What to look for in a kitchen rangehood

With so many attractive designs and options for kitchen rangehoods, as always, it's a good idea to shop around to find the one that's best suited to your needs. Some things to consider before looking around include the size, design and function.

Choosing the right kitchen rangehood

Rangehoods are a really useful inclusion in the kitchen as they filter the grease, cooking fats, steam and odours out of your kitchen, which goes a long way towards protecting your cupboards, walls and ceiling from built up deposits from the use of your oven and cooktop.

Things to consider when choosing a kitchen rangehood

A good rangehood improves the quality of the air in the kitchen as it removes cooking odours and smoke. There are a number of designs and options to suit any kitchen decor and the wide choice of rangehoods means you'll be able to find one to suit your kitchen. The most important consideration though is the size. You need to establish which rangehood is going to be the most suitable in size and function for your kitchen. To help you decide, think about things like:

• Ducted or recirculating units
• Types of filters
• The most effective installation
• Fixed, slide or canopy units
• Controls and lighting

Functional rangehood designs

There are rangehoods to suit every application in the kitchen regardless of where your cooktop is situated. Ducted systems direct everything outside through the wall or roof, while recirculated systems filter and recirculate where outside ducting is not possible.

Canopy hoods are known for their excellent performance and are positioned on the wall above the cooktop and come in both ducted and recirculated, as do compact systems which are also positioned against the wall. Compact systems can be a design feature or can be built in. Tilter hoods are also built in and look just like a cupboard. The extractor, light and motor operate automatically when the door is pulled out.

The slide out model is built into the cupboard above the cooktop as well. When the hood is slid out it automatically operates the lights and motor. There are also several attractive options in hoods for island cooktops and they have excellent extraction capabilities.

Power hoods are an integrated hood for when "invisibility" is the desired effect. The powerpack hood is built into the cupboard and offers ducted a well as recirculation functions.