How to choose a hood in the kitchen

A kitchen hood not only serves to remove unpleasant odors during cooking, it also filters and removes fats dissolved in fumes during frying and cooking. Without hood, they will easily settle on the walls, ceiling and household appliances, and mixed with dust, this residue forms a sticky coating, which has a disgusting appearance.

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1. Types of kitchen hoods
2. Plant performance
3. Filters
4. Criterias of choice
5. Exhaust which company is better to choose
6. Video on the choice of hoods for the kitchen

Types of kitchen hoods

In the modern variety of models it is easy to get confused, the first thing you need to know is that, by the principle of operation, they can be:

1. circulational;

2. flow-through;

3. universal.

Flow through

Such a device sucks evaporation from the hob and leads them into the ventilation duct. At the same time, the exhaust air is replaced by a new one taken from the street or other rooms due to the pressure drop. In the cheapest models of this type, the air is either not filtered at all or by oil catching filters.

Circulating

Couples and smoke in such devices go through two stages of purification. First, the oil filtering filters precipitate greasy particles, after which the coal cleaners retain smaller impurities in the air (because of which there is a smell). Modern models of circulation hoods can remove up to 95 percent of unwanted impurities from the air in the kitchen. When combined kitchen and dining room is a very important indicator.

Universal

Such hoods have all the advantages of both direct and circulating. But this is achieved mainly through the use of sensors and automatic control systems, which greatly increase the cost of the product.

In terms of their design and appearance, the units can be:

1. suspended type (only for circulation) - in the absence of the possibility of connection to the duct

2. dome (chimney) is mounted above the stove and is connected to the ventilation duct, one of the varieties of dome hoods is an island, which can be mounted at any point of the ceiling;

3. built-in is designed for installation inside a cabinet or another element of kitchen furniture.

The case design of some models is specifically designed for installation in the corner space. With small dimensions of the kitchen, when there is no other option, how to install the stove in a corner, this may be the only option.

Also for small kitchens there is an option in the Domino design - this is an extractor hood with a retractable worktop, and it can be installed either above the frying top or on the worktop, behind or at the side of the stove.

Plant performance

This is one of the most significant criteria of the apparatus, along with the design, overall dimensions and principle of operation. First you should know that the units can be equipped with one or two fans. And the first in any case will be more noisy, even with the same performance.

The capacity of the exhaust shows how much air (cubic meters) it can clean (divert) in 1 hour. When choosing, it is better not to rely on intuition, but to make a calculation, for which you should first measure the room and calculate its volume, then do the same with furniture. Next, subtract the amount of furniture from the total kitchen. The resulting value is the volume of air with which the exhaust must cope. You can buy a unit with a higher capacity so that there is a reserve, but you shouldn’t get less with it - at least it will cope with evaporation when cooking, but it will not be able to effectively clean all the air in the kitchen, therefore smells will penetrate into other rooms.

To enable, control and set the modes of operation can be used:

mechanical buttons and switches - are installed mainly on budget models, this option is optimal in terms of reliability and convenience, but

1. loses to others in appearance;

2. sliders and shuttles are regulators, by rotating or moving which you can adjust such device operation parameters as fan speed, lamp brightness, predetermined operating time, and so on;

3. Touch buttons and panels are touch controls.

Regardless of the type of buttons and exhaust hoods, they can be equipped with LCD screens and programming blocks. These additional options will allow you to set the time and duration of work, on-time for periodic air cleaning and other parameters. In addition, programmable blocks can have several standard modes of operation, for example, for frying or cooking food, as well as depending on the number of burners used. For easy control, the hood can be equipped with a remote control.

Filters

About cleaning elements should be aware that they can be disposable or reusable. The former are more often used to remove unpleasant odors (less often for precipitating particles of grease from the air). Each cartridge is designed for a specific time, after which it will have to be replaced.

Reusable are very fine mesh, made of metal (stainless steel or aluminum) or polymer (acrylic). Such a filter should be periodically checked and cleaned in case of heavy contamination with grease and dust particles.

Practically all models of hoods are equipped with lighting devices. In the cheapest used incandescent fluorescent, in the more expensive - LED and halogen. The latter are preferable because they are more economical and practically do not distort the colors, so that the dish will look good even in low light conditions.

Criterias of choice

Color, design and design features are what people usually pay attention to. But first you need to decide on the parameters that primarily affect the quality and efficiency of the device:

1. Performance. The required value should be calculated in advance, and when choosing a model, compare whether it is suitable or not.

2. Operating principle. It also depends primarily on the total area of ​​the kitchen, the amount of furniture and the possibility of fresh air. For a small room that is heavily loaded with furniture, it is necessary to purchase a circulation unit with a powerful filter system, otherwise it will not be possible to avoid fat settling on the surface of furniture and household appliances.

3. The filter configuration should be selected depending on the intensity of use of the frying surface. If the house is home to a large number of people who prefer to eat home-cooked food, then you should not save on filters.

4. The dimensions of the working surface must necessarily be larger than the frying surface of the stove.

5. All other parameters and additional options should be selected on the basis of the budget for the purchase.

Exhaust which company is better to choose

The number of manufacturers of hoods is constantly increasing, but newcomers, especially from China, can boast, except at the price. The best for years are:

1. Bosch is the best value for money, stainless steel finish and the ability to choose a good model, both in the budget and in the expensive price range.

2. MAUNFILD is a British manufacturer that is considered the best in quality among budget models, most of which are designed for small-sized kitchens.

3. Asko is a premium-class technique, characterized by high quality and functionality, but it is not very cheap.

4. Best - Italian hoods, which are widely distributed due to the modern and unusual design.

5. Also, to study the market hoods, you can view the catalogs of manufacturers such as Shindo, Kronasteel, Gorenje and ELIKOR.

Video on the choice of hoods for the kitchen

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Attention! This material is the subjective opinion of the authors of the project and is not a guide to purchase.