Compare the Best Cooker HoodsSeptember 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.

Extract Hood Prices

The price range of extractor fans is from £24 to £3,000 and in total we found prices for 1402 extractor fans. On average, a new extract hood costs £458 and 80% of extractor fans are priced between £100 and £987. The most expensive cooker hood that we found is the KitchenAid KEICD12030 at £3,000, and the cheapest is the Essentials C60SHDX17 at only £25.

Extract Hood Brands - Price Range

The average price of NOVY kitchen extractors is £1,870 which is the highest average price of all extractor fan brands. NOVY kitchen extractors start at £1,870 and their most expensive extractor fan costs £1,870.

The average price of KitchenAid extract hoods is £1,419 which is the second highest average price of all cooker hood brands. KitchenAid extract hoods range in price from £576 to £3,000.

Ilve extract hoods start at £845 and their most expensive kitchen extractor costs £1,639. The third highest average kitchen extractor price out of all brands is Ilve extract hoods with an average price of £1,224.

Extractor Fan Brands - Average Ratings

We have evaluated 1 expert reviews and 1,220 user reviews for extract hoods and used these reviews to determine the average rating for each brand of cooker hood. The top rated extract hood brand is Bosch with an average rating of 89%. The second best brand is Miele with 88% and the third best brand is Siemens with 86%.

Biggest Extract Hood Retailers

We found 435 current offers for cooker hoods from AO making it the biggest extractor fan retailer. That is slightly bigger than the second biggest retailer, Boots Kitchen Appliances for whom we found 372 current offers for cooker hoods. The third biggest retailer is Appliances Direct with 365 current extractor fan offers.

When Are Most New Extractor Fans Released?

We couldn't see any clear trend in the release dates for new extractor fans over the last 3 years. In June 2018, 166 new cooker hoods were released making it the biggest month that year for new kitchen extractor releases. June was also the biggest month in 2017 for new kitchen extractors, with 103 new kitchen extractors released that month. In 2016 most new cooker hoods were released in October, with 343 new cooker hoods released that month.

How Fast Do Kitchen Extractor Prices Drop After Release?

New kitchen extractors drop in price by an average of 3% in the first 6 months after they were first released.

If you are prepared to wait then you could save an average of £12 on a typical £457 new extract hood by waiting 6 months before buying.

Maximum Extraction Power

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

Comparing all extractor fans, the maximum extraction power range from 21m³/h to 2,500m³/h. The maximum extraction power of most extractor fans range from 650m³/h to 800m³/h. The KitchenAid KEICD12030, which is on sale for £3,000.00, has the highest maximum extraction power and is a 1,651m³/h max extraction power cooker hood. The kitchen extractor with the lowest maximum extraction power is the Bosch DWJ67HM60, which is a 58m³/h max extraction power extract hood and can be purchased for £682.72.

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.

The most common type amongst new extractor fans is chimney / wall-mounted. We found 1,820 extractor fans that are chimney / wall-mounted extractor fans. Built-in is the second most popular type amongst new cooker hoods. We found 382 cooker hoods that are built-in extractor fans.

Noise Levels

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

The noise levels of cooker hoods range from 24dB to 90dB. The noise levels of the majority of extractor fans range from 64dB to 68dB. The cooker hood with the loudest noise level is the Whirlpool WHVS90FLTCK, which is a 76dB noise level extract hood and is on sale for £778.00. The extractor fan with the quietest noise level is the Hotpoint HTS93G, which is a 35dB noise level extract hood and can be purchased for £199.00.

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 605 extractor fans that have an energy efficiency rating of A, which makes A the most popular energy efficiency rating amongst new extractor fans. We found 479 extract hoods that have an energy efficiency rating of C, making this the second most common energy efficiency rating amongst new extract hoods.

Which Are the Cheapest Retailers for Kitchen Extractors?

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 kitchen extractors. 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 Boots Kitchen Appliances. 156 of their kitchen extractor 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 extractor fans by counting the number of cheapest prices for that retailer, makes the retailers that offer the greatest number of kitchen extractor prices more likely to offer the greatest number of cheapest prices. The chart below considers the proportion of each retailer's kitchen extractor prices that are the cheapest compared to other retailers. The cheapest retailer that we found using this approach was Boots Kitchen Appliances. 41.9% of their extract hood prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.