Range hoods are designed to keep bad smells produced from cooking from entering the house. They aim to keep heat, smoke and odours from escaping past the hood and can also help to rid your kitchen of other pollutants in the air. The main considerations a consumer should be thinking about before purchasing their hood should be the space which is available to them and also how the hood will integrate in to their existing kitchen design.
The main styles of ductless range hood include:- Wall Mounted
- Under-Cabinet Mount
- Chimney Style
- Island Mounted
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Do Ductless Range Hoods Work?
Ducted range hoods work by extracting kitchen pollutants to the outside air. This is done through use of a ducted pipe which terminates in the open air outside. As this style of hood requires a large hole drilled through the cavity and space to run the duct itself, it is not always possible to implement this design. This is where a ductless option would work best. Ductless hoods work by recycling the air back in to the house through use of filters which take away pollutants and bad smells from the air that passes through. This style of range hood do work well but bare in mind that to operate at an optimal level the filters need to be changed on a regular basis.
Power and Noise
Power should also be another option to think about when purchasing your hood. If the item you purchase is not powerful enough to filter through all the bad air within your kitchen then there is little point in having one installed. The power of a range hood is measured in CFM, which is an acronym for cubic feet per minute. A general rule of thumb to work to is for every 10,000 BTU your gas hob kicks out you will need 100 CFM to cope. Be sure to check the specification of both the hood and your existing gas appliance before you commit to buying.
Noise may also be a factor you might want to consider, range hoods usually have a SONE rating which tells us how loud the appliance is. The idea is to look for a hood which offers a low SONE rating, the lower the rating the quieter your hood will be.
