Range Hood Installation near you

A ducted hood sends what it captures outdoors, moisture, heat and combustion gases included. A recirculating hood passes the air through a grease filter and usually a charcoal filter, then returns it to the kitchen, so the moisture and gases stay in the room. Natural Resources Canada advises avoiding range hoods that recirculate air back into the room, and recommends that every fan exhaust fully to the exterior with air sealing built into the installation.

Recirculating still has its place: a condo where no duct can reach an outside wall, a rental where the owner won't allow a new opening, or an island with no route through the structure above. In those cases, pick a hood whose charcoal filters are easy to find and change, and rely on the bathroom fans or the home's HRV to carry off cooking moisture. Health Canada notes that using a range hood can decrease pollutants such as fine particles, nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide, which is why ducting outdoors matters most over a gas cooktop.

Capture is a hood's ability to catch the plume of steam and smoke rising off the pans before it spreads through the kitchen. Health Canada says that, to be effective, a hood should fully extend over the stove burners, and that cooking on the back burners with the hood on its high setting helps lower humidity and reduce particles and gases by more than 80% compared with slower speeds.

Width, depth and mounting height matter as much as the fan. A hood narrower than the cooktop lets the plume slip past its edges, one mounted too high lets it spread before it arrives, and a shallow hood misses the front burners. The hood's instructions give a mounting-height range that differs for gas and electric cooktops, and the cooktop's instructions may set their own clearance, so follow the stricter of the two. A bigger fan won't rescue a hood that's too small or too high, and it brings its own noise and makeup air trade-offs.

The duct is where most installation problems begin. It should match the size of the hood's outlet listed in the instructions and run as short and straight as the house allows, since every elbow and every extra length adds resistance and cuts the airflow the fan can deliver. Smooth rigid metal duct with sealed joints is the norm for kitchen exhaust, because grease collects in the ridges of flexible duct, and many instructions limit or rule it out.

Air a hood pushes outdoors has to be replaced by air leaking or flowing in from somewhere. Natural Resources Canada points out that in winter we close up our homes while exhaust fans and other devices pump air out, and that a house depressurized too far can pull air back down a chimney or vent, especially with natural-draft heating equipment. It advises being wary of running several powerful exhaust devices at once, such as a high-capacity range hood and a clothes dryer, and avoiding combinations likely to depressurize the house, such as a natural-draft furnace with a range-top exhaust fan.

When a new range-top comes with a powerful exhaust fan, NRCan's advice is to get expert advice on balancing it on the air supply side. In practice, have an HVAC contractor, or a gas technician where fuel-burning appliances are involved, look at the house before the hood is chosen, and ask your municipality whether any makeup air rules apply to the model you're considering. Health Canada says the most important place for a carbon monoxide alarm is the hallway outside sleeping areas.

A hood gets its power either through a cord to an outlet in the cabinet above or hard-wired into a junction box, and the instructions say which. Adding an outlet, running a new circuit, moving a switch or wiring a remote blower is electrical work. In Ontario, the Electrical Safety Authority tells homeowners to hire a licensed electrical contractor to install permanent wiring and outlets. In Quebec, the CMEQ states that no one may do electrical work of any kind for others without being a licensed electrical contractor, so ask who will make the final connection. Elsewhere, check with your province's electrical safety authority.

Noise is the main reason people leave a hood off. Specifications list a loudness rating for each fan speed, so compare the rating at the speed you'll actually use, not only the quietest one. Natural Resources Canada recommends ENERGY STAR certified fans and says quieter models are worth buying. A remote or inline blower moves the motor out of the kitchen, and a duct of the right size keeps the air from roaring through a restriction.