Do you really need a cooker hood?
Boiling pots of water, frying cooking oils, simmering a fragrant meal – all of these things release particles into the air in your kitchen that linger and settle if not extracted.
A cooker hood sits above your hob and sucks up the airborne by-products of your cooking, either releasing them outside or filtering them out and recirculating clean air back into your kitchen.
But is it an unnecessary expense? Can't you save money by simply opening a window?
Our guide to the best cooker hoods will help you find the right size and style for your kitchen.
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Do cooker hoods reduce condensation?
Yes, they are supposed to. Cooker hoods are purpose-built to absorb the unwanted by-products of cooking and they're positioned in the best place to capture and remove steam, grease and odours.
However, lots of the cooker hoods we test struggle with extracting steam. This can leave your walls and ceiling wet and mould-prone, and water may drip off your cooker hood down on to your hob.
As well as condensation, unextracted steam can also cause grease to settle, leaving the tops of your cabinets sticky with fat so your kitchen needs more regular deep-cleaning.
That's why it's a good idea to read our reviews to find models that can handle your culinary adventures without turning your kitchen into a greasy sauna.
And don't forget about lingering odours either. The scent of dinner is nice to come home to, but it will overstay its welcome without good ventilation.
Use the 'Steam extraction', 'Grease extraction' and 'Odour extraction' filters on our cooker hood reviews to see which models cut it.
Cooker hood vs opening a window: which works better?
Cooker hoods can be expensive, space-consuming and tricky to install. For this reason, you might choose to simply open your windows when you boil and fry.
This age-old method isn't the worst idea, but it will leave odours, steam and airborne grease to settle in your kitchen. And in the winter, it will sap your heat and leave you shivering while you cook.
Generally speaking, a cooker hood will always do a much better job than an open window or a dehumidifier, but it depends on the circumstances.
| Open window | Cooker hood |
|---|---|
| Positioned away and to the side of your hob, the source of steam and grease. | Positioned directly above the source of steam and grease, meaning the hot air will naturally rise and funnel into it. |
| Gently releases steam as air travels from hot kitchen to colder exterior. But once the kitchen temperature matches the outdoors, this effect slows and the humidity creates condensation on surfaces. | Vigorously pulls air in through its built-in filters for as long as you have it on. |
| Causes your home’s temperature to plummet in winter. | Prevents cold draughts, improving your home’s efficiency by trading off a small operating bill against the bigger one of heating your home. |
As our table shows, there are good reasons to invest in a cooker hood. And the initial outlay is a lot more bearable when you measure the costs of water damage in your kitchen as well as the unpleasant effects of airborne oil hanging around.
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Cooker hood power ratings
Cooker hood manufacturers usually publish the power ratings of cooker hoods – though this isn't always completely accurate. It's measured in cubic metres per hour (m3/h). The higher the number, the more air your cooker hood will extract in an hour.
For the most polluting cooking tasks, such as frying, searing and boiling, the general rule of thumb is that you'll want your cooker hood to take in air at a rate of around 10-12 times the volume of air in a room per hour. The average British kitchen is 13m2, which, assuming a standard ceiling height of 2.4m, means you'd be after an hood with an extraction rate of around 370m3/h.
- For a small kitchen (up to 10m2 floorspace), as low as 300m3/h can be sufficient.
- For a medium kitchen (11-17m2 floorspace), aim for one that extracts between 300 and 500m3/h.
- For a large or open plan kitchen (18m2 or more floorspace), you'll want a cooker hood that extracts above 500m3/h.
To exchange all the air in your kitchen several times over an hour, simply opening a window won't do it. But a decent cooker hood should guarantee this level of extraction.
See how to stop condensation for more tips on keeping your home free of expensive water damage.
How much do cooker hoods cost to run?
So, cooker hoods trump open windows when it comes to extraction. However it costs money to use one, while an open window is completely free. With energy prices still a concern, you might wonder how much they cost to run, and whether they use that energy efficiently.
A cooker hood won't be the worst energy guzzler in your kitchen by a long shot. Depending on the extraction rate, which will vary depending on the size of your kitchen and the size of your hob, you're looking at between 50 to 300 watts of energy used per hour.
The issue is that cooker hoods are often run for a long time. We've recently begun recording the energy usage of the cooker hoods we test. As a baseline, we consider one hour of use per day as representative of average use.
Our cooker hood tests show that – on average and according to the current electricity price cap of 24.5p per kWh for direct debit customers – it costs around £10.22 a year to run a cooker hood for a full hour every day.
- The most expensive cooker hood we've tested, a powerful 90cm-wide model, cost £19.95 per year to run for an hour per day.
- The cheapest cooker hood we've tested, fit for small kitchens, cost just £2.26 per year to run for an hour per day.
If you compare this against the cost of cleaning mould, mildew and accumulated grease from your kitchen, or the cost of reheating your home after losing heat through an open window, it's not bad value at all.
How to save money when running a cooker hood
To help you save money, it's best to only turn on the cooker hood when your cooking starts to evaporate water and oil.
Most cooker hoods have a 'boost mode' which makes extraction more vigorous for a short period of time, usually 15 minutes.
Boost mode uses more wattage, but if you can switch off your cooker hood after 15 minutes rather than 30, it's likely you'll save some energy overall.
Go to how much your appliances cost to run to see the average running cost for the most common appliances, and get tips on saving energy.