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Cooker Hoods Buying Guide
NEFF hoods are designed to cater for every enthusiastic cooks. Efficient, quiet and equipped with features such as built-in ambient lighting, the design and placement of your hood can be as flexible, and stylish as your living space. Use our handy cooker hoods guide to understand our latest trends, features and benefits.
- What should I look for when buying a cooker hood?
- Types of cooker hoods. Where should I position my cooker hood?
- How do cooker hoods work?
- How to clean your cooker hood filter?
- CleanAir Plus recirculation set with odour filter for the extractor hood
- What are the latest cooker hood trends and innovations?
- Which is the quietest cooker hood?
- Where should I position my cooker hood?
What should I look for when buying a cooker hood?
A hood for every kitchen style
It's amazing when a steak is sizzling in your pan, and the smell is part of an exciting cooking experience. But there are some kitchen odours nobody is too fond of.
First of all, it is important to know which cooker hoods are available and which one matches your own kitchen and needs. You should decide whether the extractor hood should be a visible design element or whether it should be integrated into the kitchen in a more discreet manner.
Choose from our four installation locations to showcase your stylish hood within your kitchen.
Types of cooker hoods. Where should I position my cooker hood?
Depending on the structure of your kitchen and the location of the hob there are different solutions to integrate the hood the right way.
On the wall...?
Should the extractor hood stand out optically, then our wall hoods in glass, box and pyramid design are the best choice. It is set up directly on the wall, above the hob.
In the kitchen furniture...?
If you prefer to integrate the hood almost invisibly into your kitchen furniture we recommend this installation. The elegant flat screen hoods are ideal for kitchens where space needs to be used cleverly. They can be pulled out for operation, otherwise they are invisible.
On the ceiling...?
If you have an open kitchen with a cooking island as the center of your kitchen, then our ceiling installation hoods are exactly the right solution for you.
Integrated in the worktop...?
Without long detours, the kitchen vapors disappear where they arise - right on the hob. Integrated in the worktop the Glass Draft is right there when it is steaming and boiling. By the way, you also have your head free for cooking.
Planning Your New Kitchen?
Whether you are thinking about updating, renovating or giving your kitchen a complete makeover, we have all the kitchen planning inspiration and design ideas to help you create your perfect cooking space.
How do cooker hoods work?
When choosing the optimal extractor hood, the question arises whether you want to use a recirculating air or an exhaust air system. Both systems have their own advantages.
Recirculation hoods
Extractor hoods installed in recirculation mode suck in the room air, filter out grease through a grease filter and odours through an odor filter. The clean air created in this way is fed back into the room.
What is the benefit of recirculation?
- easy assembly: can be installed in any kitchen, no conversion work needed, additional to the device only a recirculation set with filter and a socket is necessary
- energy efficiency: windows can remain closed as there is no need for outside air to bring cool air into the kitchen. A must for low-energy houses.
- planning flexibility: can be installed in any kitchen, no planning of ducting necessary
Extraction hoods
Extractor hoods that work with exhaust air suck in the room air, filter it through a grease filter and then lead it outside via a piping system and a wall box. However, fresh air must be supplied from outside through outside air passages or an open window.
What is the benefit of extraction?
- without changing the filter: the activated carbon filters used in the recirculation system, which has to be replaced regularly, is not required here
- less moisture: moisture, odours and fats that arises during cooking are completely transported to the outside
- lower volume: no activated carbon filter which would cause additional air resistance and increase the noise emission
The most commonly asked questions
How to clean your cooker hood filter?
Metal grease filter (also known as metal filters/ grease filters) - Clean cooking vapours from grease. They are used with extractor hoods in recirculation mode and also with exhaust air and are always part of the appliance.
Odour filters - They work in extractor hoods that are installed in recirculation mode and filter odours from the air. The NEFF CleanAir Plus filter does not only filter odors but also retains 99% of air born pollen and deactivates allergens which are retained by the filter. In contrast to the exhaust air mode, the cleaned air stays in the kitchen.
How to replace cooker hood filter
Replace non-regenerable odor filters regularly. If your Neff hood has a odor filter saturation indication you will get a notification when to change them.
On average our standard odor filters should be exchanged every 6-12 months, our CleanAir Plus filters every 12-18 months.
You can get the filters in our online shop, from customer service or in specialist shops. The customer service addresses can be found in the service booklet enclosed with your device.
Regenerable activated charcoal filters, our Long Life filters should be regenerated every four months for two hours at 200° C in the oven. This removes all residues. If you carry out this regeneration process regularly, the activated carbon filter will last up to 10 years.
Cooker hood grease filter
Metal grease filters can be kept for years with regular cleaning without needing to be replaced. To ensure that they work optimally, clean the metal grease filters once a month or when indicated by the filter saturation indication. This prevents food residues from accumulating in the filter fabric. You can clean the filters in the dishwasher or by hand.
CleanAir Plus recirculation set with odour filter for the extractor hood
Almost all of our hoods can basically be converted to recirculation with these three filter technologies. Depending on your needs, a different recirculation set is recommended for conversion:
- Standard odour filter: reliably eliminates unpleasant odours up to 85% over a service life of 6-12 months.
- Recirculation set with CleanAir Plus filter: can neutralise over 90% of odours and convert them into pure air, minimal loss of performance and noise-level, due to the anti-pollen functionality it is ideal for allergy suffers, usually needs to be changed every 12-18 months.
- Recirculation set with Long Life filter: up to 80% odour reduction, up to 10 years of full performance due to the possibility of regeneration.
A recirculation set must be purchased separately as a special accessory for converting to recirculation mode.
What are the latest cooker hood trends and innovations?
Hoods features & functions
Looking for powerful extraction without distraction? Our advanced range of hoods have been designed for those who long for a premium look in the kitchen. Proud of its continuous innovations in cooker hoods, NEFF has a range of featured and functions to suit every cooking style.
- Hob Hood Control: the hood turns on when you start cooking and, in automatic mode, can automatically regulate the power level for the best performance with the lowest noise.
- NEFF Silent Button: the unique noise reduction function reduces the fan noise by a couple of decibels, ensuring that the kitchen stays quiet while you cook and entertain your guests.
- Efficient Drive Motor: save energy and enjoy a noise free, illuminated kitchen environment thanks to our ultra-efficient high-speed extractor hood fan, with Efficient Drive motor technology and LED lights.
- Ambient Light: choose from 31 colours to illuminate your kitchen wall behind the hood or the ceiling in the light that suits your style. The light can create the desired atmosphere depending on the situation or mood. A dinner for two in red becomes even more romantic, a bright orange could be the perfect choice for an evening with friends. Almost all of the hoods have bright LED lighting with a long service life and excellent energy efficiency. Devices with SoftLight also have a dimmer function for the LEDs to set the brightness in several stages.
- Climate Control: detects the amount of steam and smells using a sensor attached to the motor and automatically sets the most effective power level to extract it.
- Home Connect: control all functions and setting of your hood directly from your smart phone and voice control (e.g. with Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant) for the ultimate connected cooking experience.
- Saturation Indicators: take the stress out of guessing, this function will prompt you if the grease filters should be cleaned. If the hood is installed in recirculation, this will also indicate when the odour filters need replacing.
Which is the quietest cooker hood?
Most of our hoods are exceptionally quiet thanks to our brushless Efficient Drive motor. However, noise is also determined by the length and type of ducting used and the installation surroundings. To provide a more meaningful measure of noise specific to the appliance, we state Sound Power in dB(A) re 1pW. With this system, there are strict guidelines for measuring the noise level, enabling you to easily compare our range and to give a closer indication of likely noise levels once the hood is installed.
In order to make values comparable, NEFF uses a standard measuring method according to the norm. The quietest extractor hood has a volume of only 38dB in minimum normal operation, and the quietest in maximum normal operation only 53 dB. To illustrate that: the noise level is always between a whisper and normal conversation volume.
This is how the exhaust pipe influences the volume.
Whether an extractor hood is quiet depends not only on the selected model but also on the diameter and air flow of the exhaust pipe. The following rule applies to extractor hoods with exhaust air: the smaller the diameter of the exhaust air pipe, the louder the noise. We therefore recommend a pipe diameter of at least 120mm, better is even 150mm, in exhaust air mode.
Where should I position my cooker hood?
It is important to pay attention to the correct height of the hood. A distance of 45cm should not be exceeded. Electric cooktops require a distance of between 45 and 65cm, depending on the type of extractor hood. For gas hobs, a distance or height of 65cm is the minimum distance to the extractor hood. The distance for ceiling hoods is 120cm.
