Opting for a rangehood installation in your kitchen not only adds a modern, high-tech touch to your fittings – it plays a very important role in maintaining air quality while you’re using your stove.
The benefits of installing a rangehood
The basic function of an oven stove rangehood installation is to extract unpleasant odours and irritants from the air that are given off while you’re cooking. It can also help to filter out grease that’s caused when fat in food interacts with hot water and splashes out of a pan. The fat doesn’t actually evaporate and enter the air you breathe, but it falls onto your cooktop and other kitchen surfaces, creating that unpleasant grease build-up.
Some people are more susceptible to irritants in the air than others, so installing a rangehood for your stove can prevent nose, throat or eye irritation caused by cooking. If you have a gas stove, a rangehood installation can also reduce the level of carbon monoxide in the air by drawing it outside your house through a duct.
Rangehoods also get rid of excess heat and steam, something we Melbourne residents certainly appreciate on hot and humid days.
Choosing the right kind of rangehood installation
Broadly speaking, there are three main types of rangehoods available on the Australian market, each offering pros and cons in what they do and their installation requirements.
Ducted rangehoods
Ducted rangehoods are currently considered to be the most effective at removing unpleasant substances from the air above your stove. They do this by physically removing the air and sending it through a duct to the outside of your kitchen.
This pretty much ensures complete evacuation of irritants and grease while you’re cooking. However, it does require a more intrusive rangehood installation due to the duct work. Ducts are typically created inside the wall to which the rangehood is attached.
Ducted oven stove rangehood installation can take quite a while, up to four hours, depending on where your stove is. Its location in your kitchen can affect the length of the duct, and whether you need a single straight one or a series of ducts to create turns. Ducted rangehood installation is simplest when your stove is against a wall and the duct can be placed from the top of the hood to your ceiling.
Ductless rangehoods
These rangehoods don’t physically remove the air. Instead, they filter it to remove the irritants from the air and recycle it into your kitchen. Charcoal filters are the most commonly used. While this is an efficient method, it doesn’t completely clean the air in your kitchen as well as does physically removing contaminants using a duct system.
That said, because ducts don’t need to be created, you’ll save on both rangehood installation time and cost. They’re also great if you have a small kitchen, as they create very good ventilation without taking up a lot of space.
Downdraft rangehoods
Downdraft stove over rangehood installations work in the opposite way. Instead of drawing air up and away from your stove, they push the contaminated air down into an exhaust fan that expels it through a duct.
On the whole, these rangehoods can be just as effective as that suck air upwards, but they’re not as good at removing grease from the air. They can also be a bit more challenging to instal, and you might not have the right kitchen layout for one. Furthermore, these rangehood installations tend to be a bit more expensive.
Wall mounted or ceiling mounted rangehood installation?
You can choose to have your rangehood mounted on a wall next to your stove or attached to your ceiling.
Wall mounted rangehoods
Wall mounted rangehoods are more popular, as they’re the easiest to place and instal and are usually the most affordable. They’re typically installed inside cabinets above your cooktop for cosmetic purposes.
If you’ve chosen a ducted rangehood, the ducting is either channelled above the cabinets and out through the ceiling, or through the adjacent wall.
Advantages of wall mounted rangehood installation
A wall-mounted rangehood installation is usually the most convenient solution for most kitchens. There are plenty of variations to choose from, such as a canopy rangehood, a fixed rangehood or a slide-out rangehood. This is also the most affordable type of installation, compared to ceiling-mounted or downdraft rangehoods. They have a wide catchment area and suitable depth to allow them to extract a large volume of air.
Ceiling mounted rangehoods
Ceiling mounted rangehoods have become more popular in modern homes, especially in more well-appointed kitchens. These look similar to wall mounted rangehoods and are also placed above the cooktop. However, they use an exhaust system where the ducts are connected to a roof vent
Advantages of ceiling mounted rangehood installation
A ceiling mounted rangehood gives your kitchen a more modern, minimalist look. They are also easier to manoeuvre during installation, so they can be placed precisely in the right position above your cooktop – whereas mounting a hood to the wall often offsets it from the centre.
It also offers more flexibility to adapt to the design of your kitchen. These hoods are particularly suitable for island cooktops, for instance. Another advantage is that the installation can take less time to finish and be more cost-effective, as there is no need to create ducts inside a wall.
The importance of using a certified electrician for rangehood installation
Rangehood installation can be both a tricky and hazardous business, involving electrical wiring and a detailed knowledge of duct design, placement and creation.
Furthermore the Australian building authorities require that certain standards are adhered to. For example, these prescribe the minimum distance that must be kept between your cooktop and the rangehood. This can vary according to the type of stove you have, so electricians must have full knowledge of all the relevant regulations that apply to your specific job.
STL Electrical has a number of highly experienced and certified Melbourne electricians who specialise in rangehood installation. We comply with all Victoria and Australian standards.
Contact us and we’ll help you choose the best option for your kitchen, and carry out efficient and cost-effective rangehood installation.
