Compare the Best Cooker HoodsJanuary 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

We currently list 1338 extractor fans ranging from £29 to £3,479. The average price of a new extract hood is £467 and 80% of extractor fans are priced between £104 and £999. The Essentials C60SHDX17 is the cheapest cooker hood at only £29, and Best HOOD-BE-EN-12-WH is the most expensive at £3,479.

Extract Hood Brands - Price Range

The highest average kitchen extractor price out of all brands is KitchenAid extractor fans with an average price of £2,250. KitchenAid extractor fans start at £1,500 and their most expensive kitchen extractor costs £3,000.

Best extractor fans range in price from £110 to £3,479, and the average price of Best extractor fans is £1,215 which is the second highest average price of all extractor fan brands.

The average price of Miele kitchen extractors is £1,186 which is the third highest average price of all extractor fan brands. Miele kitchen extractors start at £263 and their most expensive extractor fan costs £3,299.

Extract Hood Brands - Average Ratings

We have evaluated 1 expert reviews and 1,040 user reviews for kitchen extractors and used this data to evaluate the average rating for each brand of extract hood. The top three extractor fan brands are Bosch, CDA and Zanussi. Bosch has an average rating of 63%, CDA has an average rating of 58% and Zanussi has an average rating of 50%.

Biggest Cooker Hood Retailers

The biggest kitchen extractor retailer by number of products currently for sale is eBay. We found 748 current kitchen extractor offers from eBay. The second biggest retailer is AO with 359 offers. That means eBay is more than twice as big as AO when it comes to kitchen extractors. Appliance City is the third biggest retailer with 357 current offers.

When Are Most New Extract Hoods Released?

Over the last 3 years we couldn't see any prominent pattern in the release month for new extractor fans. 170 new cooker hoods were released in June 2018 making it the biggest month that year for new extractor fan releases. In 2017 most new extract hoods were released in June as well, with 105 new extract hoods released that month. In October 2016, 350 new extractor fans were released making it the biggest month that year for new kitchen extractor releases.

How Fast Do Extractor Fan Prices Drop After Release?

New extractor fans drop in price by an average of 2% in the first 6 months after they wer first released. On a typical new cooker hood costing £467, by waiting 6 months before buying you could save on average £8.

Maximum Extraction Power

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

Comparing all kitchen extractors, the maximum extraction power range from 21m³/h to 2,500m³/h. The maximum extraction power of the majority of cooker hoods range from 650m³/h to 800m³/h. The KitchenAid KEICD 12030, 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 Bosch DWJ67HM60, which is available at £668.19, 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 extractor fans, the most frequently found type is chimney / wall-mounted. We found 1,663 extractor fans that are chimney / wall-mounted extractor fans. We found 363 extract hoods that are built-in extractor fans, making built-in the second most common type amongst new extract 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 the majority of extract hoods range from 64dB to 68dB. The extractor fan with the loudest noise level is the Hotpoint PHBG9.8LTSIX, which is a 76dB noise level extractor fan and is on sale for £377.00. The cooker hood with the quietest noise level is the Hotpoint PHBS6.8FLTIX, which is a 35dB noise level extract hood and is available at £285.00.

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.

Amongst new extractor fans, the most common energy efficiency rating is A. We found 530 extractor fans that have an energy efficiency rating of A. We found 418 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 eBay. 562 of their cooker 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. 75.1% of their extractor fan prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.