Do I Need a Range Hood?

Photo by Taryn Elliott: https://www.pexels.com/photo/kitchen-room-design-4099350/

Cute, but where’s the hood?!

We visit several homes without any range hoods. Nothing, Nada. Moreover, the nearest smoke detector to the kitchen is the first to be removed. We don’t want the detector blaring when we burn a piece of toast after all, right? If our cooking produces enough smoke to set off the smoke detector, imagine what it's doing to our bodies.

Without a range hood running while cooking, the air in the space will begin to become toxic

When we make meals on the stove, we have the potential to release toxins and carcinogens into the air. We get HCAs (carcinogenic) from meat, poultry and fish, Acrylamide from vegetables and grains, and PAHs (additional carcinogens) from cooking over an open flame. Not to mention formaldehyde, carbon monoxide, and nitrous dioxide! If we don’t use a fan, those particles aren’t able to be removed from the air which causes a growth of bacteria and germs and the carbon monoxide levels will rise. 

Without a hood, appliances will not last as long

If our health isn’t a good enough reason to use a range hood fan, our pocketbooks are also worth consideration. With the byproducts of cooking being trapped in the air, this can jam up equipment and cause earlier failures.

What if there’s no room for ducts?

Ideally, we ventilate the air outdoors, but we’ve seen many situations where that simply was not in the cards. In these circumstances, a good ductless range hood will use commercial grade filters to clean the air, pulling in the polluted air and pushing it back out clean. 

We always recommend ducting out if possible because the filtration system is typically not as efficient. They may pull out the toxins, but the humidity and heat will remain which does not resolve potential mold issues. 

A ductless range hood may be used with a local extractor fan to filter out that moisture, but in a pinch, a dehumidifier in a space with a ductless range hood is suggested.

Myth: Electric/Conduction Range tops do not need ventilation

Range hood ventilation clears the air of pollutants from cooking particles in the air, and is even more pertinent when working with an open flame. Removing the open flame does not negate the need for the filtration system. In addition to the ventilation of cooking fumes, this can also reduce the chances of electrical shock or fire.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio: https://www.pexels.com/photo/stainless-steel-cooking-pot-on-stove-3768169/

Can we talk briefly about gas ranges?

Did you know that the air quality produced by gas ranges does not meet EPA standards for OUTDOORS? With that much more opportunity for air movement, we should all think twice (or as many times as it takes) to just say no to gas appliances.

As a sustainable design firm, we made a promise a long time ago to never specify unnecessary plastic products (vinyl floors, vinyl windows, acrylic hardware or furnishings, etc.). We are extending that promise to never specify gas equipment. We understand that this can be hard to avoid when a home is already plumbed for gas, but we do not want to contribute to toxic indoor air quality, so when a gas stove is desired, we will connect you with our rep and allow you to manage this selection independently.

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Best Practices

1. Use the Range Hood: Even a range hood will not clean the air completely, but using one is an absolute must. 

2. Size the Hood properly: While we all want our hoods to disappear, the bigger they are and closer they are to the burners, the better. We always size up 6” at a minimum from the cooktop (a 30” range should have a 36” minimum hood. 

3. Cook on the back burners first: When possible, opt for the rear burners rather than those closer. The air draw is better near the back of the range.

4. Prior to turning on the burners, turn on the fan, and opt for the lowest setting: Don’t wait for smoke, turning on the highest setting (yes, we’ve all been guilty of this!). When the higher setting is needed, open a window, if you do not have an air makeup system (if you don’t know, you probably don’t have one, so just crack those windows open!). When you’re done cooking, wait 5-10 minutes before turning the fan off.

5. Choose smart fans: If you’re shopping for a new range hood, ask for one that has technology such as particle and heat-sensing devices so that the fan kicks on to clean the air whenever necessary.

6. Reinstall your smoke detector: Keep that smoke and carbon monoxide detector installed near the kitchen and when it makes a bunch of noise, know that the adjustment needs to be the use of the fan and cooking care, not the removal of the detector (ahem, as we go to reinstall ours right now).

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