Oil rubbed bronze custom range hood with blackened steel trim

Custom Range Hoods

Milton Ontario Canada November 2010

Oil rubbed bronze range hood with blackened steel bands, lip trim and crown molding - a great looking hood and excellent choice on the finishes

PS33 style with oil rubbed bronze body, blackened steel bands, crown and lip trim - turned out very nice

What is so special about our range hoods

We have been challenged in the past as to why our range hoods are so expensive. This blog explains why our range hoods are superior to most other kitchen hoods in the market:

1.     We use the highest grade of stainless steel and other metals such as copper for all of our range hoods

1.     Stainless steel comes in various grades - we use 304 which will not develop rust streaks over time - these are thin lines of rust that push through because there is a high percentage of iron in the stainless steel

2.     A simple test to check if your range hood is premium stainless or has a high iron content is to place a magnet on the hood - if it sticks then it is not 304

2.     Our copper range hoods for instance are made from solid copper - we do not use a thin sheet of copper applied over steel

3.     Most of our range hoods are supplied with 304 series dishwasher safe baffle filters - these unlike typical aluminum mesh filters are near indestructible and will never require replacing

1.     Baffle filters also do a far better job of capturing contaminants at higher speed

2.     These filters are typically quieter than mesh filters and will not choke under excessive smoke and steam conditions.

4.     We offer the option of mesh filters and even these are made from 304 stainless steel casing that covers the entire surface of the filter.

5.     During the construction of the hood we use whats called double wall construction  - this ensures that the hood body is rigid and will not flex or vibrate which contributes to a noisy hood fan

6.     The lighting systems on the range hoods are 120v halogen floods as distinct from low voltage lighting - the use of low voltage lighting introduces a transformer into the electrics which typical stay connected 24/7 resulting in a high failure rate of these transformers

7.     The blower and lighting controls are solid state rheostat which enables the user to have very precise control of the setting on both the blower and lights. This means that the lights and blower can be "dialed" up to the exact intensity required - there is no plastic or switching parts that can fail or become encrusted with grease. The knobs on these controls are also solid metal.

8.     Every hood is made by hand - we do not use a robotic production line as we focus our attention on the finished product and the desired look of the hood

9.     The blowers  are top of the line and considered one of the quietest and most reliable in the world

10.   We do not compromise quality - our focus is on making the best range hood from top of the line materials and we therefore do not attempt to compete on price

Hopefully the above provides a brief insight into why our hoods rank as one of the best manufactured range hoods in the world.

Questions and Answers

Here are some of the typical questions we get on kitchen range hoods and kitchen ventilation in general:
Q.
How often should i clean my filters
 
A.
We always recomend weekly or at least every two weeks. Why so often - well the purpose of the range hood filters is to collect the grease and solid contaminents in the vapor from the cook top. It therefore makes sense that regular cleaning will stop these contaminents from congealing on the filters. Most filters are dishwasher safe. Another tip is to ensure that the filters are "dried off" before re-installing them otherwise water will drip down onto the cooking surface or worse still if the fan is powered up before they are dry it could suck water up into the motor.
 
Q.
How wide should the hood fan or range hood be
 
A.
Ideally the hood should be 6" wider for a wall mount hood. For an island mount hood it is advisable to make the island deeper than the cook top as well - say 27" instead of 24". Earlier we discussed how vapor expands as it rises - thats why we recomend wider. Islands in particular are exposed to cross drafts and this further contributes to the challenge of capturing all those rising vapors.
 
Q.
Are baffle filters better than mesh filters
 
A.
In our opinion yes. Baffle filters are more effective, because of their unique design at capturing the smoke and steam than mesh filters and they are generally quieter than mesh filters. Quieter is really only an issue with high powered fans where we always try to minimize the noise of airflow. They are also more expensive!!!
 
Q.
Why do you need a range hood
 
A.
Cooking creates vapor that is laden with grease, moisture and of course some pretty powerful odors. Without an effective range hood those odors and grease laden vapor will drift through the home and attach to fabrics and surfaces. Allied to this is our homes have become extremely air tight - we dont have our windows and doors open anymore because of the AC or heating system - so all of these bad vapors get absorbed into the fabric, carpeting and onto the solid surfaces.
 
Q.
How Powerful should the exhaust blower be for my range hood?

A.
Typically the manufacturer of the cooking appliance specifies how powerful and how high the range hood should be above the stove. In the absence of this information call the stove supplier or you can use the industry rule of thumb as a guideline - 1cfm of range hood power for every 100btu of cook top output. This formula takes the maximum btu output of the cooktop - assuming the worst case scenario that all burners (gas) are on at the same time. So for example a 60 000btu gas stove top would need about 600cfm. Electric or induction cook tops are a little different - the rule of thumb here is 100cfm for every 10" of cook top - so a 30" electric cook top would need say 300cfm minimum. There are of course other factors involved not the least of which is the ducting. At Custom Range Hoods we offer hoods in 400cfm, 600cfm, 1000cfm and 1400cfm or multiples of these - yes sometimes 1400cfm is not enough - we recently completed a project with a 10' wide hood and 2400cfm external blowers.

Q.
How big should the ductwork be for the range hood

A.
Firstly one should size the duct as a minimum for the cfm that the blower is exhausting. Secondly one must factor in how many bends and how long is the duct run - it makes sense that a 200ft duct run of 6" will be less effective than a 20ft duct run of 6". Bends in ductwork seriously degrade the efficiency of the duct run - for example rather use two 45 degree bends slightly spaced than one 90 degree bend. Finally factor in whether an internal or external blower system is being used - external blowers are more efficient than internal blowers by about 20% - its easier to pull the heavy vapor laden air through the duct than to push it. Now there is as far as we know no scientific formulas or wizadry involved here. So you are now totally confused right - the answer is always oversize the ducting when in doubt - thats all we do - 600cfm = minimum 6" duct ideally 8"; 1000cfm = minimum 8" and 10" would be nice, over 1000cfm minimum 10" duct - or equivalents in rectangular ducting. If you have a really bad duct run and no other way to do it - go with and external blower.

Q.
How high should the range hood be above the cook top?

A.
The hood manufacturers specify this distance in their installation instructions.Code in most provinces or states specify a minimum of 30" distance to a combustible surface - we always advice our clients to set the hood at a minimum of 30" = if the filters get laden with grease because the filters haven't been cleaned for a year - that in our opinion constitutes a combustible surface. No jokes aside - 30" minimum is a convenient height and 34" maximum. Of interest to consider that for every 30" that vapor rises it expands outwards 3" - so if the hood is set at 60", which is totally ineffective, the vapors would have expanded outwards at least 6" in all directions - so the hood would in this case have to be 12" wider than the cooktop