Commercial kitchen hoods are given the status of kitchen equipment and considered as a necessity in restaurants’ kitchens. Cooking is a non-stop process in restaurant kitchens, which means there is a continuous production of smoke, grease, splattering oil droplets, unwanted odor, smoke and heat in the kitchen. The burning of fire on the stove releases the two poisonous gases nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide, which if inhaled for a long time can be hazardous to the chefs working in the commercial kitchen.
The commercial kitchen range hoods are designed in a way so as to capture all the polluted kitchen air and either throw it out of the restaurant or circulate the air back into the kitchen with help of an indoor air filtration system. The commercial kitchen exhaust hoods come in two types—ventilation hoods and recirculation hoods.
In ventilation type of kitchen hoods, there is a duct attached on top of the hood in vertical or horizontal position with its end connected to the wall or ceiling and functions to expel harmful air out of the kitchen. Within the duct lie two or three large centrifugal fans which pull all the toxic air inside the duct and force it out into the open air. In comparison to this, there are recirculation types of hoods which are more famous for commercial kitchens. A metal filter or screen in lattice form is fixed inside the hood, which serves to filter all the grease, oil and bad air and banishes fresh and clean air into the kitchen.
Commercial kitchen cooker hoods are larger is size usually of 48 to 52 inches or even larger, depending upon the range of stoves installed in the kitchen. The size of the hood must be greater or equal to that of cooking range so that it covers it completely and efficiently catches fumes and smoke emitting from cooking pans.
Kitchen hoods with duct have exhaust fans which throw a certain volume of kitchen air outside the room, which is measured in the units of CFM. Because of the continuous generation of fumes, gases and grease in restaurant kitchens, exhaust fans of 450 CFM or more are ideal in sucking in and casting out the bad air.
The commercial kitchen hoods come with halogen lights which make the ingredients inside the cooking pan visible and an automatic timer and control switch, the purpose of which is to turn the exhaust fans on and off automatically when the heat and smoke crosses a certain limit. The hoods come in various designs of which Italian and European style in stainless steel are famous. Stainless steel kitchen hoods are preferred over wooden as they are much easier to clean with a detergent and wet cloth or even acid which when applied on wood, can possibly damage its beauty. The installation of commercial cooker hood is not easy as it requires complicated electric wiring in the wall and ceiling so the facilitation of a professional electrician is essential.
The famous brands which offer high quality commercial cooker hoods include General Electric, Whirlpool and Broan. The price ranges from US$1000 to US$3000. However, discounted deals can be found on eBay, Amazon and Price Grabbers on the internet.
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