Our site uses cookies to give you the best experience. Manage your cookies here or continue shopping if you're happy.

Accept & close
Skip to Content
Basket

    Cooker Hood Buying Guide

     

    You’ve got that brand spanking new oven and that fiery new hob too, now you’ll want a shiny cooker hood to complete your awesome kitchen set-up. But, like most things, there’s a whole lot of choice out there and it can be tricky finding the right one. This guide will help you get to grips with everything cooker hoods, so you can feel a little more confident when it comes to choosing.

    Key Features

    Extraction speeds

    This is the speed at which the cooker hood can extract the air. Most hoods have at least three speeds, ranging from a gentle extraction for boiling pasta to an intense speed that’ll keep up with that sizzling steak.

    Quiet settings

    If you’ve got an open plan kitchen and living area, then you won’t want a loud cooker hood. Thankfully, a lot of models have a quiet setting, like Bosch’s ecosilence drive, which keeps the noise to a minimum, so you can enjoy that Saturday night movie.

    Hob to hood connection

    Some of the more high-end hoods can work in tandem with your hob through the WiFi. This means that the hood will automatically adapt its settings to match that of the hob for smoke free cooking. It’s worth noting that this feature will only work with a compatible hob.

    LED lighting

    Let there be light! Most hoods have LED lights that when turned on will light up your hob, so you can see every bit of those culinary masterpieces. They use much less energy than halogen bulbs and can last up to 10 times longer.

    Auto timer

    Some dishes like that spicy curry will take a little longer to air out. The auto timer feature lets you set how long you want your hood to stay on for, so you can enjoy your meal while your hood takes care of your kitchen.

    Power boost

    Pan frying up a batch of steaks and need that extra bit of fan power? Some models will have a handy power boost feature that’ll crank it up to make your kitchen smoke free in no time.

    Smart features

    Hob to hood isn’t the only smart feature you’ll find on cooker hoods. A lot of modern models can now be controlled directly via your phone on a special app, so you can change the settings right from the palm of your hand.

    Key Features

    FAQs

    Do I need a ducted or recirculating hood?
    What extraction rate do I need for the size of my kitchen?
    What is the diameter of the ducting?
    What size ducting kit do I need?
    I have a range cooker – what size hood do I need?
    What is the benefit of recirculation?
    What if I have a low ceiling?
    What if I have a high ceiling?