I am in the process of setting up a new kitchen and I am
getting frustrated about range hoods. I want a range hood
that really works (ie extracts smoke, smells and steam
efficiently) but I cannot afford to pay the earth.
Appliance shops deluge you with sales bull and explain
nothing. You can get a hood from $200 to $2000. Some of the
larger and fancier ones have more stainless steel and bells
and whistles but some look just the same and have a price
tag twice (or half) as much. When asked to explain the
difference you get "the more expensive one is better" if you
ask better in what way exactly you get told about features
but not performance. I can make my own jugements about ease
of cleaning and if I need frisbees on the thingajig or gold
plated whatsernames.
I have looked at professional cooking gear web sites but so
far it seems that you have to have qualifications in air
conditioning engineering to follow their specs and most of
the products assume a restaurant sized operation.
One web site recommends that the hood be able to extract
between 6 and 12 times the volume of the room per hour. That
is you turn over the air every 5 to 10 minutes, this seems
reasonable to me.
Does anybody have any views on that? Under what
circumstances would the upper or lower rate be appropriate?
How else might one assess the required rate?
David