How to clean your extractor hood

Occasionally, it’s important to clean your kitchen appliances.

And among the most important appliances to clean regularly is extractor hoods, not just to maintain their look but also to guard against fire risk from them getting clogged with grease – impairing airflow and resulting in the fan overheating.

So how do you clean an extractor hood? Don’t worry – we’re here to show you exactly how.

The golden rule

The golden rule of extractor fan cleaning is ‘little and often’. If cleaning your extractor hood is part of your weekly kitchen cleaning routine, you’ll never need to aggressively clean it and damage any surfaces.

Always test your soaking solution on a corner first to ensure you don’t damage or discolour painted surfaces.

Next, what kind of extractor do you have…?

There are two types of extractor fans…flat and the chimney-style – and there are different procedures for each.

Flat extractors

Replacing the grease filter

Flat-style extractors have grease filters, made of paper. It will need replacing if it gets saturated with grease and  becomes discoloured. Find out how to remove the casing, get one from your local supermarket and cut to size.

Replace it every three months to a year.

Cleaning the cover

You can clean the extractor cover by taking it off. Soak it with boiling water and soda crystals. Leaving it overnight will do the trick and wipe it with a microfibre cloth.

Chimney-style extractors

Cleaning the mesh filter

The majority of chimney-style extractors use aluminium mesh as a filter rather than paper – they are easily removed.

Remove the mesh and clean it using boiling water and washing-up liquid if it has a small build up. If there is too much build up, you can put it in the dishwasher and wash it with water afterwards.

Replacing a carbon odour filter

Some modern kitchen extractors use a carbon odour filter, which, unfortunately, can’t be cleaned. However, they can be replaced if it isn’t removing the kitchen odours. You have two choices – contact the manufacturer or search online for suitable replacements.

Replacing it six months to a year is usually fine for most people.

Cleaning a stainless steel exterior

Stainless steel can get very sticky, so you’ll have to put some work into your cleaning for this – but don’t be too aggressive – working in a linear cleaning motion, rather than a circular one.

After you have cleaned it, add some baby oil to nourish the stainless steel and help prevent fingerprints.

Cleaning extractor hood light bulb casing

If there are light bulbs on your extractor, you can usually easily take the plastic or glass casing off.

Soaking or scraping the dirt on the casing should work, but be careful not to damage it.