When you next walk into your kitchen, spare a moment of thought for your cooker hood. Sure, the fan on the thing sounds like a jet engine taking off and trying to clean it is like attempting hopscotch in zero gravity. But think, just for a second, that without this device every cooking session would be marred with an uncomfortable increase in humidity akin to a jungle trek. Yes, I think we all need to appreciate our cooker hoods more often.

This post is dedicated to those cooker hoods that have been accepted into the British public’s hearts enough to become best sellers (in March, anyway).

The Baumatic BT6.3GL

This chimney cooker hood looks like the docking module of the international space station. It will simply sit there and add lots of style to your kitchen. Also, there’s apparently a fan in the Baumatic BT6.3GL somewhere for extracting things. I’m too blown over by how cool it looks to care.

The Baumatic BT06.7ME

Number 2 on this countdown list is a slick and inconspicuous little gem of an integrated cooker hood. One reviewer has remarked that it is well made and ‘does exactly what it says on the tin!’ I think we don’t need any more explanation of the BT06.7ME then.

The Baumatic BT9.3GL

This one happens to be another chimney cooker hood, similar to the first on our list but with a more compact look. If you feel intimidated by the idea of having a huge stainless steel elephant trunk of a pipe hanging down in your kitchen the Baumatic BT9.3GL might be a good idea.

Hotpoint HTV10S

Looking like the intake vent of a sports car, this visor cooker hood from Hotpoint isn’t just attractive (in this writer’s eyes), it is also remarkably functional. I mean, it has slider controls for goodness sake. How much easier can it get? The HTV10S even comes with a light. That is always handy if you live in a bulb-less kitchen or are trying for the Guinness world record in most number of lights on in a home.

Hotpoint HD6T

We finish where we began, with a chimney cooker hood. This one resembles an upside down table. One reviewer states that the Hotpoint HD6T is ‘good value, looks nice, works fine.’ What a brilliant example of concise reviewing.

So there you go. Another week rolls by and with it I’ve produced another list of best selling appliances. Hopefully a dear reader will be convinced enough by my rhetoric to buy one. If you do, get in touch, I think I might be able to get that medal I’m waiting for.

If you want to find out more about cooker hoods, have a look at our buying guide.

If you’re going to cook you need some form of extraction and ventilation.

The reason being that particles of hot fat, steam and even fragments of food fill the air when you cook. This can lead to wonderful cooking smells but it can also lead to big problems. Over time a thin layer of grease and water can build up on your walls, ceiling and even furnishings.

Best case scenario is that you will have to spend an afternoon every six months scrubbing the corners of your ceiling to get the grease off. Worst case scenario is permanent staining of surfaces you didn’t think could be stained. If you’ve ever spent two hours scrubbing and steam cleaning a tiled wall because of inadequate ventilation you will know what I mean.

So the short answer is yes, you do need a cooker hood.

The best way to clean a grease filter is in a dishwasher and often but if yours isn’t dishwasher proof or is particularly messy then washing it by hand is often your only choice.

There are two kinds of grease filter; mesh and baffle. Mesh filters are, rather predictably, a mesh that catches particles of grease as they pass through. You can buy disposable paper meshes or the reusable metal kind.

Baffle filters are made of parallel metal plates onto which warm grease particles condense like water vapour condensing on cold glass. Baffle filters are more common in large cooker hoods or professional kitchens and tend to be dishwasher safe.

Tackling cooker hood grease

As well as droplets of fat a filter will also catch particles of dust, small amounts of airborne debris and anything else that is light enough to be sucked into the hood. When this cools and any water evaporates off it the resulting substance is a slightly tacky, yellow-brown gum. The best way to soften this is to heat it up so make sure that whatever you do you have access to plenty of hot water before you start cleaning.

As well as hot water you’re going to need a degreasing agent and here are some of the most popular;

Washing up liquid – a common degreaser that everyone has in their house and that you can use without taking any safety measures.

Washing powder –stains on clothes often need a similar treatment to stains on pans but be careful and make sure you read the instructions on the packet.

Vinegar and/or lemon juice – for tough grime neat vinegar is supposed to work wonders. I’ve seen Kim and Aggie do it but I’m still not going to guarantee that this will work (or that it won’t leave your house smelling of vinegar).

Bicarb – some people recommend making a paste from bicarbonate of soda and then scrubbing it into grease but bear in mind that this is an extremely bad idea if your filter is made out of aluminium – it would be like pouring acid onto it.

Scrubbing

Scrubbing a baffle is pretty straight forward; stand it on end and work from top to bottom. Cleaning a mesh is harder because deposits of grime build up between the strips.

The trick is to use very hot water. Start by lathering it with washing up liquid (or vinegar or bicarb) and then add hot water straight out of the kettle (always being careful not to scald yourself of course!) Leave things to soak for about twenty minutes or until the water is cool. The aim is not only to let some of the grease come out in the water but to keep it warm so that it’s easier to scrub. When scrubbing it’s best to use a stiff bristled brush rather than disposable scourers because once a scourer is covered in gunk it becomes useless and you have to get a new one.

The more often you clean your filter the easier it is to do. If you only pull it out once in a blue moon (or move into a flat where the previous owner didn’t bother washing it) then the simple truth is that no matter what you try it’s going to be a long and messy job.

If you’ve got a better way of cleaning the filter in a cooker hood then let us know because we genuinely want to learn it for ourselves.

Cooker extractor hoods can be an absolute nightmare to clean. The yellow, greasy, messy residue clings to your cooker hood surfaces and is often a pain to shift even with specialist cleaning equipment.

The number one rule when cleaning cooker hoods is not to let the grease build up too much in the first place. Try to implement a regular cleaning regime to avoid massive greasy deposits, even if you only wipe over with a cloth and a bit or degreaser when you’re doing the hob. It’ll go a long way to stopping grease in its tracks.

Why is it important to clean your cooker extractor hood filter?

A dirty filter means that the extractor fan has to be run at a higher setting to achieve the expected results and this increases the energy consumption and noise. Therefore the grease filter in a cooker hood must be regularly cleaned – about once a month.

Some cooker hoods have disposable, changeable filters which are easy to just throw away and replace, saving you a lot of cleaning. If your cooker hood is equipped with metal filters you can clean them to their original shine by popping them in the dishwasher. If the filters are stainless-steel this method is fine. If they are aluminium, be careful, they can be damaged or discoloured by dishwasher detergent.

Dishwashers are able to achieve very high washing temperatures which remove dirt and grease. Without a dishwasher it is impossible to wash at such a high temperature because you can’t physically put your hands in 70 degree water. Really don’t try it...it hurts!!

Cleaning the cooker extractor hood body

For the main element of the cooker hood you can try a citrus degreaser or bike degreaser. Spray it onto a cloth then scrub clean. For very thick grease you can also scrub with baking soda and water.

I hope this post has been of help and given you an idea for what you can do this weekend ;)!

If you're looking to buy a cooker extractor hood, the one in the picture is the Baumatic F70.2SS.

Prior to this post my answer to the question 'Do you guys sell appliance spares?' would have been no, sorry, nadda, move along...we only specialise in bringing sparkly new products to your door.  Today, I am happy to inform you we have teamed up with our chums at eSpares and now those who use the search box to search for 'spares' on our site will be shown a link to the eSpares website... we like to look after our customers!

For those of you who have purchased a brand spanking new product from us, we are currently creating a series of videos showing you what happens behind the scenes to get that product to your door.  The first of these is now available to view on the Appliances Online delivery page.  The video features our very own white goods distribution company Expert Logistics Ltd, doing their thing...and filming starts today here at the Appliances Online office to show you were the magic happens! So expect to see that up on our site sometime in the near future.

This week we also welcome Britannia to Appliances Online with a great selection of range cookers and cooker hoods.  With the holiday season rapidly approaching (yes there are only 10 weeks remaining) Britannia are offering a choice of gifts in their launch promotion 'A Christmas Gift With Britannia Range Cookers', of either a case of luxury wine, £100 of Marks and Spencer's vouchers or a set of telescopic shelves. Tick someone’s gift off your Christmas list whilst treating yourself to a nice new Britannia Range Cooker, or just keep the gift for yourself!