Why You Need a Chimney Hood (Part 3: Kitchen Design)

In case you haven’t read our previous articles, let’s recap what a chimney hood is and what it does. A chimney hood, also commonly known as a range hood, cooker hood or kitchen extractor, is a kitchen appliance installed directly above a cooktop in the kitchen. It primarily extracts and filters out airborne pollutants generated while cooking. Such smoke, grease and other odours can not only be unpleasant, but also affect our health if inhaled in large amounts. Within its chassis, every chimney hood is typically equipped with a set of illumination lamps, control panel, filter(s), butterfly valve, air chamber and electric components which allow the device to function. When the hood is switched on, contaminated air is extracted by the blower and sent through the filters before going through the air chamber and butterfly valve. 

As previously stated, a chimney hood should run in ducted mode, which allows contaminated air to be sent outside the home through a duct installed in the walls. However, if the appliance is running on recirculating mode, the partially cleaned air will recirculate back into the kitchen. In this mode, a dip in performance is to be expected. For more information on this, please read our article on operating your chimney hood in ducted vs. recirculating mode.