Do you need a hood in the kitchen with an electric stove

A range hood is a device necessary for all who care about their health. Is it more beneficial to breathe clean air - or gassed and full of mixed, not always pleasant aromas? Therefore, do not even think about whether a hood in the kitchen with an electric stove is needed.

A cooker hood cleans the air. Depending on the type of device, cleaning is done in two ways. It:

• recirculation of kitchen air by forcing it through special filters, eliminating it from harmful substances, fat, soot, unpleasant odors;
• replacing indoor air with fresh air by removing "waste material" through air ducts into the external environment or ventilation wells.

IMPORTANT. An exhaust system with an external outlet is clearly undesirable if you have a flow-through water heater - gas column installed: there is a risk of disrupting the draft in the ventilation well and creating problems with the air outlet. The case when the hood is simply not needed - the food is not cooked at home (ordered or warmed up in the microwave). But sooner or later, everything that needs a hood in the kitchen still happens. This is a hookah, and the smells of paint and much more.

Which model to choose? Decide by evaluating the features of each

Pluses of models with recirculation:

• they are well suited for kitchens with traditional gas stoves - they remove harmful impurities and fat from the atmosphere, but they fight poorly with the smell, and this is important for kitchens with electric stoves;
• easy to install - can be mounted independently;
• have a nice design;
• budgetary;
• save energy;
• Do not “expel” heat from the room.

Minus: the need to replace filters occurs every 3-5 months, depending on the pace of operation.

Models with air ducts - or flowing, have the following advantages:

• their productivity is higher;
• filter replacement is not required.

Minuses:

• their installation requires connection to the ventilation system of the kitchen, therefore, installation will cost more and should be carried out by specialists;
• installation of an anti-return valve is required - otherwise, "exhaust" air will enter the room from the ventilation well;
• not everyone likes the bulky flow hood - it spoils the design (unless you have a loft, of course!).

If it’s difficult to determine, there are models combining both modes (recirculation and recirculation).

Why extractor hoods: disadvantages of kitchens without extractor hoods

Why do you need a hood in the kitchen above the stove? And in order to keep the apartment fresh and to leave the repair for a long time in good condition.

If you don’t put the hood in the actively used kitchen for cooking, after some time even the most attractive designer interior will resemble the “black hut” of our ancestors (there was no chimney pipe in this hut, ventilation was through doors and windows - as a result, the inside of the house was various shades of black from stove smoke). Without hood:

• fat, soot and tar will settle perfectly on beautiful modern materials, mix with dust and decide to stay forever: washing wall and floor tiles, plastic furniture from dried yellow spots is not a lot of pleasure, but a lot of time is wasted;
• wooden surfaces are even more difficult to clean: they are more likely to absorb various substances, and when they are detached, they are easily damaged;
• Textile is a fan of “perfumery” from all pungent odors: it absorbs them perfectly! Curtains, fragrant with stale kebab aroma - this is what you dreamed about?

IMPORTANT. In many modern interiors, a “single space” design solution is used - that is, kitchen dirt and dubious culinary aromas increase the chance to spread to the entire space of the apartment. Upholstered furniture, smelling of fish, soot on the plasma screen ... In this case, the hood is required!

But it is not only aesthetics! Being in the kitchen without a hood is bad for health, especially for housewives with a long work of a gas stove. Domestic gas, even when completely burned, worsens the atmosphere, “burning” oxygen from it and increasing the concentration of carbon dioxide. But the main danger is the products of its combustion:

• carbon monoxide is otherwise expressively called carbon monoxide (if its concentration is exceeded, malaise, headaches, allergic reactions, a general decrease in immunity are guaranteed);
• sulfur dioxide (poisonous, in a small concentration causes a sore throat and cough, runny nose, sometimes causes an allergic reaction);
• nitrogen oxides (cause an increase in the effort spent on breathing, make a person more susceptible to diseases of the respiratory tract);
• formaldehyde (in the form of gas harms the skin and mucous membranes, carcinogen);
• benzapyrene (a powerful carcinogen, and the mistress, spending a lot of time on the gas stove, as if smokes 2 to 5 cigarettes a day, even if she is a categorical opponent of smoking!).

IMPORTANT. If the hood is not yet installed, try:

• turn on no more than two burners at a time (option - burner and oven);
• turn off the stove every 2 hours of continuous operation and ventilate the kitchen;
• during the operation of the stove, close the door leading to the kitchen, and open the window, otherwise all the "muck" will go into the rooms.

During cooking, substances are also formed that do not affect the human body in the best way. Especially dangerous is a process known to all housewives as frying in an open pan. The more the frying surface heats up, the more unfavorable the chemical processes are:

• when frying meat, fish and other products, water or ammonia are split off from organic molecules, and the formation of so-called "unsaturated compounds", they also decompose, and vapor is produced, causing us to cough - aldehydes, and acrolein is especially harmful from them. This substance is perfect for chemical synthesis, but extremely undesirable in the human body, it is carcinogenic;
• if the product is burnt in a pan, charred - and many people like meat roasted to such a state - it is worth considering: this crust is not only tasty, but also dangerous, it contains coronene, benzapyrene, perylene, chrysene, dibenzapyrene, and all of them have carcinogenic properties;
• coating the pan itself may also release hazardous fluoride compounds.

Smells formed during cooking are also not as harmless as it might seem:

• discomfort and the ability to absorb are not their main danger (although there are people who can’t tolerate certain odors up to an emetic reaction to them - preparing fish, meat products, certain vegetables, do not neglect the comfort of your loved ones);
• many food smells can cause allergies (if a family has a small child, parents may not yet know what their body is capable of producing an allergic reaction, do not risk it);
• older people often have age-related breathing problems due to various diseases - they also need clean air.

IMPORTANT. If the family has “opponents of healthy lifestyles” - people who smoke in the kitchen - the need for an extract is completely obvious.

Differences between electric stove and gas stove

From the point of view of the benefits / harms to the health and aesthetics of the space, the electric stove compares favorably with the gas:

• does not emit carbon monoxide and other toxic combustion products of domestic gas;
• it will not “decorate” your light interior with a yellow coating - a film that is inevitable where gas burners work.

But during the use of the electric stove for its intended purpose - for cooking - the same processes occur:

• active evaporation of moisture;
• the release of harmful substances generated by the heating of metals and products;
• the formation of odors and children;
• the appearance of kitchen dirt - grease and soot.

Is it advisable to install an exhaust system above an electric stove? Yes, if the kitchen is large enough and it is impossible to provide high-quality airing in the traditional "fortochny" way.

IMPORTANT. An extractor hood can make the kitchen more ergonomic: you cannot hang a cabinet or a shelf directly above an electric stove, and please, above an exhaust hood!

Is it worth it to install a hood over a gas stove

Not just worth it, but very desirable! Modern designers do not wonder if it is possible in the kitchen without a hood? Relate the shortcomings of the gas stove to the benefits of the exhaust system. A one-time expense for installing the hood - or:

• potential costs for shaken health,
• regular spending on repairs (albeit cosmetic) of a horrible looking kitchen?

IMPORTANT. Turn on the hood a few minutes before the start of the cooking process - and turn it off no sooner than after 10-15 minutes, switching off too quickly will harm the system and will not allow you to clean the air efficiently.