Appliance.com

Range Hoods Style and Substance Nothing Says Loving Like Something in the Oven-unless it's baked salmon. Then you better have a range hood that can suck with the best of them.

Vent-A-Hood's sleek European-style island hoods can provide a dramatic focal point in the midst of all the motion in your kitchen and offer 600-1200 CFMs, depending on the size and demands of your cooking surface. This island design is a "Euroline with Emerald Lip" model in stainless-steel, and is equipped with four halogen lights to bring ambience to the island, not to mention style and performance. The hood also has Magic Lung(r), a blower that traps all cooking contaminants, liquefies grease vapor, and removes heat-polluted air.

Range hoods started their existence as a practical answer to hot, smelly kitchens. These days, while they still are expected to do that job, they have another, equally important responsibility: Range hoods have to make a fashion statement. "The range hood can be the focal center of a well-designed kitchen," says Kevin Cooper, owner of Cooper Pacific Kitchens in Los Angeles.

Not everyone is so enamored. "Noise! Talk about the noise! Nobody can hear anything when I've got my range hood turned on, but if I don't turn it on when I'm using the grill, everyone chokes on the smoke," complains home cook Susan McKee of Indianapolis.

If you can empathize, it's time for a new range hood. Range hoods have come a long way. The newest models are more effective and those with remote fans are much, much quieter.

Cooking odors are actually only one of the problems created when a stove is improperly ventilated. Consider all the grease, smoke, and moisture generated when you cook. Without a range hood, all of that greasy vapor eventually will settle onto your walls and furniture, creating sticky, dirty surfaces that have to be scrubbed or they will create a yucky odor of their own.

If you want your range hood to blend into your kitchen, this may be your ideal solution. This Broan hood will give your design a more holistic appearance, rather than focusing the entire attention of your room upon it. The light system slowly brightens at activation and slowly dims when it is turned off. Other features include a 3-spaced control that remembers the last setting and returns to it, a boost speed for high-power smoke and odor removal, and a heat monitor that senses excessive heat and turns the hood to high when needed. MSRP is $824-$904 for model E661 and $1,200-$1,308 for model E662 (shown).

Pretty is as pretty does

Don't choose a range hood by its looks alone. Consider whether it will do the job right. The first thing to consider when choosing a hood is its ability to exhaust. A good rule of thumb is that a range hood should have an air flow capacity of about 50 cubic feet per minute (cfm) for each lineal foot of the range it covers. Most traditional under-the-cabinet range hoods are in the neighborhood of 100 to 200 CFM. For most standard, 30-inch electric stovetops, 100 cfm is probably fine, according to the Home Ventilation Institute (HVI), but you'll need at least 150 cfm per lineal foot for island kitchen range hoods.

Burning gas generates by-products, including nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide, that can be dangerous if they are trapped in your home. So you'll need more cfms on a gas range than an electric range. If you cook on a 30-inch gas range, for example, you may need a wall-mounted range hood that operates at 250 cfms. Double the number if the gas range is installed on an island where there is no wall to help contain the vapors.

If your gas stove is bigger than 30 inches, don't just guess. Make sure the exhaust power of the hood you purchase correlates with the BTUs from your cooking surface (British Thermal Units, or BTUs, are used to measure the output of gas heating devices). Big commercial-style stoves have big ventilation demands.

Ventilation recommendations will probably be included in your stove's installation instructions-particularly if it is a large gas stove. But if they aren't, you can use this simple calculation to help figure out your stove's ventilation requirements. Generally, for every 10,000 BTUs your gas stove generates you need 100 CFM. For example, 60,000 BTUs divided by 100 = 600 CFM. If you have an electric stove, you need 100 CFM per every 12 inches of width. So if your stove is 36-inches wide, you need a minimum of 300 CFM.

No matter what the size of your stove, you might also want a large-capacity range hood if you do a lot of indoor grilling, deep frying, or if you live in a warm climate where your air-conditioning needs all the help it can get.

Your stove will have its ventilation requirements included somewhere in the installation instructions. And each range hood comes with a cfm rating, although the Home Ventilating Institute warns that ratings inflation can occur, and urges consumers to buy brand name hoods, which are more likely to belong to the ventilation trade organization and provide reliable ratings.

One word of warning, don't go gigantic if you have a new and very tightly insulated house. The air that will be expelled has to come from somewhere. If the only source that's available is back down the chimney on your fireplace or from the exhaust on your furnace or hot water tank, this can be a very dangerous situation. Make sure your installation professional addresses this potential problem.

As a gourmet, you want to fill your kitchen with only the freshest ingredients-including the air. And Viking ventilation systems not only silently subdue even the most pungent cooking aromas, they look fantastic doing it. The company's built-in custom ventilator systems for wall hoods has a virtually seamless design with no visible screws, dimmer on lights, and a heat sensor that turns the ventilator on full power when cooking temperatures reach uncomfortable levels.

All About Noise

Noise is another reason to shop carefully. Range hoods are rated for sound and sound levels are measured in sones, which is different than dB ratings that vary exponentially. One sone is the sound of a new refrigerator cycling on. Two sones are twice as loud as one sone.

Some of the most powerful, but quietest range hoods are made by Abbaka, which offers units that have a blower capacity of 1,400 cfms and a 3 sone noise level. For example, the Imperial Wall Canopy Series has 1,330 cfms and a 4.6 sone rating for $1,893-$2,336. The Sirius Modual Island Style, which has lower cfms-600-but has a 3.9 sone rating, and retails for about $2,143. In the lower price ranges, the Broan-Nutone Allure series is also known to be particularly quiet (4.5 sones for the 400 cfm unit) at a reasonable price range of $242-$341.

Miele's designer wall hood, model DA289, is designed to quickly remove steam, grease or any other odors you can do without. Miele hoods come in a variety of different sizes and fit cleanly into any kitchen design. Built-in models slip sleekly into a wall cabinet: flush and unobtrusive. When in use, they expand, to cover not only the rear of a cooking surface but also the front burners. The decorator series, both ceiling and wall mounted, are intended to stand out and make a design statement.

Installing a Range Hood

Ready-made range hoods come in three basic styles: under-cabinet models, chimney models, and downdraft models. Which type you choose depends not only on aesthetics, but also on how you can most effectively vent the hood.

Under-cabinet. These models, the most common type, are best for mounting to a wall cabinet on an exterior wall. They also can be used with a range on an inside wall if the exhaust duct can be routed through a soffit or the ceiling. Try to avoid more than two turns in the duct work. Microwave vent-fan combinations are increasingly popular, including the GE microwave, model JVM1870, with 1.8 cubic feet capacity and 300 cfm. It retails for about $489.

Chimney. Use these over a range or cooktop on an exterior wall when there's no cabinet overhead, or when the cooktop is on an island. The ductwork goes out through the roof. This is a good choice for the cook who has selected a high-BTU stove because these are capable of drawing a lot of air.

Downdraft. If you have a cooktop mounted in an island away from the walls and no way to vent through the roof, a downdraft may be your best option. The intake rises from the counter to pull air down-via ducts-beneath the floor and out of the house. But these units don't move as much air and don't remove smoke as quickly as other designs. If you choose one of these, make sure that the unit meets the requirements of your stove and is carefully installed.

There are also non-vented range hoods. These hoods recycle the air through a filter-usually an activated charcoal filter-and return it to the kitchen. They can trap some of the grease and odor, but moisture, smoke and heat all will be recirculated back into the kitchen. To work properly, their filters should be replaced about every six months.

One of the most attractive non-vented range hood is th\e Om, which is part of Zephyr's Elica collection, and retails for $1,500. Om, which is made of glass, re-circulates the air taken in from the cooktop through carbon filters and then redistributes it. Units like this one are an option if you simply can't install ducts. Yet, non-ducted, re-circulating kitchen range hoods provide no ventilation, so they may not meet local building codes. Before you select one, it's wise to check with your local building officials.

The positioning flexibility of Gaggenau's telescopic swivel ventilation system, model VL 051, enables it to keep air clear even in conditions that often overwhelm conventional downdraft ventilation systems. Home chefs can breathe easily as the telescopic swivel arm moves in close, extracting cooking vapors directly at the source. The swivel arm can be elevated or lowered or rotated 90 degrees. A delayed shut-off function allows continuous running for 10 minutes after cooking, catching any remaining vapors. After use, the corresponding control knob will automatically retract the ventilator arm into the cooking surface, using a sensor to prevent it from trapping anything as it moves.

Size Counts

Your range hood will be most effective if it covers the entire cooking area. That means not only the width of the heating elements, but also the depth from the back to the front edge of the front burner. For instance, if you have a 36-inch range or cooktop, choose a minimum 36-inch range hood. Or better yet, move up to a 42-inch hood, so there is an extra 3 inches on all sides. But don't buy a wall-mounted hood that is too big to fit between the existing cabinets. Larger range hoods are available to cover commercial-style ranges. Broan-NuTone offers them up to 66 inches (model RMN6000 is $920) as does Wolf Range, with its Pro Series Island Hood, for $2,500. RangeMaster makes theirs as large as 72 inches, including the Original Series 60000 wall-mount range hood, which retails for about $850.

Installation height also is an important factor. The lower, the better. Ideally, install a hood at the lowest height recommended by the manufacturer to ensure maximum efficiency of its venting power. Generally, this is 27 to 30 inches above the range. A fan with a powerful motor, especially one covering an island cooktop, can be positioned higher, up to 6 feet off the floor, which will keep even the tallest cook from hitting his head if he's standing a few inches away from the range.

You also have a choice of remote, in-line, or in-hood blowers. This refers to where the fan is positioned. The most common is an in-hood blower, where the fan is mounted inside the hood and it pushes the air through the duct. An in-line blower is positioned somewhere in the ductwork, pulling the air out of the kitchen, then pushing it on through the ducts. A remote blower is one that is positioned on the outside of the exterior wall or on the roof. It pulls the air through the ductwork. Both the in-line and the remote blower cut down on the noise, with the remote blower being the quietest. But don't expect silence. Much of the noises these devices create are caused by the whoosh of air through the hood through the initial ductwork.

An in-hood blower works fine for most uses, according to Bennett White, owner of Integrity Construction Maintenance Inc. of Pedaluna, CA. Mr. White specializes in installing and maintaining home ventilation systems. He says that if the duct work is longer than 10 feet, then you may want to consider a remote blower. And if the distance is significantly greater than that, think about adding an auxiliary blower, which will keep exhausted air moving along. Stronger motors also please allergy sensitive homeowners because they help keep down the grease. "The stronger the motor, the less grease that will get stuck," he says.

Keeping Your Range Hood Running Smooth

It's important to keep your range hood clean, otherwise the grease will build up and slow the motor down, making it work harder and less effectively.

Keep the outside clean. While ceramic and copper range hoods look beautiful, they require constant maintenance with a nonabrasive cleanser or they'll discolor. The easiest range hoods to maintain are made of baked-on enamel over aluminum or stainless-steel.

Scrub the filter. The easiest way to clean a filter is to put it in your dishwasher. The alternative is to soak the filter in a degreaser. If your unit re-circulates air through a charcoal filter, it must be replaced regularly according to the manufacturer's instructions.

With regular use, your hood's motor, bearings, and blower wheel will get greasy and dirty. That slows down the fan and causes vibrations. And the ductwork will become coated with grease. Cleaning these parts really isn't a job for an amateur because you risk getting liquid in the motor. Contact a vent-cleaning professional to handle these tasks correctly, and plan on spending between $100-$300 to have the motor, bearings, blower wheel, and duct work cleaned. It's worth having it done every couple of years-particularly if you do a lot of cooking-because it can reduce the risk of fire.

Consider installing a fire prevention system. The National Fire Prevention System estimates that there are 12 million cooking fires every year. Twenty First Century International Fire Equipment & Service Corp.

(www.21centuryfire.com) offers the Guardian III, which can be concealed under the stove's range hood or in an adjoining kitchen cabinet. When its heat sensors detect fire, its nozzles release an environmentally friendly fire retardant. The unit also can be connected to the monitored security alarm system. More Editorials