What to do if you need a hood for the kitchen

Are you struggling with the necessity for a kitchen hood but don’t know where to begin? Remain calm; you are not by yourself. Choosing the correct kitchen hood is essential for keeping your home tidy and cozy, whether you’re building a new house or remodeling your existing one. A properly operating hood can significantly improve the atmosphere in your kitchen by reducing odors and enhancing air quality. Let’s examine the information you require to make a wise choice.

First and foremost, it’s critical to comprehend a kitchen hood’s function. A kitchen hood, sometimes referred to as an extractor hood or range hood, is a ventilation system that is mounted over your cooktop or stove. Its main purpose is to eliminate smoke, grease, cooking smells, and other airborne pollutants that are produced during cooking. A hood makes cooking healthier and more pleasurable for you and your family by drawing these pollutants outside and keeping the air in your kitchen fresh.

There are a few things to take into account when choosing the ideal kitchen hood for your house. The type and size of hood that best meets your needs will depend in large part on the dimensions of your kitchen and the configuration of your cooking area. Your choice will also be influenced by your cooking habits, the kind of stove or cooktop you have, and your financial situation.

When selecting a kitchen hood, one of the most important factors to take into account is the type of ventilation: ducted or ductless. While ductless hoods use filters to clean the air before recirculating it back into the kitchen, ducted hoods use ductwork to vent air to the outside. Although ducted hoods are usually more efficient at eliminating pollutants, it is not always possible to install them through the ceiling or close to an external wall. Conversely, ductless hoods provide greater placement flexibility but might not be as effective at eliminating grease and odors.

Measured in cubic feet per minute (CFM), the hood’s airflow capacity is another crucial factor to take into account. The hood’s ability to suction is stronger the higher its CFM rating. It’s critical to match the CFM capacity of the hood to the size and heat output of your stove or cooktop for best results. A kitchen with oversized or undersized hoods may have inadequate ventilation and low-quality air.

Why do you need an extractor hood in the kitchen?

Cooking releases a lot of heat and strong smells, particularly when frying. The gas is releasing steam and emitting smoke. This damages the kitchen wall, the kitchen apron, and smokes the ceiling. For this reason, this room needs a hood—a forced-air ventilation system.

Any interior can flawlessly incorporate the hood.

Its principal benefits are:

• It gets rid of pungent odors;
• quickly removes steam and smoke immediately into the communal pipe;
• ensures that there are no traces of high humidity, as well as other various deposits on the walls and ceiling.

Certain types of ventilation units only have drawbacks; an inexpensive hood, for instance, may be excessively noisy. It’s simple to accept that, though.

Calculation of the hood for the kitchen

Prior to choosing the right kind of exhaust system for these circumstances, it’s essential to roughly estimate how much polluted air needs to be removed.

The kitchen’s size is the main factor taken into account when making the calculations. The electrical component has already been computed using the current hood model.

Assume for the moment that the kitchen is 3 meters by 4 meters in size. As a result, the room’s area in this example, S, is 12 m^2. The kitchen’s volume is V = 12 x 2.5 = 30 m^3, assuming that the walls are 2.5 m high.

The hood’s capacity, expressed in cubic meters per hour, is computed by multiplying the room’s dimensions by the coefficient K. K is roughly 12 units for electric stoves and 20 units for gas stoves. It shows how many full air changes the room experiences in a given hour.

We’ll use a gas stove in this instance. The hood has the following capacity: P = 30 x 20 = 600 cubic meters per hour.

Based on actual usage, a fan with a maximum power of 1 kW will be necessary for a unit of that magnitude. We will account for this feature when calculating the wiring.

The standard design norms for electrical wiring state that a wire cross-section of 2.5 mm 2 is adequate for a power of 1 kW. Lines in apartments use this parameter. As a result, you can install it in the kitchen in the closest outlet.

The following guidelines are followed when calculating the ducts’ cross-sectional area:

1. It should not be smaller than the exhaust outlet of the hood.
2. The cross-section of the duct should not be larger than the opening area of the common duct.

Another important thing to keep in mind when installing the ventilation piping is that performance improves with fewer bends in the line.

For the hood, there is no need to earth.

In many new constructions, a dedicated two-core wire for the range hood has already been installed in the kitchen. This cable typically protrudes from the wall directly beneath the ventilation duct opening in an apartment or newly constructed home, approximately one meter above the planned stove surface.

Selecting the type of hood is necessary after calculations.

Want to put in a kitchen hood? What you should know is as follows: To begin with, take into account the size and design of your kitchen when selecting the type of hood you want—wall-mounted, island, or under-cabinet. Next, consider ventilation power, which is expressed in cubic feet per minute (CFM), to make sure your kitchen can be adequately free of steam, smoke, and cooking smells. To guarantee safety and appropriate functionality, installation should be carried out by professionals. In addition, consider features like lighting and noise level to ensure you get a hood that meets your needs. Lastly, maintenance is essential. You can keep your kitchen hood operating effectively for many years to come by cleaning the filters and vents on a regular basis.

Installation stages and types of kitchen hoods

There are two primary categories for all of the kitchen’s forced ventilation units.

Open hoods, fully visible.

Between the cabinets is an open hood installed.

When hoods are built in, only the bottom portion is visible.

A location-based classification is also present among the open devices. These hoods can be wall-mounted, island-mounted, or corner-mounted.

The following is the classification based on the control method:

• Remote (with remote control);
• push-button or sensor.

Photo gallery: different types of kitchen hoods

The island hood is suspended independently from the wall hood, which is fixed to a vertical surface. There is no ventilation duct on a recirculation hood. Certain hoods have remote controls.

How to install a kitchen hood with your own hands

Installing the range hood over the stove is actually not too difficult, provided you have some basic locksmithing and repair skills. It is essential to begin with the electrical component.

Connection to electricity

A standard socket can be used for the connection. However, you should take the following action if the installation site is not close to any power outlets.

The electric cable must be brought to the hood marking and hidden in the wall. Execute it in the order listed below:

First find the nearest junction box. From it to the planned place where the hood is to be installed, make a channel by means of drilling with a drill bit and a special trowel.

When drilling, it’s critical to hold the tool correctly.

Based on the quantity of wires, remove the required portion from the terminal block set.

Only operate electrical appliances when the power source is off.

Ventilation grounding is typically not utilized.

How and to what height to install the hood body

The forced ventilation device is typically mounted directly on the wall above the stove. Usually, two points of support are enough. Usually, the purchased hood comes with an installation and operation manual attached.

About 80 centimeters is the ideal height above a gas stove (70 cm is sufficient above an electric stove). This value needs to be indented from the slab, and a pencil-drawn horizontal line needs to be drawn. This is where the hood’s bottom will be. You can then mark the holes for the suspension based on this.

Using a tape measure to measure the distance from the device’s bottom wall to the fastening marks on the vertical plane is sufficient. On the wall, the same values ought to be written.

Next, drill holes, insert plastic dowels, tighten screws, and suspend the device’s body from them.

A self-tapping screw is used to loosen a wall dowel.

Installation of a built-in hood

Fixing such a product is an easy process. Four self-tapping screws are used to secure the housing to the upper wall of the wall-mounted cabinet. The door will stay invisible after it closes.

However, these devices invariably feature a flat panel at the bottom of the apparatus that houses filters. It must remain visible at all times. It typically has lighting and a retractable portion.

The template, which is a requirement for this hood’s set of documents, is used to mark the housing for repair. When making a purchase, confirm its availability.

The integrated hood’s filter can be changed from below.

Choosing the ducting for the hood and its installation

The hood’s function is useless if it isn’t connected to the public duct. However, you can live with it for a while if you add a special carbon filter to the device (some models with a recirculation function allow for its internal installation). However, having to replace the charcoal filters on a regular basis will undoubtedly result in extra expenses, so it is preferable to have a hood that can accommodate duct installation.

Three methods exist for constructing a ventilation duct using common components:

• from corrugated soft foil pipe;
• from plastic channels of rectangular cross-section;
• PVC pipe.

Although corrugation is simple to install, it has an ugly appearance.

Corrugated pipe is easily stretchable and bending.

Because they have so many benefits, rectangular-cross section channels are the most often used type of air duct installation.

1. They can easily be cut (to shorten them) with a hole saw.
2. They are quite aesthetically pleasing, able to fit into any kitchen interior.
3. There are a large number of different convenient transition elements – angled, shaped and others.

Square-sectioned plastic pipes are used frequently.

Lastly, pipes made of plastic. In terms of the variety of transition elements, they are a little less superior than rectangular ducts.

Plastic pipes occupy a large amount of room.

How to install air ducts

Before installing the duct, some prep work needs to be done:

1. First, the distance from the hood outlet to the opening of the common house duct must be measured. It is also necessary to take into account all the turns of the planned line.
2. Then make a list of the elements to be purchased.

Assume for the moment that there is a one-meter gap between the hood opening’s plane and the general house channel grille’s bottom line. Turning to the left is necessary for this, giving the home ventilation shaft an additional 50 centimeters. Thus, you’ll need:

• channel of rectangular cross-section 1 m
• duct with a diameter of 0.5 m;
• elbow with a right angle;
• Adapter from the hood to the duct of rectangular cross-section;
• adapter for the grille of the house shaft with a right-angle bend.

Measuring the hood outlet’s diameter and the kitchen wall’s vent channel’s dimensions are crucial. This determines the adapters’ parameters. To prevent blown air from leaking into the connections, they must fit snugly against the matching components.

The following procedure is followed when installing the duct:

First you need to install an adapter on the upper outlet of the hood. Check the tightness of the connection by trying to loosen the part. The diameter of the outlet varies from 100 mm to 150 mm, for each size you can pick up the appropriate adapter in the store.

The primary purpose is to change the shape from a circle to a rectangle.

The pipe material is easily cut with a metal saw.

A square piece of plastic pipe can be used to create an attractive and functional duct.

The used rectangular ducts don’t attach to the wall; instead, they stand firmly in place. It is possible to install at least one fastener, though.

It is possible to fasten long pipe segments to the wall.

In most cases, apartments lack a ventilation grille. In this instance, choosing it during the parts purchase is required. Apart from the string cells, it should have a hole to secure the adapter’s round end.

It is easy to insert the air duct into this component.

Utilizing self-tapping screws and wall plugs, the grid is fastened to the wall.

Rectangular ducts can also be used with standard aluminum foil corrugation. However, it needs to stay undetectable. In other words, in this instance, the corrugation works well as a duct link for concealed locations, like above the headset in a spot that is not visible to the eye.

A cone hood, to put it simply, always comes with a decorative duct that looks like a shiny metal box. A practical component, a ventilation corrugation connecting the upper hole of the cone to the apartment ventilating duct, is still installed inside such an element.

Telescopic construction is the foundation of the ornamental box. The upper portion is removed from the lower portion and fixed in accordance with the installation instructions that are attached.

It is necessary to install a corrugated pipe inside the decorative box.

One drawback of these designs is that they can only be utilized in situations where the kitchen ventilation channel’s opening is directly above the stove. Installing such a device will be challenging if it is displaced sideways significantly.

If the kitchen wall has an additional vent channel, it can be sealed with a regular grille that doesn’t have a hole in it. Let it only be used for the room’s natural ventilation.

Homemade hood from plasterboard

The self-made construction made of gypsum plasterboard sheets needs special attention. Purchasing rather pricey parts is not necessary in this instance. Yes, and the manufacturer’s hood itself is quite expensive.

Such constructions also have the added benefit of being able to be made to be elegant, exclusive, and precisely match the interior.

Materials and tools

When buying drywall, it is first required to draw a sketch and determine the surface area. To accomplish this, measure and sketch the location where the hood will be installed, and then sketch out the intended design on paper.

The homemade construction’s width is assumed to be equal to or somewhat greater than the slab’s corresponding parameter. The overall design solution and the location of the kitchen ventilation duct determine the height structurally.

The drawing shows all of the hood’s measurements.

The total of the products of each face’s dimensions yields the surface area. The quantity of material that needs to be bought ought to be marginally more than what was estimated. You also need to purchase metal profiles and self-tapping screws.

Additionally, purchase primer and putty to finish the surfaces.

The following tools are needed for the job:

1. Perforator.
2. Screwdriver.
3. tape measure.
4. Level.
5. Office knife.
6. Trowel.
7. Roller.

Step-by-step instructions for making a hood from plasterboard

After completing all necessary preparations, you can begin the process right away:

1. With a pencil on the wall mark the places of fixing profiles according to the sketch. Observe the standard height of the hood above the stove.
2. Then install and screw the main (starting) profile on the wall (and if necessary on the ceiling). It is necessary to drill holes and hammer in strong dowels or anchors beforehand.
3. Next, attach the vertical elements to the main profile with self-tapping screws.

Self-tapping screws are used to secure the profiles to the surface.

Building ought to begin at the ceiling.

To putty the joints, no particular expertise is required.

This kind of product lets the stove’s vapours escape naturally.

By the way, all it takes to cut off a rectangular piece of drywall is to firmly cut along the marking line on one side of the sheet, then break the workpiece in the opposite direction. The substance will split uniformly and only remain to sever the layer of paper. You’ll need to use a drywall saw if you need a shaped piece.

The hood still needs to have its decorative finish made.

Fabrication of housing from different materials

To build the hood, materials other than plasterboard can be utilized. For instance, plastic panels or plywood. Everything is dependent upon the owner’s aptitude and ability.

It is simpler to attach the same plywood to the profiles. It doesn’t crumble or contaminate your hands. It does not require puttying or priming. And wallpapering it is an easy way to finish it.

But the profiles for it must be more robust. Using metal corners with a steel thickness of 1.5 to 2 mm is preferable. You are welcome to take stainless steel. The hood enclosure is made in the same manner as drywall.

Decorative finish on a cooker hood

There are various decorative coating options for plasterboard surfaces.

Apply water-based paint underneath the wall or kitchen set color after priming, usually. In this instance, the design is enhanced by foam plastic moldings or skirting boards, and occasionally by ornamental wooden components.

The plasterboard hood is easily styliable to fit any interior design, if that is what you would like.

It is possible to apply wallpaper or even ceramic tiles. Because plasterboard is such a flexible material, any external treatment can be applied to it.

Installing a hood in your kitchen is an essential step in ensuring adequate ventilation and preserving a comfortable and healthy indoor environment. Whether you’re building a new house or remodeling your existing one, your cooking style, kitchen design, and financial constraints must all be carefully taken into account when selecting the ideal hood.

Evaluate your cooking needs and habits first and foremost. Take into account elements like the kind and quantity of food you cook, the size of your kitchen, and the stovetop arrangement. A strong hood with efficient grease filtration is necessary for enthusiastic cooks who frequently use high-heat cooking techniques, like grilling or frying, to eliminate smoke, steam, and grease particles from the air.

Next, assess how much space you have in your kitchen and select a range hood that complements your style. Since wall-mounted hoods can be mounted above the stove and vented through the wall, they are perfect for small kitchen spaces. A downdraft hood or ceiling-mounted hood provides an aesthetically pleasing and discrete ventilation option for kitchen islands.

After choosing the style and size of hood that best meets your needs, don’t forget to account for the cost of upkeep and installation. Even though ducted hoods perform better at ventilation, they need to be installed properly, which can cost extra money. On the other hand, ductless hoods are simpler to install but need to have their filters changed on a regular basis to function at their best.

Finally, when choosing a kitchen hood, give energy efficiency and noise levels top priority. To reduce the amount of electricity used, look for models with LED lighting and energy-efficient motors. Additionally, if your kitchen is next to a living or sleeping area, select a hood with features that reduce noise and adjustable fan speeds to ensure quiet operation.

In conclusion, careful consideration of your cooking habits, kitchen layout, and budget are necessary when selecting the ideal hood for your kitchen. You can guarantee efficient ventilation and a comfortable cooking environment in your home by evaluating your needs, choosing the right hood type and size, and giving energy efficiency and noise levels top priority.

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