One of the new angled cooker hoods from Neff

Following my reviews of the new cooker hoods on show at the NEC recently, I thought it was time (as previously promised) to look at the more practical aspects of choosing a cooker hood.

In the past, some of my clients have told me that they didn’t need a cooker hood … they were happy to rely on opening the window. Aga owners, in particular, often did without any forced air extraction (Aga ovens are vented out via the flue anyway). Aga owners tend not to do a lot of powerful hob cooking, though. Large hobs, with hugely powerful wok burners – and the increasing popularity of more open plan homes – have meant that the use of efficient cooker hoods has become more important.

Cooking causes odours, vaporised cooking fats and oils, and steam, to be released into the air in the room. Without any extraction, the latter two will be deposited on the room surfaces as grease and condensation. It can also be a bit undesirable to come down, the morning after the night before, to the whiff of garlic, fried fish and the like. It could spoil the cornflakes … or the black coffee!

So what sorts of hood are there?

Original standard cooker hoods were those (usually white) oblong boxes fitted above the hob – with an angled, glass visor. They could be fitted alone, or beneath a kitchen wall unit of reduced height (a top box). They’re still around (you can even get more streamlined looking stainless steel ones) but they’re not at all popular, these days.

Their place was initially taken by integrated cooker hoods. They were the ones that fitted behind a kitchen unit door (reduced in height, compared to the wall units – but taller than a top box) … and were switched on by pulling the door out and up, at an angle. These have been very popular – in sleek, very fitted looking kitchens – but are mainly suited to small electric hobs. They’re not used so much these days.

Chimney cooker hoods are now the most widely used. They first appeared as large angled steel shapes with a rectangular chimney section above … then a myriad of different designs appeared, including various combinations of steel and glass. The angled designs – as shown above right – are particularly good for those of you who are tall. You’re less likely to hit your head on them.

Chimney cooker hoods also have the advantage that island versions (finished on all sides) are available – which can be fitted above hobs fitted on a central island. Most of the hoods I described in my last two posts were of the  chimney style.

A Westin canopy cooker hood

Built-in or canopy hoods (like the one shown above) are also widely used, especially in traditional kitchens. They’re the sort that are built into furniture or false mantels and you don’t see them at all … unless you peer up under the furniture and look at the base plate.

The Westin cooker hood shows two features which are very important in a cooker hood. The first is the lights – very useful to illuminate your cooking. The second is the steel mesh you can see, which is in the grease filters. These can be removed and cleaned (even put in the dishwasher) and it’s worth paying extra for these. The alternative is paper or fibre filters which are very messy to change.

There are two further types of extraction that have become more popular recently and which I mentioned in my two previous posts, the downdraft extractor, fitted into the worktop and the unit fitted into the ceiling.  These will mainly be suitable for large kitchens with island hobs.

Neither standard nor integrated cooker hoods are very efficient at extraction but they may be sufficient for small kitchens.

So how powerful do you need your cooker hood to be? And how should it be fitted? Next week we’ll do the technical bit.

Tags: cooker hood, kitchen design, Kitchen Equipment, Kitchen Gadgets and Appliances, Kitchen Planning & Installation, new kitchen