step 1: Ducted Vs. Ductless Ventilation, Know the Difference
First things first, you should know the difference between ducted and ductless ventilation. Now, if you are leaving this to the pros, you probably don’t need to know this. But it doesn’t hurt to know. The choice of range hood is dependent on the air ducts in your kitchen, among other specifications. What’s the difference?
For starters, ducted range hoods connect to air ducts in the kitchen. Simple, right? This connection facilitates the blowing of sucked smoke, odor, and grease from the kitchen to the outside world, where it goes unnoticed. Recommendation: As much as possible, you want to go for the ducted option.
Ductless range hoods, on the other hand, capture grease on charcoal filters. Another name for ductless range hoods is recirculating range hoods because they more or less clean the air in the kitchen free of odor, debris, and grease before recirculating it. As such, they don’t need air ducts.
Step 2: Consider the Mounting Specifications
Kitchen range hoods come with varying mounting specifications tailored to the specific needs and tastes of the end user. These specifications will determine the placement of the range hood as well as its functionality and place in the overall aesthetic and kitchen atmosphere.
The available mountain options include:
1. Under the Cabinet
As the name suggests, this option fits the range hood under a cabinet. Yes, you must be familiar with this one. The ducts are usually hidden behind the cabinet, particularly when they don’t fit into the overall aesthetic of the kitchen space. For this one, you have three options to choose from: slim, pro, and microwave.
2. Against the Wall
You guessed it. This option lets you rest the range hood against the kitchen wall. In this case, the air ducts are usually tucked away behind the chimney cover. You have multiple options to choose from depending on the look and the inspiration behind the kitchen design.
3. Island
A fan favorite, island range hoods are conveniently located above an island stove. It’s a marriage of convenience, more so when paired with the perfect range choice. Light bulb: copper vent hood mounted on island style is always going to kill two birds with one stone. The idea here is to have a hood range that sucks out direct byproducts.
4. Recessed/Built-In
If you are looking for the convenience of a range hood without the inconvenience of having to look at it every day, a recessed or built-in mounting specification is exactly what you need. This option means the appliance is seamlessly integrated into the kitchen to fit inside a standard cabinet or the chimney.
Step 3: Understand Grease Filters
You’ve got to know your stuff. The single most important piece of the kitchen range hood is its grease filters. They, as the name suggests, filter out the grease and leave your hood working in tip-top shape. Here are some of the main grease filters used in kitchen range hoods:
1. Baffle Filters
As far as the industry standard is concerned, you can’t go wrong with baffle filters. They utilize a special design that restricts the amount of smoke flowing through while capturing the most pollutants of all filters in the market. Besides, these filters are dishwasher safe, durable, and, above all, reusable.
2. Mesh Filters
On a budget? Aluminum mesh-based grease filters known as mesh filters are quite a steal. They are both reusable and pocket-friendly. The only catch is that they require regular cleaning to perform perfectly. However, you can’t throw this one into a dishwasher.
3. Hybrid Filters
For the best of both worlds, a hybrid filter combines the effectiveness of baffle filters with the easy to maintain feature of a mesh filter. Hybrid filters are perfect for balancing cost against performance. What’s more, you don’t sacrifice on effectiveness of grease capture.
4. Charcoal Filters
As mentioned above, charcoal filters are used in ductless range hoods only. The design allows for the absorption of odors and grease particles from the air without an outlet to channel these unwanted byproducts. If you are going ductless, there is no other option for you.
Step 4: Know your Blower Strength for Your Needs
The blower is the wizard working behind the curtains. It extracts and expels smoke, heat, and odor from your kitchen. The blower’s strength is measured in Cubic Feet per Minute (CFM). This capacity is usually stated in the product specifications on the range hood. Here are some factors to consider:
1. Electric Stoves
With electric stoves, the size of the range matters. The CFM requirements are proportionate to the side of the range in that for every inch in width, you will need 10 CFMs. In that case, 24 inches needs 240 CFM requirement, the bare minimum. Anything less is not effective.
2. Gas Stoves
The case for gas stoves is based on the British Thermal Units (BTUs) of the burner. More precisely, BTUs measure the rate at which you can raise the temperature of the water when the burner is burning at its maximum capacity. In this case, add the total BTU of your stove and divide by 100 to get the minimum CFM. For example:
- Burner #1: 17,500 BTUs
- Burner #2: 15,000 BTUs
- Burner #3: 15,000 BTUs
- Burner #4: 9,500 BTUs
The total BTUs would be 57,000 BTU. Dividing this by 100 gives you a minimum CFM requirement of 570 CFM.
Final Word
It’s true that shopping for your kitchen range hood can be a daunting and seemingly expensive task. And it’s a little too easy to get carried away by some of the flashier products available on the market. The good news is that now you know exactly what to go for when shopping for kitchen vent hoods for your home.
Click the links below for any posts you have missed:
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Toodles,
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