Tips on buying a cooker hood –chimney

22Feb08

Whether you need to buy a cooker hood or can work well with the time tested exhaust fan is really your call. But a decent cookerhood has a lot of benefits especially for the Indian ‘aromas’ in the kitchen !!!

You can buy a chimney from 4000/ to 1000000/ so first you need to have an idea of the kind of money you are willing to spend. That itself will narrow your choice down considerably.

  • Always buy a reputed brand as you WILL need service backup
  • The size of your kitchen is directly proportional to the suction power you will need in the chimney
  • The hood basically covers up the ugly pipes —and the suction power for the non-hood ones has an upper limit pretty much where the hood ones take off.
  • Depending on whether you have a 2 , 3 four or five  burner hob you can take a call on the size of chimney that you would require.
  • The ones without the hood are either made in India or China.
  • the Imported ones are great looking and more powerful with a host of added features so if it is within your budget you could really find some nice ones.
  • The conventional filter needs regular cleaning(every few weeks) but don’t overdo it by ghisaaoing the thing !! Made of aluminum you can use warm soapy water to clean it. Don’t use a very strong detergent though.
  • The new stainless steel baffle filter in most of the better brands do not need cleaning for almost 6 months. You would need a service professional to come in and do this. You would probably need to replace them after a few years as it does get all greasy. Check on the price of filter replacement as well before you make a decision.
  • The Indian brand that has been around the longest is Deeshe. Basic stuff.
  • Faber has a wide range and network , not too sure about the post sales service though—people have different views. Good brand though. Components are from all over :) but assembled here.
  • Glen is again assembled in India and a decent brand. Not very expensive.
  • Sunflame has a good range is and is also quite popular. Assembled here and prices are fairly competetive.
  • Kaff is the one I would personally recommend, but it is a higher range. Service backup is good.
  • Cata from Spain is a newcomer but their range is awesome. If you can afford it !! Very expensive chimneys.
  • Look for a lifetime warranty
  • When the chimney has to be installed you will need to cater for the  outlet and the electric point
  • The cost of chimney pipe and installation is sometimes part of a deal, and sometimes you have to pay extra. Also depends on the kind of pipe–PVC, aluminium etc.

At the end of the day, there is a lot to choose from so budget will really help you focus :) and the after sales service varies from place to place and brand.

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