If cleaning your cooker hood fills you with dread, you’re not alone. Just how do you get all of that grease, dirt and dust off? Using a cloth and gently rubbing affected areas just seems to smear the grease around even more…
If it’s all gotten too much, follow these tips to help you get your cooker hood cleaner in no time.
What is a cooker hood?
The cooker hood is often forgotten about when you clean the oven but actually, it’s the most important part. It removes smoke, odour and fumes caused by cooking from the air by filtering or extraction, before releasing them outside.
How to clean a cooker hood
With all the grease and food particles flying about with cooking food, the cooker hood can get pretty filthy, but with the correct tools, you can unveil that once beautiful, stainless steel.
The first thing to do is make sure that the cooker turned off at the socket and is completely cool.
Next, you need to remove the extractor fan filter, but take care as there are different types: paper filters can simply be taken out and replaced but metal mesh filters need a good deal of scrubbing as they can’t be recycled. Extractors with carbon filters also need to be replaced rather than cleaned – so you may need to contact a cooker hood repair specialist.
Take off any other removable parts around the hood. As this can vary from each appliance, it’s best to check your manual first. If you don’t have the original paper version, you should be able to find it online.
Cleaning a metal filter
To clean the metal filter, avoid any harsh detergents. You can save your cash on fancy cleaners because the best thing to use on metal filters is hot soapy water mixed with a cup of vinegar. If you leave this soaking for a good number of hours, it will help you cut through the grease.
For grubbier stains, you could try making a paste of bicarbonate of soda and water to attack the greasy residue on your extractor fan filter.
You should bear in mind that sometimes when you clean the cooker hood, it may discolour slightly but you needn’t panic, as it won’t be too obvious.
Cleaning the hood surface
To clean the outer surface of the cooker hood, which is generally stainless steel, it’s best to purchase a kitchen cleaner specific to that material.
Make sure you use a dry sponge to clean these surfaces – a wire brush may be too harsh and scratch the metal. Generally, it’s a good idea to test a discrete area first.
An old, soft toothbrush is great tool for cleaning the hood, as you can get to all the tiny cracks where grime has built-up.
Now you have seen how to clean a cooker hood, it’s time to fetch the tools you need to get going and put some good old fashioned elbow grease into it!
