Compare the Best Cooker HoodsOctober 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.

Extract Hood Prices

We currently list 1517 extractor fans ranging from £24 to £9,999. On average, a new cooker hood costs £521 and 80% of extract hoods are priced between £109 and £1,100. The Essentials C60SHDX17 is the cheapest cooker hood at only £25, and Guzzanti GZ 420 is the most expensive at £9,999.

Extractor Fan Brands - Price Range

Guzzanti extract hoods range in price from £9,999 to £9,999, and the average price of Guzzanti extract hoods is £9,999 which is the highest average price of all kitchen extractor brands.

The average price of Gaggenau extractor fans is £3,900 which is the second highest average price of all kitchen extractor brands. Gaggenau extractor fans start at £2,057 and their most expensive kitchen extractor costs £5,118.

KitchenAid extractor fans range in price from £500 to £3,000, and the average price of KitchenAid extractor fans is £1,667 which is the third highest average price of all extract hood brands.

Extractor Fan Brands - Average Ratings

We have checked 1,705 user kitchen extractor reviews written online and used this data to evaluate the average rating for each brand of kitchen extractor. The top three extractor fan brands are Bosch, CDA and Siemens. Bosch has an average rating of 91%, CDA has an average rating of 88% and Siemens has an average rating of 85%.

Biggest Cooker Hood Retailers

We found 780 current offers for kitchen extractors from eBay making it the biggest cooker hood retailer. That is slightly bigger than the second biggest retailer, Amazon UK for whom we found 750 current offers for kitchen extractors. The third biggest retailer is ao with 377 current cooker hood offers.

When Are Most New Extractor Fans Released?

Most new extract hoods tend to be released between April and June. If you want the latest cooker hood technology you may be best waiting until April 2019. Also the price of the current extract hoods may drop off just before the latest models are released in April. June was the biggest month last year for new kitchen extractors, with 186 new kitchen extractors released that month. In October 2016 356 new extractor fans were released making it the biggest month that year for new extract hood releases. In 2015 most new kitchen extractors were released in April, with 340 new kitchen extractors released that month.

How Fast Do Extract Hood Prices Drop After Release?

New kitchen extractors drop in price by an average of 3% in the first 6 months after they wer first released. That means that on a typical extractor fan costing £521 you could save on average £16 by waiting 6 months before buying.

Maximum Extraction Power

'Max Extraction Power' denotes the maximum speed of air extraction for the cooker hood.

Across the range of kitchen extractors, the maximum extraction power range from 21m³/h to 2,500m³/h. The maximum extraction power of most extract hoods range from 650m³/h to 800m³/h. The extract hood with the highest maximum extraction power is the KitchenAid KEICD 12030, which is a 1,651m³/h max extraction power kitchen extractor and can be purchased for £3,000.00. The extractor fan with the lowest maximum extraction power is the Bosch DWJ67HM60, which is a 58m³/h max extraction power extractor fan and is on sale for £661.32.

Types

The type of the cooker hood denotes it's case design, such as wall mounted or integrated. Different kitchen designs will favour different types of hood.

We found 1,547 kitchen extractors that are chimney / wall-mounted kitchen extractors, which makes this the most popular type amongst new kitchen extractors. Built-in is the second most frequently found type amongst new extract hoods. We found 338 extract hoods that are built-in extract hoods.

Noise Levels

'Noise Level' denotes the noise level of the cooker hood, measured in decibels (dB).

Across the range of extract hoods, the noise levels range from 24dB to 90dB. The noise levels of the majority of extractor fans range from 64dB to 68dB. The extractor fan with the loudest noise level is the Faber EGEA X 90, which is a 90dB noise level cooker hood and currently retails for £133.28. The cooker hood with the quietest noise level is the Orbegozo DS 76190 N, which is a 24dB noise level cooker hood and is priced at £252.29.

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.

We found 477 cooker hoods that have an energy efficiency rating of A, which makes this the most common energy efficiency rating amongst new cooker hoods. C is the second most common energy efficiency rating amongst new extract hoods. We found 377 extract hoods 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 kitchen extractors. For each retailer it shows the total number of kitchen extractors where they currently have a market leading price. The chart below helps you decide which retailer is normally cheapest for buying cooker 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. 535 of their extractor fan prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.

Proportion of Extract Hoods for Which Each Retailer is Cheapest?

Assessing how cheap each retailer is for kitchen extractors by counting the number of cheapest prices for that retailer, makes the retailers that offer the greatest number of extractor fan prices more likely to offer the greatest number of cheapest prices. The chart below considers the proportion of each retailer's extractor fan prices that are the cheapest compared to other retailers. The cheapest retailer that we found using this approach was eBay. 68.6% of their cooker hood prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.