Cooker hoods continue to be controversial. Some individuals can’t picture their kitchen without a cooker hood since they adore them so much. Yet, some individuals believe that cooker hoods are not necessary because they find them to be unsightly and expensive. So, are cooktop hoods required? Do they require enactment into law? Yeobuild HomeStore talks you through all there is to know about cooker hoods to put a stop to this discussion.
What Do Cooker Hoods Do?
Cooker hoods eliminate smoke, steam, and aromas from the kitchen, helping to preserve clean air and preventing damage from excessive moisture. Every time you cook, particularly on the cooktop, you will inevitably create some type of air pollution. This is merely a fact of life; it is in no way an indictment of your diet. Water, steam, and smoke are emitted from the pan while your items cook.
With certain cooking methods, this effect is more noticeable. For instance, a lot of smoke is produced when you cook a steak and sear it in all the delectable juices.
Of course, there are other things that cooking on your stovetop might produce besides smoke and water vapor. As oil escapes from the pan, grease may be released into the air. This grease spreads like wildfire, turns into grease lights, and smells awful. You already know this if you’ve ever cooked fish without employing an extraction technique. However, even if you are only preparing the veggies to go with your roast, you are still emitting a lot of water vapor and steam into the air, which will settle and might even give your kitchen a slightly unattractive appearance.
Your kitchen may sustain significant damage as a result of all these cooking techniques. Your kitchen may never sustain any harm thanks to a cooker hood. In essence, a cooker hood purifies the air as you cook. It enables you to stop odors and damage from making your kitchen a bad place to be.
How Do Cooker Hoods Work?
There are primarily two primary types of cooker hoods. Your kitchen, where your cooker is located in your kitchen, and the style you think is appropriate will all influence the sort of cooker hood you purchase. Let’s examine these cooker hoods and discover their functions.
1. Extraction cooker hoods
Cooker hoods with extraction systems completely eliminate all odors, gasses, and other offensive smells from your kitchen. To do this, an extractor hood must be combined with a suitable and significant hole in the kitchen wall. Once everything undesired has been expelled outdoors, this type of cooker hood may leave your kitchen uninjured and odor-free. Extraction cooker hoods are the simplest to install and maintain, as well as the least expensive. Contrary to popular belief, the hole in your kitchen wall doesn’t lose a lot of heat or energy.
2. Recirculating cooker hoods
With the use of extraction cooker hoods, all aromas, gasses, and other offensive smells are completely eliminated from your kitchen. A suitable and sizable hole in the kitchen wall must be combined with an extractor hood in order to accomplish this. Then, this kind of cooker hood might exhaust everything bad outside, leaving your kitchen unhurt and odor-free. Extraction cooker hoods are the simplest to install and have the simplest maintenance requirements. Contrary to what you would think, the hole in your kitchen wall doesn’t lose a lot of energy or heat.
Do You Need Cooker Hoods as a Legal Requirement?
Although the majority of kitchens must have some kind of ventilation system, cooktop hoods are not legally necessary. Extract ventilation must be available in new homes in areas with higher levels of humidity or pollution, such as over an oven; to learn more, read the document here.
But what about older buildings? Let’s try to explain the legal requirements in the simplest terms possible:
- If you are redesigning a kitchen without a cooker hood, you do not need to install one. The kitchen is probably already sufficiently aired.
- If you are redesigning a kitchen and an extraction system is already in place, you must replace it with a cooker hood, a similar extraction system, or something comparable that employs an extraction technology that is rated similarly to or better than the existing system.
- Whether building a new home or adding an addition, excavation to the exterior of the home is required. The extraction rating is impacted by the extractor’s placement in the space.
What Makes Cooker Hoods A Necessity?
Some people think cooker hoods are not necessary for kitchens. Of course, this is more of a personal preference than anything else about range hoods. Cooker hoods are great in getting rid of grease and stopping odours. Installing a cooker hood directly over your cooker hob is the greatest approach to get rid of grease and smells in your kitchen. These problems will be handled for you by the cooker hood, which will keep your kitchen clean and odour-free. Also, a lot of hoods have a really chic contemporary look that instantly enhances any kitchen.
5 Benefits of Installing A Cooker Hood
1. Maintains High Air Quality in the Kitchen
Arguably, the most significant advantage of a range hood is that it purges the air in your kitchen of potentially dangerous pollutants and gases. Cooking, especially the way I cook, can occasionally include dealing with smoke, steam, and oil. If individuals nearby inhale any of these, it could have potentially harmful negative effects.
Range hoods can remove these unwelcome particles from the house and away from everyone in the kitchen with the push of a button. This helps prevent the growth of bacteria, germs, and even mold in your kitchen in addition to reducing the amount of hazardous air that you might breathe in. Nonetheless, it should be mentioned that having a HEPA air purifier operating nearby is the best defense against poor indoor air quality.
Vent hoods are fantastic for reducing the quantity of carbon monoxide that might be present in your home, in addition to the undesirable byproducts described above. Carbon monoxide has a number of health risks, and insufficient ventilation will further exacerbate any issues this dangerous gas may cause.
2. Removes Excess and Unnecessary Heat in the Kitchen
The fact that a range hood assists in removing heat from your kitchen is yet another fantastic feature. A vent hood will assist in preventing heat or steam from your cooktop from hitting you in the face and will make it significantly more pleasant for you. You can then concentrate on the recipe rather than the perspiration on your brow.
Range hoods are made to remove extra heat produced by stoves and heaters because they have a built-in fan blower. Heat is expelled out the vent, much like smoke and other airborne pollutants, which aids in maintaining a moderately cooler temperature in your kitchen. It won’t cool you off like a portable air conditioner, of course, but it will help reduce some of the heat that you unintentionally produce while cooking.
3. Provides Enhanced Kitchen Lighting
The additional lighting that a range hood offers is my favorite advantage. The light in my range hood helps me see what I’m doing when I have stuff going on my stove. It also enables me to see the mess I’m creating. Both cooking and cleaning can benefit from this. In order to make sure that food is being cooked correctly and to help prevent burning, it is crucial to be able to see what you are cooking. You will be able to see all of the grime and grease in cracks and difficult-to-reach places with the help of a range hood’s lighting. Your stovetop and kitchen equipment will appear nicer and perform better if you remove the crud and filth.
Also, the tiny light bulb in my vent hood aids in my energy-saving efforts. Sometimes, especially at night, I’ll only switch on the light over my stove instead of all five of the kitchen’s lights. When one light bulb will do just fine, why pay for the energy of five? This is what I’ve been doing for years.
4. Elevates Your Property Value
If you ask why you need a cooker hood, it’s because cooker hoods are a standard feature in every kitchen in real estate nowadays. The value of your home may potentially decline if you don’t have one. Many now take this luxury for granted, so if you don’t have one, it can make them think twice about buying your house. The value of your property may also be negatively impacted if your vent hood needs to be upgraded. Ask your realtor if they know of anyone who could install a range hood in your kitchen if you are attempting to sell your house and before you begin showing it to potential buyers.
5. Allows You to Cook and Live in Utmost Comfort
The daily satisfaction of cooking and living comfortably is one of the best benefits and reasons why you need a cooker hood. They aid in making your kitchen a tidy, welcoming space. You have the flexibility to use your imagination when it comes to your cooking by minimizing the consequences of offensive scents and stuffiness. You will be more willing to dig into your favorite meals and spend time with your family enjoying the simple pleasures in life rather than being deterred by unpleasant odors and a warm home. We would advise putting a range hood in your kitchen specifically for those small luxuries.
Need A Cooker Hood? Yeobuild HomeStore’s the Way.
There is no doubt that the question of why you need a cooker hood is answered by numerous significant advantages. These advantages safeguard your health and give your home a comfortable, hygienic atmosphere in which to live and cook. A cooker hood is a valuable addition to your house and your health, with benefits ranging from the apparent ones of protection from toxins and bad odors to the less obvious ones of a cleaner home and increased cooking creativity. Think about these priceless advantages of a cooker hood, and question no longer why you need one.
The warranty and installation requirements will vary significantly between brands. But if you make the proper choice, you’ll be cooking in style for many years to come. Explore Yeobuild HomeStore to get your hands on your very own cooker hood today!
