How To Clean A Cooker Hood
A cooker hood protects your kitchen against all those nasty airborne grease and smoke particles, and keeps your home smelling fresh and damp-free. Whilst doing all of this good work, a cooker hood takes its fair share of punishment, and therefore requires regular maintenance if it’s to remain effective at protecting your kitchen. We’ve put together some practical tips on how to clean your cooker hood and how to keep it well maintained.
Cleaning A Stainless Steel Hood
Stainless steel hoods are one of the most common hood types found in UK kitchens. If properly cleaned, they look great; if neglected, they can quickly start to appear run down. In order to clean your stainless steel hood, you’ll need the following products to hand:
- Bicarbonate of soda
- A bowl
- A kettle
- Stainless steel oven cleaner
- Jay-cloth
- Sponge
- An old toothbrush
- Baby oil (or WD40)
First, mix a couple of teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda into some boiling water. Next, gently wash the solution over the top of the hood using a sponge. This should loosen the grease and get it moving, so that it can be removed.
There are many different cleaning products which are designed specifically to tackle steel surfaces. Make use of these. Spray across the top of the hood and wipe with a gentle cloth, like a jay-cloth or soft sponge. Avoid harsh brushes, especially wire ones – these will mark the steel.
If you’re performing a deep clean, you’ll want to clean the underside of the hood, too. If there are any hard-to-reach crevices there, then an old, soft toothbrush can work wonders.
How To Clean A Glass Cooker Hood
Glass hoods can be cleaned using a similar process to steel ones, with some subtle differences.
To clean your glass cooker hood you’ll need:
- Rubber gloves
- Bicarbonate of soda
- A jay-cloth
- Bowl
- Soft cloth
- Paper towels
- Glass cleaner
- Baby oil
As surfaces go, glass is a great deal more delicate than steel. Blemishes are much easier to inflict, and once they’re there, they’ll show up far more clearly.
Bicarbonate of soda is just as useful when it comes to cleaning a glass cooker hood. It’s harsh enough to clean off that caked-on grease, yet not so harsh that it will destroy the glass. Mix a couple of heaped teaspoons into a bowl with boiling water, and use a soft cloth to wipe your new solution over the hood. Start with the top, and then move onto the underside. You can use your paper towels to dry it off as you go.
If you’ve done this correctly, the offending grease should be all but eradicated - but our job isn’t quite done. Next, apply a layer of glass cleaner and wipe with your jay-cloth. At this point, many suggest adding a layer of baby oil in order to achieve that immaculate shine, and remove any remaining fingerprints.
Cleaning Cooker Hood Filters
Whichever style of cooker hood you’ve got, it will come with a metal grease filter. This mesh is designed to catch grease particles. Over time, grease will accumulate to the point that it becomes dangerous. While many other sorts of filter are designed to be removed and replaced, grease filters are designed to be cleaned regularly.
Fortunately, cleaning these filters is simple. You’ll need:
- Bicarbonate of soda
- Degreasing soap
- Paper towels
- A scrubbing brush
- A bowl or sink large enough to accommodate your filters
Mix a couple of heaped teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda with the degreasing soap, then pour on some hot water – the hotter the better. Boiling water from a kettle is ideal. Mix it well using your brush, and then submerge your filters. After a good ten-minute soak, the mixture should have loosened the grease to the point that you can scrub it off.
You should now be looking at a sparkling clean filter. All that remains is to give it a rinse and dry with the paper towels, and to put it back in the hood. Monthly washes are usually enough to keep a hood functioning at its best.
Many designs can be washed in a dishwasher, but if you’re going to do that, you should do so before the grease really gets a chance to build up. This is because the cleaning cycle will likely distribute grease over the rest of your washing up.
Replacing Charcoal Filters
Charcoal filters are only found in cooker hoods that are designed to recirculate air. Extractor style hoods, that are designed to remove air from the hob and channel it outside, will not require charcoal filters.
Charcoal, or carbon filters, are a means of purifying the air that passes through them. This helps to eliminate unwanted smells. Carbon filters will eventually reach saturation point, at which point they will form a solid barrier through which air will be unable to pass. When this happens (or preferably, some time before) you’ll need to replace your carbon filter.
Replacing Paper Grease Filters
If you have a flat-style extractor, your grease filters might come in paper form. These styles of filter are designed to be removed and replaced rather than cleaned.
Simply open up the hood and remove the filter paper. You’ll then be able to install a replacement. You may have to manually cut the paper to size.
Need A New Cooker Hood
From time to time cooker hoods that are older or damaged may need to be replaced. In cases where this happens we have a vast range of cooker hoods to choose from, all of which are eligible for free UK delivery in a matter of days.
For more information about cooker hoods, check out our other related posts on our blog:
Need help? Try our help pages: Choosing a cooker hood or buying guide. Or maybe cleaning is your thing? Try our handy cleaning guide. What are filters? Find out here. Do you have an issue with your cooker hood, try our trouble shooter.
