Compare the Best Cooker HoodsJune 2018

Types of Cooker Hoods

Cooker hoods come in all shapes and sizes. The 3 main fitting types of are island (free hanging), wall-mounted and built-in. The hood that is best for you will be dictated mostly by the shape of your kitchen, and the position of your cooker within it.

Island

They are regularly used for kitchens where the cooker is situated in a central ‘island’ work surface. They are the most stand-out and visually impacting style of hood, and give a kitchen a modern, open-plan feel.

Wall-mounted

These hoods are attached to the wall of your kitchen directly above the hob, pulling smoke and dirty air away from the cooker. They aren’t as dramatic as island hoods, but aren’t hidden like inbuilt extractors. They can be simple as a ‘visor’ hood over the hob, or as eye-catching as giant ‘chimney hoods’ looming over the whole cooker. Wall-mounted hoods are the most common type of cooker hood, and suit all kitchens, from the very small to the larger ones.

Built-in

These hoods are generally smaller and quieter, but also come with less power. They are meant to be integrated into cupboards and ‘hidden’ away from obvious view. Because of their smaller size, they are ideal for more cramped kitchens, or places where a traditional chimney extractor hood would be too bulky.

Extraction Types

Cooker hoods work by sucking up the air given off from cooking, and either moving it to the outside through a duct or cleaning and recirculation it inside the room. Most cooker hoods can be operated both ducted and in recirculation mode.

The extraction power rating is measured in m³/h - the higher a hood’s extraction rating, the quicker it extracts air from the room.

Ducted

Ducted hoods feature a duct which channels hot air and smoke to the outside. Because they require access to the outside air (normally through a hole drilled through an outside wall), these type of hoods usually require specialist installation, or a hole from a previous installation. Extracting the air is more effective than recirculation the air.

Recirculating

Recirculating hoods take the dirty air and smoke given off from cooking, pass it through a filter to clean it, then blow it back into the kitchen. They do not require outside access, so are easier and less invasive to install, but are not as efficient at removing smoke and cooking odours as ducted hoods.

Filters

Filters serve to trap grease and smoke given off by cooking, leading to a better-smelling and cleaner kitchen. There are 2 different types of filters for cooker hoods - grease filters are important for all different types of hoods, since they help reduce the grease in the air and the smell of cooking. Carbon filters, on the other hand, are only necessary with recirculating air systems, since they strip the smoke from the air before it is recirculated back into your kitchen. These filters last about a year before they need to be replaced.

The hoods in our system are given a grease filtering efficiency grade. The better the grade, they more efficient they are at removing grease and odours from the air.

Cooker Hood Colours

Cooker hoods come in many different colours to best complement your cooker and kitchen. Most hoods can be found in plain silver, white or black but you can also find more adventurous colours - from bright red to fluorescent green - if you really want to make a statement!

Noise Level

A cooked hood is basically a large fan, so they make can make quite a lot of noise when turned on. The noise will depend on the power level of the extractor used - generally speaking the more powerful the fan, the louder it will be. Other factors such as the material used for the hood may also affect the noise level of your cooker hood.

Many hoods feature a low and high speed, with differing noise levels for each.

Extractor Fan Prices

In total we found 1443 cooker hoods ranging from £30 to £3,878. On average, a new cooker hood costs £493 and 80% of extract hoods are priced between £105 and £1,050. The Miele DA 6700 D is the most expensive extract hood that we found at £3,877, and the Baumatic BT08.8ME is the cheapest at only £30.

Extractor Fan Brands - Price Range

KitchenAid cooker hoods range in price from £1,300 to £3,000, and the highest average extract hood price out of all brands is KitchenAid cooker hoods with an average price of £1,933.

The second highest average kitchen extractor price out of all brands is Miele cooker hoods with an average price of £1,176. Miele cooker hoods start at £199 and their most expensive kitchen extractor costs £3,877.

The average price of Mercury cooker hoods is £1,164 which is the third highest average price of all cooker hood brands. Mercury cooker hoods start at £899 and their most expensive cooker hood costs £1,399.

Extract Hood Brands - Average Ratings

We have evaluated 849 user extractor fan reviews available online and used this data to calculate the average rating for each brand of extractor fan. The top three cooker hood brands are Miele, Gorenje and Bosch. Miele has an average rating of 91%, Gorenje has an average rating of 90% and Bosch has an average rating of 90%.

Biggest Extractor Fan Retailers

The biggest cooker hood retailer by number of products currently for sale is eBay. We found 781 current cooker hood offers from eBay. The second biggest retailer is Amazon UK with 556 offers. That means eBay is significantly bigger than Amazon UK when it comes to extract hoods. ao is the third biggest retailer with 416 current offers.

When Are Most New Cooker Hoods Released?

Most new cooker hoods tend to be released between April and June. That means that most of the latest cooker hood technology was released in within the last 3 months, and now is good time to buy. 188 new extractor fans were released in June 2017 making it the biggest month that year for new cooker hood releases. October was the biggest month in 2016 for new extractor fans, with 366 new extractor fans released that month. The biggest month in 2015 for new kitchen extractor releases was April, with 336 new kitchen extractors released that month.

How Fast Do Kitchen Extractor Prices Drop After Release?

New kitchen extractors drop in price by an average of 2% in the first 6 months after they wer first released. On a typical new extractor fan costing £493, by waiting 6 months before buying you could save on average £7.

Maximum Extraction Power

This denotes the maximum speed of air extraction for the cooker hood.

Comparing all extract hoods, the maximum extraction power range from 21m³/h to 1,651m³/h. The maximum extraction power of the majority of extract hoods range from 600m³/h to 700m³/h. The extractor fan with the highest maximum extraction power is the KitchenAid KEICD 12030, which is a 1,651m³/h max extraction power kitchen extractor and is available at £3,000.00. The Bosch DWJ67HM60, which is priced at £655.73, has the lowest maximum extraction power and is a 58m³/h max extraction power extractor fan.

Types

We found 1,393 kitchen extractors that are chimney / wall-mounted extract hoods, which makes chimney / wall-mounted the most frequently found type amongst new kitchen extractors. The second most frequently found type amongst new extractor fans is built-in. We found 311 extractor fans that are built-in kitchen extractors.

Noise Levels

This denotes the noise level of the cooker hood, measured in decibels (dB).

Across the range of cooker hoods, the noise levels range from 30dB to 76dB. The noise levels of most kitchen extractors range from 64dB to 68dB. The extract hood with the loudest noise level is the Indesit PHBG9.8LTSIX, which is a 76dB noise level extract hood and sells for £434.99. The kitchen extractor with the quietest noise level is the Elica Light Pyramid Island, which is a 30dB noise level cooker hood and is available at £1,291.99.

Energy Efficiency of Cooker Hoods

The Energy Efficiency Class of a cooker hood shows how well it uses energy, and how much is unnecessarily wasted. Products are ranked from G to A++ in terms of how little energy they use compared to the norm.

Amongst new cooker hoods, the most popular energy efficiency rating is A. We found 424 cooker hoods that have an energy efficiency rating of A. C is the second most common energy efficiency rating amongst new kitchen extractors. We found 337 kitchen extractors that have an energy efficiency rating of C.

Which Are the Cheapest Retailers for Extract Hoods?

The chart below helps you decide which retailer is normally cheapest for buying extract hoods. For each retailer it shows the total number of extract hoods where they currently have a market leading price. The chart below helps you decide which retailer is normally cheapest for buying extract hoods. For each retailer we took all of their prices and looked at what proportion of those prices where the cheapest on the market. The cheapest retailer that we found was eBay. 513 of their extract hood prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.

Proportion of Extractor Fans for Which Each Retailer is Cheapest?

Assessing how cheap each retailer is for extract hoods by counting the number of cheapest prices for that retailer, makes the retailers that offer the greatest number of extract hood prices more likely to offer the greatest number of cheapest prices. The chart below considers the proportion of each retailer's extract hood prices that are the cheapest compared to other retailers. The cheapest retailer that we found using this approach was eBay. 65.7% of their extract hood prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.