A kitchen range hood is a must to have in every household and professional kitchen as it filters away grease, smoke, heat, moisture, bad smell and carbon monoxide which is accumulated in the kitchen while cooking. It is a daunting task to choose the right kind of kitchen range hood, but well informed selection can be made by considering your cooking habits, budget and desired features.
You must first measure the size of your cooking range as the kitchen hood will be of the same width so that it can pick up the unwanted smell, grease and smoke from cooking pans. For houses and apartments, the normal size ranges from 30 to 36 inches whereas professional hoods are as wide as 48 to 54 inches.
It is important that you decide which type of ventilation system you want for your kitchen. There are two kinds of cooker hood systems—a ventilated or ducted system and a recirculation system. In the former, there is a duct or pipe fixed in the kitchen hood which releases outside the kitchen in open air. Fans are installed inside the duct which performs the function of drawing in the harmful chemicals and grease released from cooking and then expels it outside the house.
If you do not have an outside wall to expel the air, then recirculation system is the one for your kitchen. The recirculation system is ductless and comes with filters in the form of metal mesh installed in the hood. With this system, air and smoke containing harmful substances are captured by the filters and the clean and fresh air is re circulated in the kitchen. The filters require frequent cleaning and replacing. This system is easy to install and cheaper than ventilation system.
When opting for the ventilation system, it is important to decide which type of fans should be fitted into the duct. The common types of fans are centrifugal or rotary fans which come in the shape of a barrel. Centrifugal fans are expensive but more effective in expelling harmful air through duct. The amount of air vented by fans is recorded as cubic feet per minute (CFM). Fans with 40 CFM are ideal for residential kitchen range hoods whereas 120 CFM fans are perfect for professional kitchens. The system is powerful and reliable however, one disadvantage is that it even sucks cool or warm air coming from the air conditioner or central heating system as a result of which, the heating/cooling system has to work harder and this contributes in increasing the electricity bill.
The style and design and fitting of the kitchen hoods you choose should be such that it matches with the theme of the kitchen. Wooden and stainless steel hoods are popular. The wooden hoods are usually painted in white, biscuit, black, almond, silver and bisque colors. You may also want to look at the features like halogen and night lights that make you see what you are cooking in the pan; filter monitor and indication light which flashes automatically when it is time to replace the filter; and electric touch controls which allow control over turning the system on and off.
Euro kitchen range hood is the top selling style Italian kitchen hood. Other notable brands include Whirlpool, General Electric, Frigidaire, KitchenAid and Broan. A decent kitchen hood comes in the range of US$100 to US$250, which can be purchased from the registered brand outlet or on the sites such as Price Grabbers and Amazon on the Internet.
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