How to Clean Your Cooker Hood

The cooker hood is your kitchen’s magnet for grease and grime. But that should come as no surprise, as that is its job. Located right above your hob, the cooker hood’s primary purpose is to attract all the smoke and steam that comes out of cooking food. So, there’s no avoiding some grease build-up in the extractor fan. What you can avoid, however, are large quantities of it, which can clog the hood filters and make them less effective and more susceptible to fire. Therefore, it’s mandatory to clean your extractor hood, immaculately. Follow this guide and learn how to clean your cooker hood professionally.

So if you: 

• Have a greasy cooker hood that doesn’t work the way it should.
• Haven’t replaced/cleaned your cooker hood’s filters recently.
• Noticed your kitchen is engulfed in a fog of fumes when cooking.

Then keep on reading!

How to clean a stainless steel cooker hood

Stainless steel hoods are the most popular variety in the UK. When they’re sparkly cleaned, they look amazing, when neglected, their run-down appearance can easily ruin your whole kitchen’s image. You can, however easily prevent your stainless steel extractor hood from reaching such a pitiful state. To clean your stainless steel cooker perfectly and without streaks, you will need the following product:

Before cleaning your stainless steel cooker hood, make sure to turn it off and wait for it to cool down. Take off the extractor cover and put it to the side. Mix a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda with boiling water. Use your sponge to spread the soda solution on top of the hood. This will help loosen any grease on the hood and make it easier to get rid of. Wait around 20 minutes and wipe the solution off.

For tougher to clean areas, you’ll need some specific detergents designed for steel surfaces. Like, for example, a stainless steel oven cleaner. Spay the cleaner across the hood surface and wipe it off gently with a j cloth (avoid the use of any hard brushes). If there are any hard-to-reach spots on the bottom side of the hood, use an old toothbrush to clean them.

Once you’re finished with cleaning the cooker hood, you can apply the cream of the crop – some WD-40. Apply it on your stainless steel hood to give it that gleaming finish and the most important – without any streaks.

If your hob needs some maintenance, too, read our blog post on how to clean a stainless steel hob.

How to clean a glass cooker hood

Glass hoods are cleaned similarly to stainless steel ones, aside from a few subtle differences. For example, glass is considerably more delicate than steel, therefore it’s easier to chip. And once blemished, oh boy is it visible! 

Prepare a mix of boiling water and baking soda(two full teaspoons). Use a soft cloth to spread the solution all over your glass hood surface. Start with the top part and slowly move onto the underside. Once the whole hood is covered in the mixture, your a paper towel to wipe it all off.

Next, spray some glass cleaner on the hood and wipe it carefully with a jay-cloth. For the finishing touch, add a layer of baby oil to give the glass its immaculate shine.

How to replace a cooker’s hood filter

You should change your one-off cooker hood filters regularly. Failure to do so may lead to ventilation complications.

How to replace grease filters 

Grease filters are most often seen inside vented cooker hoods. What’s great about these is that they have a clever way of reminding you when it’s time to change them. Check their colour! If the grease filter is saturated and discoloured, you probably need to buy a new one.

How to clean an extractor fan filter

Cleaning your extractor fan filters is a simple but essential process that you should not forget for many reasons. A dirty extractor fan can be a fire hazard due to filter clogging grease build-ups and lead to unpleasant smells every time you turn it on. On the other hand, by cleaning your extractor fan filter regularly, you’ll prevent some unwanted guests, such as cockroaches.

How to clean cooker hood carbon filters

Carbon filters are a crucial part of all recirculating cooker hoods. They remove all the smells and smoke that come with cooking your own food. Carbon filters are difficult to clean at home by yourself so it’s more viable to just replace them at regular intervals. You can find a replacement cooker hood carbon filter in most DIY shops or ask a cooker hood engineer specialised in electric appliance repairs to help you out with the supply and replacement. You need to change the filter once every six months.

How to clean a metal mesh cooker hood filter

Extractor hood filters keep grease from entering the extraction vents. This prevents the vents from becoming clogged and impossible to clean. Most extractor hood filters are fine mesh grates which you can remove and clean or replace, easily. 

Cleaning metal mesh cooker hood filters is simple:

How to clean an extractor fan

Cleaning an extractor fan is quite straightforward. Unplug the extractor from the socket. The clean is best done when the hood is cold and you haven’t used it recently.

Remove the outer cover of the extractor hood and use a damp cloth to wipe the fan blades. Avoid getting the blades too wet and always dry them before you put the outer cover back on.

How to clean a cooker hood motor

The motor of a cooker hood is a small induction coil motor, which requires next to no maintenance at all. Yet, the motor won’t perform well if you haven’t changed or cleaned your cooker hood filter in some time. Steam and vaporized grease can pass through dirty filters into the motor directly, causing it to cease working.

Therefore, the trick to a long-lasting cooker hood motor is proper filter maintenance.

How to maintain your cooker hood clean

After all that hard work of cleaning your cooker hood and all its parts, it’s time you learned how to keep them all spotless.

1. Wipe after use – make sure the unit is turned off and cool. Then, wipe the surface with a rag dipped in soapy water. Afterwards, use a dry rag to remove any watermarks or stains
2. Clean your cooker hood regularly – By cleaning your cooker hood often, you will prevent grease build up. Frankly, if you clean it after each use, you probably won’t ever need to deep clean it, or at least not in a long while.
3. Clean the filter once a month – all it needs is a quick wash in the sink.
4. Cut down on frying – oil is the main source or grime build-up, so the less you fry food, the better. It’s also not very healthy so there’s that.

Need help with cleaning your cooker hood?

We at Fantastic Services have got you covered.

Hood cleaning can be tough, time-consuming work, so why not let the professionals do it for you? The Fantastic Services’ appliance cleaning professionals use only the best tools and detergents to get your cooker hood sparkling in almost no time no matter if it’s stainless steel or glass.

So, save yourself some time and leave the hood cleaning to us.

Takeaways

• Bicarbonate of soda is your best friend when dealing with a cooker hood’s exterior.
• Cooker hood filters should be changed/cleaned regularly.
• Regular cooker hood maintenance helps prevent kitchen fires.
• Postponing the cleaning chores might not only result into lingering kitchen smells, but also in cooker hood repairs and reduced lifespan of your appliance.

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Image source: shutterstock / Sklep Spozywczy