Compare the Best Cooker HoodsMarch 2019

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.

Cooker Hood Prices

Kitchen extractors range in price from £20 to £3,479 and in total we found prices for 1384 kitchen extractors. A new cooker hood costs on average £468 and 80% of cooker hoods are priced between £103 and £992. The Best HOOD-BE-EN-12-WH is the most expensive kitchen extractor that we found at £3,479, and the Electrolux EFC62380OX is the cheapest at only £20.

Extract Hood Brands - Price Range

KitchenAid extractor fans start at £1,500 and their most expensive cooker hood costs £3,000. The average price of KitchenAid extractor fans is £2,250 which is the highest average price of all cooker hood brands.

The second highest average cooker hood price out of all brands is Miele kitchen extractors with an average price of £1,235. Miele kitchen extractors range in price from £286 to £3,299.

The third highest average extract hood price out of all brands is Best extract hoods with an average price of £1,197. Best extract hoods start at £110 and their most expensive extract hood costs £3,479.

Kitchen Extractor Brands - Average Ratings

We have evaluated 1 expert reviews and 1,021 user reviews for kitchen extractors and used this data to evaluate the average rating for each brand of extractor fan. The top three kitchen extractor brands are AEG, CDA and Bosch. AEG has an average rating of 92%, CDA has an average rating of 90% and Bosch has an average rating of 89%.

Biggest Kitchen Extractor Retailers

The biggest cooker hood retailer by number of products currently for sale is eBay. We found 827 current cooker hood offers from eBay. The second biggest retailer is Appliance City with 364 offers. That means eBay is more than twice as big as Appliance City when it comes to cooker hoods. AO is the third biggest retailer with 346 current offers.

When Are Most New Kitchen Extractors Released?

We couldn't see any obvious pattern in the release dates for new extract hoods over the last 3 years. Last year most new extractor fans were released in June, with 167 new extractor fans released that month. 103 new extract hoods were released in June 2017 making it the biggest month that year as well for new cooker hood releases. The biggest month in 2016 for new kitchen extractor releases was October, with 346 new kitchen extractors released that month.

How Fast Do Kitchen Extractor Prices Drop After Release?

In the first 6 months after release, kitchen extractors drop in price by 1% on average. If you are prepared to wait then you could save an average of £7 on a typical £468 new kitchen extractor 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 extractor fans, the maximum extraction power range from 21m³/h to 2,500m³/h. The maximum extraction power of most kitchen extractors range from 650m³/h to 800m³/h. The KitchenAid KEICD 12030, which is available at £3,000.00, has the highest maximum extraction power and is a 1,651m³/h max extraction power kitchen extractor. The Bosch DWJ67HM60, which is available at £384.76, has the lowest maximum extraction power and is a 58m³/h max extraction power cooker hood.

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.

Amongst new cooker hoods, the most frequently found type is chimney / wall-mounted. We found 1,711 cooker hoods that are chimney / wall-mounted extractor fans. We found 378 cooker hoods that are built-in cooker hoods, making this the second most common type amongst new cooker hoods.

Noise Levels

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

The noise levels of extract hoods range from 24dB to 90dB. The noise levels of most extractor fans range from 64dB to 68dB. The kitchen extractor with the loudest noise level is the Hotpoint PHBG9.8LTSIX, which is a 76dB noise level kitchen extractor and can be purchased for £345.00. The Hotpoint PHBS6.8FLTIX, which sells for £256.97, has the quietest noise level and is a 35dB noise level extract hood.

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.

A is the most popular energy efficiency rating amongst new extractor fans. We found 544 extractor fans that have an energy efficiency rating of A. We found 424 cooker hoods that have an energy efficiency rating of C, making C the second most popular energy efficiency rating amongst new cooker hoods.

Which Are the Cheapest Retailers for Kitchen Extractors?

The chart below helps you decide which retailer is normally cheapest for buying extractor fans. For each retailer it shows the total number of extractor fans 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. 639 of their extract hood prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.

Proportion of Kitchen Extractors 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. 77.3% of their kitchen extractor prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.