It’s All About the Exhaust Fan
Kitchens with hearths or independent wooden hoods need an exhaust fan to vent the heat, smoke, and grease created when using the range or cooktop. The underside of the kitchen hood can be finished a number of ways. The most common way is to finish the underside the same way the cabinet is finished.
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The underside of the hood above is painted to match the cabinetry around the fan. Over time the paint will wear off.
Below the underside of the kitchen hood is a stained finish matching the cabinetry. This finish will be impossible to repair after it wears off from cleaning.
A stainless-steel liner can also be used but a custom liner is very expensive and standard liners like the Broan model below don’t look very “built in” and usually make reaching the controls more difficult.
At Main Line Kitchen Design, we frequently use a Wilsonart laminate that appears to be stainless steel but is easier to clean, more durable, and because it’s so easy to work with can be quickly customized to any size. A panel is only $60, and it looks better and is more durable than $600 custom liners that contractors wrestle with. The controls on the hood will also be easier to reach.
Customers sometimes will be skeptical thinking that more expensive is better. But better is simply better. More expensive is often chosen simply because designers aren’t aware of their alternatives.
See a kitchen with a particularly beautiful hood HERE
