Shopping for a range hood may feel like an overwhelming task. How do you decide between a 42” ducted range hood with a tempered glass canopy and a 30” under cabinet ductless range hood? It may feel super confusing right now. That’s why we put together this easy-to-use Range Hood Specification Cheat Sheet to help you get the shopping for your home remodeling project out of the way.
Mounting Style
• Wall Mount Range Hood – This range hood is mounted on the wall above the cooking surface. A chimney hides the ductwork and runs up the ceiling.
• Under Cabinet Range Hood – This range hood is mounted under a cabinet against a wall above the cooking surface. These models do not include a chimney.
• Island Range Hood – This range hood is mounted from the ceiling above cooking surfaces located on a kitchen island. They hang from the ceiling via the chimney.
Size
Range hoods come in many sizes for different kitchen projects. The range hood should be as wide as the range or cooking surface. Ideally, there should be an additional three inches on each side. Make sure the range hood will cover the back burners and half of the front burners. In general, range hoods will be mounted 30 inches above the cooking surface, but check the manufacturer’s manual for installation.
Ducted
Ducted range hoods operate via ductwork to ventilate air to the outside of the room. This ductwork may exit through the wall or the ceiling. Ducted range hoods capture grease with baffle filters or aluminum filters.
Ductless
No ductwork is used with a ductless range hood. These models filter air in the kitchen and re-circulate it back into the kitchen. They use charcoal filters to capture grease.
CFM
CFM = cubic feet per minute
CFM measures the power of the range hood. This is how much airflow the unit is capable of moving. To put it as simply as possible, if you do a lot of cooking, especially frying, you will want a range hood with a higher CFM rating.
The following is a guideline for how much CFM you need in your range hood, depending on the type of cooking surface and mounting style.
• 100 CFM = 1 BTU (for gas ranges)
• 100 CFM = each 12” of range (electric ranges & wall mount range hoods)
• 150 CFM = each 12” of range (electric ranges & island range hoods)
Sones
A sone measures the level of sound that a fan makes. Sones are also used to describe the noise level of a range hood.
The following scale illustrates how sounds are measured with sones:
• 1 sone = running refrigerator
• 2 sones = office environment
• 4 sones = television
• 64 sones = jack hammer
If noise level is an issue for your household, purchase a range hood with high CFM and run it at a lower speed level to reduce noise.
We hope this cheat sheet helps you in your search for the perfect kitchen range hood. Visit RangeHoodsInc.com to learn more. Range Hoods Inc is the largest online distributor of kitchen range hoods. Connect with us on Houzz, Facebook and Instagram.