A cooker hood is installed above the stove to collect smoke, other fumes and odours from above the cooking surface. It is an essential and functional part of your kitchen and is available in varied types such as filters, fans and lighting. The more the amount of stove it covers, the more efficient it is.

A good exhaust system is the most important factor to be considered while buying a cooker hood. Some are available with a ductwork that draws the smokes and vapours from the cooking surface to the outdoors. While some exhaust systems are recirculating, they recirculate the air through a filter which removes its impurities and sends the air back to the kitchen. Recirculating cooker hoods require more maintenance than those involving ductwork, since their filters must be cleaned and replaced periodically.

One of the leading brands of cooker hoods available in the market includes Baumatic. Baumatic BT93GL is a wall hood that has an extraction or recirculation capacity of 500m3/h. This recirculation capacity is due to the two S1 Carbon filter and three metallic grease filters. The cooker hood comes with a push button control operation and superior extraction tangential motor. Two halogen lights are also supplied with this superior cooker hood.

Franke UK is another popular name in the manufacture of cooker hoods. Its FQD 907 XS model has an extraction capacity of 1000 m3/h. The wall hood can be used as a filtering unit rather than an extraction unit when no external flue is available. Other popular brands of cooker hoods include Caple CGC600 which is a chimney hood and Neff D1613 (D1613SOGB) which is an in-built hood.

Tags: cooker hoods, diy, kitchen appliances