With top-spec modern kitchens becoming more affordable, and the growth in home cooking because so many of us are choosing to spend more time at home, means a lot of cooking spells. Although a home-cooked meal spells appetising, sometimes bad odours from ovens and cookers can linger, depending on what foods you’re cooking.
This makes a good extractor hood all the more important. From the classic variant to the designer centrepiece – we take you through the different options available.
Things like spices, herbs, onions cooking let off mouth-watering smells. Once mealtime is over, you don’t want your clean home smelling like food for hours. And to solve this problem, a modern extractor cooker hood is what you need.
Cooker Hood Extractor Types
Before buying an extractor hood, there are a few things to consider:
How high does the extractor hood have to be installed in order not to interfere with cooking?
Should it have recirculation or vented air operation?
Have a pyramid or box shape?
Be an island, intermediate or substructure hood?
What material should it be made of?
Should it be particularly quiet?
Question after question, but it makes buying easier if you deal with it beforehand.
Wall-mounted extractor hood: It is the most popular extractor hood. It is simply mounted on the wall. They are available in different designs, for example in pyramid or box shape.
Intermediate hoods: This extractor hood is simply mounted between two wall cabinets. A furniture front can be attached by the kitchen manufacturer as a flap. This variant of the extractor hood is certainly the most discreet.
Built-in: are simply attached under a wall unit. They are relatively space-saving and can also be retrofitted into a kitchen.
Flat-screen hoods: Such an extractor hood can be hung freely or under wall cabinets. If necessary, you can pull out the umbrella, which sucks out the fumes.
Island hoods are, as the name suggests, particularly suitable for cooking islands. This shape of the extractor hood is available in simple designs or very elegant with lighting. There are high-quality designer pieces that look like large lampshades, and there are models as double hoods, which professional chefs alike.
Downdraft cooker extractors are the latest high-tech wonders in dealing with troublesome cooking gasses and bad smells. They are raised from the worktop with the help of remote control or at the push of a button and disappear from view when they are no longer needed. Some of these hoods are built right into the cooker hob, so you’ll hardly notice them.
With a headroom hood, the annoying bumping is an end. Compared to conventional extractor hoods, it is mounted vertically and hang at an angle so that a complete extractor hood is guaranteed.
Before purchasing the extractor hood, you should know exactly where it should be placed.
Extractor hood: exhaust air vs. recirculation air
Recirculation air or exhaust air? The circulating air variant is usually preferred in apartments because there is no exhaust pipe and it cannot be installed. But if you have the choice, you should weigh the advantages and disadvantages. As a rule, the exhaust air variant is the better solution.
Advantages for exhaust air :
- The odors are completely removed
- The fan output is higher, the fan noise is lower
- No activated carbon filter is required
Advantages for circulating air :
- Easy installation, no modifications necessary
- No energy loss in winter due to the loss of warm room air
Where to Put Extractor Hood
Depending on the height of the person cooking, the extractor hood must be installed high. With a hob size of 70 cm and a height of approx. 166 cm, the wall hood should hang 90 cm wide and 75 cm above the cooking area.
If you are 10 cm taller, the extractor hood is hung 10 cm wider and higher.
Example: If you are 186 cm tall, the extractor hood should be 110 cm wide and placed 95 cm above the hob. Island hoods should each be 10 cm wider.
Important: The extractor hood should not be installed directly next to a window, as the airflow may interrupt steam and gasses from pots which can prevent extraction by the cooker hood.
