Rangehoods

There are four main types of Rangehood: Canopy, Undermount, Fixed and Slideout (also known as Retractable). Every Rangehood is designed to sit over your a Cooktop and remove grease, fumes, smells, smoke, heat, steam and other cooking by products from the air using filters and fans.

Depending on how it's installed, a Rangehood will either vent the filtered air from the kitchen to the outside through the roof or recirculate the cleaned air back into the kitchen. A Rangehood also saves on cleaning time by making it easier to wipe down cooking areas and kitchen surfaces. By removing grease from the air a Rangehood stops sticky and fatty residues from building up around cooking areas.

Rangehoods are also great for protecting kitchen cupboards and cabinets which can become damaged, warped or stained when exposed to the heat, steam and grease that can build up in a poorly ventilated kitchen.

As we’ve just learnt, Rangehoods can be installed in one of two ways: ducted or recirculating. Ducted Rangehoods are the most effective at removing smoke, cooking smells, heat, and airborne grease because they filter and remove the air to outside your home. Recirculating Rangehoods rely on filters to remove cooking residues from the air and circulate the filtered air back through the room.

Ducted Rangehoods will be more expensive to install up front and may not be an option at all if you are renting or live in an apartment. Having said that, if you are willing to pay a higher installation cost you will save time and money on the cost of cleaning and periodically replacing the filter, which can make recirculating Rangehoods a little more expensive in the long run.

All Rangehoods regardless of type will require a licensed electrician for Installation. If you would like a ducted Rangehood, then you will also need to factor in additional charges for a plumber to set that up.

Fan speed setting aside there are a variety of factors that determine how noisy a Rangehood will be.

It can be a good idea to run a more powerful Rangehood on a lower setting to ensure it's working quietly while continuously removing grease, steam and smoke from your kitchen as you cook. For more intense cooking sessions with lots of rapid boiling or frying, utilise the higher fan speed to make the most of a Rangehood's maximum extraction capacity but keep in mind this will naturally be louder.

When shopping around for a new Rangehood it’s a good idea to compare technical specifications for the noise level of the model measured in decibels (commonly noted as dB or dBA). Average Rangehoods run at around 60-70 dBA which is around the volume of a normal conversation, while some quieter hoods can run at a whisper level of 40 dBA and others, like some Schweigen Rangehoods, are completely silent as their motor is mounted outside the home. If you see the dBA quoted as a range, this indicates the noise level to the human ear when operated from minimum to maximum speeds.

The first step in shopping for a new Rangehood is to get accurate measurements of the space it will be filling and the width of the cooktop it will rest above. This will help you buy an appropriately sized Rangehood that will efficiently clean the air above the Cooktop.

Each type of Rangehood offers something different and varies in the way they work. Canopy Rangehoods are a larger size hood set against the wall, and there's also Island Rangehoods that are similar but designed for island kitchen bench cooking. These have a large collection area coupled with powerful suction, making them the top choice for serious cooks as they remove the most steam, smoke, grease, odours and heat.

Undermount Rangehoods are installed unobtrusively in kitchen cabinets above the cooktop. Slideout Rangehoods are similarly subtle with the added benefit of increasing their surface size when pulled out. Fixed Rangehoods are generally more effective than Undermount and Slide Out options but tend to be more obtrusive. With any type, look out for the maximum extraction capacity to ensure the right performance needed is available.