How to clean a cooker hood

The hard working cooker hood protects your kitchen from all sorts of airborne grease and smoke particles, yet all too often it’s overlooked entirely when it comes to cleaning.

Don’t forget that its job is to collect grease – so it’s hardly surprising that when you do brave a peek under the hood, you’ll likely find a reasonable build up of grease.

Over time, this build up will affect performance, so it is worth giving your cooker hood a good clean from time to time.

Deep clean a cooker hood

Before you start, you may want to check your manufacturer’s instructions for maintaining the cooker hood. They may recommend particular cleaning products or methods for refreshing the hood.

The process will vary slightly depending on how stubborn the grease on your hood is, but it would be worth having these products handy:

• Bicarbonate of soda
• A bowl
• A kettle
• Stainless steel oven cleaner
• Washing up liquid
• Jay-cloth
• Sponge
• An old toothbrush
• Baby oil (or WD40)

Firstly, make sure that the fan is unplugged at the mains and that the hood is cool. If there are removable parts (you might want to refer to the manufacturer’s instructions to check, as this can vary), remove them and set them to soak in hot, soapy water.

If the hood is particularly caked in grease, you might want to start by wiping it with a solution of warm water and a couple of teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda to loosen the grease first. When the worst of the grime is released, spray the hood with a stainless steel oven cleaner, and give it a good wipe – make sure you use a soft cloth or sponge as anything too harsh could scrape the steel.

Wipe the blades of the fan with a cloth dipped in soapy water then wrung out – it’s important not to get the blades too wet, and to ensure they are fully dry afterwards.

When the filters have soaked a good ten minutes or so, give them a good scrub with a non abrasive sponge or soft toothbrush, and dry carefully. If you have paper or carbon filters, refer to the manufacturer’s guide as they may need regularly replaced.

It’s a good practice to clean your cooker hood once a month or so.

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