When planning a kitchen remodel, don’t discount the drama and style a custom range hood can bring to the design. Spend a little time thinking about your range hood as an opportunity and it just might become your favorite kitchen feature. Read on to learn more about the many benefits of range hoods, along with five custom range hood design ideas you may want to consider while planning your dream kitchen.
What Is a Range Hood?
A range hood, a.k.a. “vent hood” or “kitchen hood,” is an appliance installed above/near ranges or cooktops to capture and vent out smoke, steam and other particulates above your cooking surface. Range hoods are designed with an integrated fan and may have lights to help brighten the cooktop area.
An essential appliance, a range hood not only helps your kitchen stay comfortable by removing heat and unpleasant odors, but it can also streamline cleanup by eliminating grease and excess moisture. While the primary purpose of range hoods is to maintain good indoor air quality, range hoods come in many different styles and can be customized in various ways. They are a versatile design element, so finding just the right style, shape and material for your home is worth considering.
How Do Range Hoods Improve Air Quality?
Range hoods work by sucking contaminated air through a motorized fan. Once captured, that polluted air is carried outside via ducts or filtered and recirculated. Without a range hood, cooks and diners alike could experience minor breathing difficulties, along with eye, nose, and throat irritation. Range hoods also capture heat and grease, keeping your cooking area cooler and safer. Using a range hood helps reduce the risk of a grease fire and prevents your smoke alarm for going off when cooking extra greasy foods like bacon.
While range hoods filter out relatively harmless particles, like steam, they also filter out hazardous gas fumes such as carbon monoxide. They filter out potentially harmful oil particles, too. While cooking oil is safe to eat, when it’s heated past its smoke point it may produce harmful fumes that should not be inhaled in excess.
Your kitchen’s air quality impacts all family members–most notably those with allergies, asthma, and other chronic medical conditions. A range hood is an easy and cost-effective way to improve your kitchen’s air quality—and in turn the air quality of your whole house! Plus, range hoods or venting of some type are required by most city building codes. A properly installed and vented kitchen hood has many benefits.
What Are the Different Range Hood Styles?
Some homeowners may underestimate the visual impact and value of a well-thought-out range hood, but they shouldn’t! With an option for any décor and budget, range hoods are now available in these styles:
- Wall-mount range hoods
- Under-cabinet range hoods
- Ceiling mount range hoods
- Pop-up island range hoods
- Professional-grade range hoods
- Custom-designed range hoods with inserts (These can pack the most design punch!)
How Can I Customize My Range Hood?
For most custom range hoods, a range hood insert (liner) is installed inside of the chosen materials. This creates a functional range hood, with minimal to no impact on the kitchen design! Anything from wood to quartz to tile can cover the insert range hood, making it the most versatile range hood option.
We’ve installed countless custom-designed kitchen range hoods over the years. Much like other kitchen design elements, the possibilities are endless when customizing a range hood for your dream space. Designers and homeowners have been focusing more of their attention to range hoods in recent years. These five samples from our project portfolio showcase creative ways to incorporate a range hood into your kitchen design:
Two-Tone Kitchen Expansion
In this first example, we paired a custom wood range hood cover with an equally breathtaking waterfall peninsula. The white and blue two-tone kitchen I s a perfect backdrop for beautiful wood grain features. As you can see, the hood and peninsula boldly create warm focal points in an otherwise cool-toned space.
Fremont Flora Green Kitchen
Much like humans and pets, houseplants also need clean air to thrive. In this nature-inspired kitchen, our designer creatively added a matching wood shelf next to a range hood with cherry trim. The painted drywall hood blends beautifully into the tile backsplash and the integration with the adjacent shelving is flawless.
Historic Revival Kitchen
We modernized the kitchen in this older home while preserving its classic elegance. A custom tiled range hood with marble edge blends with the tonal backsplash. In addition to window shelving, mesh wire cabinets, a curved marble side splash, cabinet-front appliances, this brick patterned tile brings the vintage theme together.
Modern Eclectic Kitchen
We remodeled the entire main level of this Seattle home, including a completely custom green and white kitchen. Rather than serving as a focal point, the range hood was assimilated into the cabinet design, giving the space a uniform appearance. We mimicked the cabinet details on the hood range panel and used the same custom paint color.
This Scandinavian kitchen includes burnished Indigo cabinets, white walls, and marble-mimicking quartz countertops. Keeping with the minimalism that defines Scandinavian design, our designer chose a simple hood that would blend in to the wall, as well as an uninterrupted stainless steel backsplash for pure functionality. It’s simple and balanced.
How to Find the Right Kitchen Designer
Planning a long-awaited custom kitchen remodel is exciting. Finding the best remodeling designer for your project is the best first step you can take. Do your research, ask for references, and check online reviews posted on Yelp, Google, or Houzz. Make sure the designers style closely matches the look you’re going for, or view the designers portfolio of work to make sure they can create many different styles.
At Model Remodel, we are design-build contractors who’ve built a solid reputation in the Seattle area by transforming outdated homes into highly functional, luxurious living spaces with our conception-to-completion home remodeling solutions. Our in-house designers work closely with the construction team to bring your project to life. Interested in a kitchen remodel? Fill out our online form.
