8 steps for choosing a kitchen hood and 40 photos

To begin, let's see, why do we need a hood in the kitchen and is it really necessary? This device has two important functions:

  • Protects furniture, walls, ceilings and textiles from the appearance of fatty deposits and soot;
  • Removes and cleans the air from smoke, odors, combustion products, vapors and other impurities that are harmful to health, formed from cooking on the stove.

By the way, the air in the kitchen during the heat treatment of products becomes the dirtiest in the house. Therefore, if you often cook, your kitchen is not the smallest and / or you use a gas stove and a column, then you cannot do without a kitchen hood.

Extractor fan in the kitchen

Do I need a hood in the kitchen? Our answer is yes, it is really necessary if you cook regularly, use a gas stove, and also if your kitchen has more than 10 square meters or is combined with a living room / hallway.

However, in order for the hood to really benefit, and not to stand idle, it must be chosen correctly: in terms of performance, mode of operation, size of the umbrella and design. Understand all the nuances of the kitchen hood options will help you our 8-step guide with photos of appliances in the interior.

Step 1. Determine the type of exhaust

The first thing you need to decide: flow or circulation hood you need.

  • The flow hood connects to the ventilation duct of the house and takes the exhaust air into it. Flow models can not only completely (!) Remove the exhaust air in the exhaust mode, but also operate in the circulation mode and run fresh air from the street into the room. If your kitchen has the ability to connect the hood to the ventilation of the building, then it should be done, especially if the kitchen is not small or combined.
Flow hood

Flow hood in the kitchen-living room interior

  • The circulation hood is not connected to the ventilation channel and works only in the recirculation mode - it passes the polluted air through the filters, and then the cleaned air is thrown back into the room again. This type of exhaust is less effective, in many respects its performance depends on the quality of the filters, so they need to be changed / cleaned in a timely manner (let's talk about filters a little lower). But the circulation rescues when there is no possibility to connect the hood to the ventilation chamber. For example, in case the island table with a stove is installed too far from the ventilation duct and you don’t want to pull the duct through the whole kitchen.
  • Suspended hoods
Circulation hood

Circulation hood in the kitchen interior

And still circulating hoods are cheaper than flow-through, so if you want to save and your kitchen is smallthen the circulation hood is fine.

Now let's talk a little about filters.

  • Kitchen hood filters are divided into two categories: coal and grease.Circulating devices are equipped with carbon filters, and flow - with grease catchers. The first detain particles of fat, soot, smoke, evaporation. They are involved in any mode of operation of the hood, can be disposable or reusable.

For details, see the material: Kitchen Hood Filters - Rules for Choosing and Replacing

Step 2. Decide which device we need - built, suspended or domed?

  1. Suspended hoods (from 2300 rubles) are always only circulating, compact and the most inexpensive. Most often, they are mounted under the kitchen cabinet above the stove or mounted to the wall.
Suspension hood

Example of a suspended instrument type

  1. Dome hood is a construction of an umbrella and a pipe and resembles a fireplace with a chimney (because they are often called mantels). Such models always require connection to the duct and are more expensive, but they also look more elegant. And, as a rule, have greater productivity. If you often cook, your stove / kitchen is large and you want the hood to decorate the interior, then the fireplace model is what you need.
Dome hood

Dome hood in the interior of a classic kitchen

  1. Built-in hoods are built into the cabinet above the stove or into the decorative dome and are connected to the air duct. They are good because they are simply not visible, moreover, due to the lack of decorative trim, embedded models are cheaper than dome ones.
  • In addition to stationary built-in hoods, there are telescopic (retractable) models, which, if necessary, can be increased to the size of the plate.
  • Built-in hood in the interior

Both dome and recessed hood can be angled as in the photo below ...

Corner hood

... or island. Island hoods are attached to the ceiling above the stove in the table-island, they are beautiful on all sides. In this category, hoods can be found as circulating devices, and flow through, working on the exhaust air. Another feature of island hoods - some models can be lowered to the stove only if necessary (such hoods are called mobile).

Island hood

Step 3. Specify the dimensions of the plate and hood

The main principle of choosing the hood according to size is simple: the width of the umbrella should correspond to the plate width or be larger than it (but not less!).

  • For this reason, the most running gear are hoods 50 cm wide, 60 cm wide and 90 cm wide.

Kitchen hood

For very large plates, you can choose a hood with a width of 120 cm or 100 cm, although their choice is not too large.

  • The depth can be from 30 to 50 cm. This parameter, although not so important, is still better, pick up the device so that its visor does not protrude strongly above the slab, otherwise it can be hit.

If you choose a chimney hood, then the height of the device also matters. After all, she says about what the maximum allowable distance between the bottom surface of the umbrella and the vent hole it allows. Some hoods have a height of 1.5 m, and others - just 1 meter.

  • By the way, important information: the hood must be installed at least 60 centimeters from the stove.

Details in the material: What size should be the hood for the kitchen?

Step 4. Calculate optimal performance

It is time to talk about the most important criteria for choosing a kitchen hood - about performance.


  • The exhaust capacity is an indicator of the maximum air volume that the device is able to catch in an hour of work. The performance of the weakest kitchen hood can be 150 m3/ hour, and the most powerful - 2500 m3/hour.

How powerful your hood should be depends on the size of the kitchen (including the size of the attached rooms, if any).

To find out the minimum performance of the device, carry out the following calculations:

  1. Multiply the kitchen area by the height of the walls;
  2. Then multiply the resulting product by 12 (this is the air exchange rate per hour according to SES);
  3. Finally, multiply this value by a factor of 1.5 or 1.7 (for an electric cooking surface) or by 2 (in case you have a gas stove);
  4. Now that you know the required minimum exhaust performance for your kitchen, add another 10% to it for each duct bend and for each meter of its length (starting from the ventilation duct to the exhaust hood), and also another 10% in case of emergency - the need to remove smoke , smell of burning or, say, fish.

Step 5. Pay attention to the noise level

Want to cook with relative silence? Choose a hood with a noise level of up to 45 decibels. True, there are quiet hoods significantly more expensive, and sometimes their silence is achieved by reducing the engine power.

  • Which hood is better - with one super-powered motor or with two slightly less powerful ones? The second option is preferable, as it allows the hood to work not too loud and at the same time quite effective.
  • Cheap hoods are always noisy. Models with noise levels above 50 dB can make noise almost as loud and annoying as a hair dryer or vacuum cleaner.

Step 6. Choose the type of control

Different extracts have different controls: push-button, touch, electronic (with remote control) or slider control (see photo).

Exhaust hood with slide control

  • In our opinion, it is worthwhile to give preference to the device with the touch control panel with backlight - it is much easier to keep it clean than protruding buttons now and then threatening to “stick” in fat.

Step 7. Understand the extra features.

  • Almost all hoods are equipped with lamps. This simple addition often helps during cooking, so it makes sense in the store to test the backlight for ease of switching and changing the lamp. Ideally, the light bulbs in the hood should be LED - they are safe, do not fade for a long time, do not heat up and are easily disposed of.

Built-in hood with backlight

  • Depending on the “tricked out” you can see models with 1-2 speeds of air intake and even from 10. In our opinion, there is not much point in paying for the abundance of speeds, 3-4 modes will be quite enough for most non-professional chefs.
  • Also, modern hoods are almost always equipped with a timer or a residual stroke button, which makes it possible to synchronize its work with the stove.
  • When buying a hood, you should make sure that it has safety shut-off sensors and a sensor that reminds you that it is time to replace / clean the grease filter.
  • Some manufacturers (for example, Siemens) build in the hoods even TVs.

Hood with TV

Step 8. Plan the design of the hood

If you decide to purchase a built-in or suspended model, then the need to choose a design disappears by itself. But when choosing a chimney-type exhaust device, the appearance of the body is of great importance. Here are some tips to help you:

  • For classic and "Rustic" interiors It is necessary to choose the built-in stealth hoods or dome devices in retro or country style. Carving, artificially aged body finish, inserts made of brass or antique silver - all this will be very appropriate in traditional kitchens. The blessing of the model in retro style today is presented on the market by almost all manufacturers. By the way, the standard hood can be closed with a decorative dome.
  • Decorative dome hood and column
    Decorative dome hood and column
Built-in hood in the interior of a classic kitchen

Built-in hood in the interior of a classic kitchen

Retro exhaust SMEG in the interior

Retro style hood in the kitchen interior

  • For modern interiors more suitable device concise design with clear or rounded shapes. Possibly colored and printed, with a glossy, matte or chrome finish. The main thing is that their size and shape should not be to the detriment of the functionality of the technique, as is often the case in practice.
  • For example, we advise you to abandon the popular slant hoods as in the photo below. Due to the inclination of the body, such devices become ineffective, although they look great, take up little space, are easy to use and do not allow high users to accidentally hit their heads on the visor.

Inclined hood in the interior of the kitchen


Another unfortunate example of choosing a hood is that this “cylinder” is too small for a 4-hob stove.

The cylindrical shape of the hood in the interior of the kitchen

  • The color of the hood is the safest to choose in the tone of the facades, walls or apron.
  • The easiest way to take care of metal hoods, as well as light-colored devices, such as metallic or white.
  • The most difficult to care for - this is an extract of dark colors with a glossy surface as in the photo below.
Black hood in the interior of the kitchen

On black hoods, dust, fingerprints, stains and stains become doubly noticeable.

Photo Gallery

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10 Comments

  1. Elena Krylova says

    I have a suspended hood. For a small kitchen, that's it.
    In addition, I do not stand all day on the stove and very rarely something on the fire fry. When
    time will come to change the hood, we will seriously look closely to the embedded
    models.

  2. Rodion says

    Thanks for the informative article. Now I will know what to follow first when buying a hood. Our first served a short time, but in the end did not work at all, only rustled, that's all. The result - the smell of food in the whole apartment, and a headache to boot. This time I will approach the purchase more carefully.

  3. Dreamkiller says

    The choice of hood was entrusted to the same person as the kitchen installed. What was later regretted, because it now performs a purely decorative function, since most likely the master was guided by only one criterion when buying: “Low price”. There was nothing in winter, but how warm it was, they noticed that, apart from the decorative function, it also adds an unpleasant background in the kitchen and, most importantly, that it does not cope with its true purpose at all. Here we decided to replace. Thanks for the info. Now fully armed, let's go choose a new one.

  4. ArtOnlineUkraine says

    Thanks for the good article! My wife picked up the hood design, not really thinking about performance. As a result, we have just a box, which at best buzzes and illuminates the stove. We are not talking about work efficiency. Naturally we will not change. I would have read before, I would have known all the features of the choice ...

  5. kitchen.htgetrid.com/en/ says

    not at all!)

  6. Alla nikolaeva says

    tell me pzhl! need a hood fully embedded, i.e. without sliding panel. How to find such a hood? ...

  7. Darya shavina says

    Yes, the power of the hood is of great importance, look at the hotpoint, they are very good, I have this, and the design is beautiful, the decoration of the kitchen, and on TX it is very much

  8. Kirill says

    Choosing a hood is not so difficult. As elsewhere there are many nuances, but the main thing is not to save at all and not to overpay just like that. We chose a hotpoint so that the dome was larger than the hob - ideal when even frying something, and even fish, there is no smell in the whole kitchen. In general, it is very good to live with the hood)

  9. Marina Ivanova says

    Special thanks to you for such beautiful photos! so inspiring, I hope, I will sometime have such a beauty too) so far a rather ordinary kitchen, but I haven’t missed the hood - they put compact inedesite. in our case, the thing itself is doing fine)

  10. Olya Serbinova says

    Recently bought on Avito new class hood. Just fit into the design of the kitchen, as if complementing the overall picture. The guests, who often came to us, did not ask, they thought it was plasma)) Then it turned out that our extractor from the manufacturer Falmec can also disguise itself as a plasma perfectly)) It is not only very cool in appearance and copes well with its work, but also easy to clean. It will be enough elementary washing and sponge. In general, buying chic))

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