Compare the Best Cooker HoodsDecember 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.

Extractor Fan Prices

We currently list 103 cooker hoods ranging from $59 to $3,367. The average price of a new cooker hood is $604 and the 80% of extractor fans are priced between $158 and $1,247. The cheapest cooker hood that we found is the Cookology VISOR600SS at only $59, and the most expensive is the Elica Yin at $3,366.

Cooker Hood Brands - Price Range

Elica kitchen extractors range in price from $485 to $3,366, and the highest average kitchen extractor price out of all brands is Elica kitchen extractors with an average price of $2,015.

Smeg kitchen extractors range in price from $130 to $1,499, and the average price of Smeg kitchen extractors is $815 which is the second highest average price of all extractor fan brands.

The average price of Miele cooker hoods is $800 which is the third highest average price of all extract hood brands. Miele cooker hoods range in price from $800 to $800.

Kitchen Extractor Brands - Average Ratings

We have analysed 1 expert reviews and 1,209 user reviews for cooker hoods and used this information to calculate the average rating for each brand of cooker hood. Bosch is the top rated kitchen extractor brand with an average rating of 89%. Siemens is the second best brand with 86% and Miele is the third best brand with 86%.

Biggest Extract Hood Retailers

The biggest cooker hood retailer by number of products currently for sale is eBay. We found 44 current cooker hood offers from eBay. The second biggest retailer is Adorama with 1 offers. That means eBay is over 44 times bigger than Adorama when it comes to extractor fans.

When Are Most New Extractor Fans Released?

We looked at the release dates for new extractor fans over the last 3 years, but couldn't see any prominent pattern. In 2018 most new cooker hoods were released in June, with 167 new cooker hoods released that month. June was also the biggest month in 2017 for new extractor fans, with 103 new extractor fans released that month. 338 new kitchen extractors were released in October 2016 making it the biggest month that year for new extract hood releases.

How Fast Do Extractor Fan 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 $19 on a typical $604 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 extract hoods, the maximum extraction power range from 21m³/h to 2,500m³/h. The maximum extraction power of the majority of extractor fans range from 650m³/h to 800m³/h. The extractor fan with the highest maximum extraction power is the Siemens LF91BUV50, which is a 940m³/h max extraction power cooker hood and is priced at $1,464.95. The extract hood with the lowest maximum extraction power is the Bosch HCP30E51UC, which is a 21m³/h max extraction power kitchen extractor and currently retails for $599.00.

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.

We found 1,844 kitchen extractors that are chimney / wall-mounted extractor fans, which makes chimney / wall-mounted the most common type amongst new kitchen extractors. We found 380 kitchen extractors that are built-in extractor fans, making built-in the second most common type amongst new kitchen extractors.

Noise Levels

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

Across the range of extract hoods, the noise levels range from 24dB to 90dB. The noise levels of the majority of extractor fans range from 64dB to 68dB. The kitchen extractor with the loudest noise level is the Gorenje DFGA9575BX, which is a 72dB noise level kitchen extractor and sells for $526.17. The extractor fan with the quietest noise level is the Bosch DWK67HM60, which is a 48dB noise level kitchen extractor and is on sale for $738.08.

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 614 cooker hoods that have an energy efficiency rating of A, which makes A the most popular energy efficiency rating amongst new cooker hoods. We found 485 extractor fans that have an energy efficiency rating of C, making this the second most popular energy efficiency rating amongst new extractor fans.

Which Are the Cheapest Retailers for Extract Hoods?

The chart below helps you decide which retailer is normally cheapest for buying extractor fans. For each retailer it shows the total number of extractor fans where they currently have a market leading price. The chart below helps you decide which retailer is normally cheapest for buying extractor fans. 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. 43 of their extractor fan prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.

Proportion of Extract Hoods for Which Each Retailer is Cheapest?

Assessing how cheap each retailer is for kitchen extractors by counting the number of cheapest prices for that retailer, makes the retailers that offer the greatest number of extractor fan prices more likely to offer the greatest number of cheapest prices. The chart below considers the proportion of each retailer's extractor fan prices that are the cheapest compared to other retailers. The cheapest retailer that we found using this approach was eBay. 97.7% of their kitchen extractor prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.