How To Best Clean Your Rangehood | Fontaine

The rangehood is a powerful yet often neglected kitchen appliance. It takes care of removing grease, steam, smoke as well as other cooking gases and odours from your home. When cooking on  your cooktop, no doubt creating a delicious meal, your rangehood will be busy taking care of the steam and smoke with you cook and just like that those fumes are extracted and no longer a worry.

When steam, smoke and smells are being extracted by the rangehood during cooking, there will also be grease that will inevitably be extracted during this process. The grease that get sucked up is designed to be collected in the rangehood filter. As you continue to use your rangehood, this grease will build up in the filter over time. It's important that you take the time to clean your rangehood. How often should you clean your rangehood filter? Once a month is ideal especially if you're cooking with lots of oil and grease. If the filters are too soiled, you may experience a loss of suction and even could cause appliance failure. If you look after and regularly clean your rangehood, it will not only make it operate more effectively, but it will help it to last longer.

Follow the instructions from your appliance user manual to remove the filter correctly. Be careful when handling the aluminum rangehood filter mesh as they can be easily distorted if too much pressure is applied when handling or cleaning. If it has been some time since the filters were last cleaned, we recommend wearing gloves while cleaning the filters as it can get messy.

Your appliance manual can give you instructions on how to best clean the filters for your rangehood. Most aluminum filters can be cleaned in the dishwasher, which is by far the easiest method. However, its important to check if your filters can be washed in the dishwasher cycle before attempting this. If you can fit the filter into your dishwasher, put it through a cycle. Make sure the dishwasher is free from other dishes, and it's recommended to avoid the use of rinse-aid for washing the range hood filters. If they do not fit in your dishwasher or are not sure that they are dishwasher safe, you can place them in the sink with soap and hot water for a scrubbing the good old fashioned way. Rub the filter with a degreasing detergent, generally dishwashing detergent will suffice, and a soft cleaning brush will allow the mesh to be cleaned without damage. It's best to check that the detergent is doesn't corrode the aluminum of your rangehood before using it!

After you've cleaned your rangehood filter, clean the rangehood body from the inside out. Ensure that your rangehood is disconnected from the power before you begin. Treat greasy surfaces with a micro fiber cloth soaked in some degreaser and water. We don't recommend spraying directly on to the rangehood as you could get chemicals and water in the electrical parts and control buttons. For any stainless steel finishes, we recommend using a specialist appliance cleaner for a streak-free finish. Another great tip is to wipe the stainless steel rangehood in the direction of the brushed grain, this will help you to achieve a polished look. Otherwise there might be some cleaning marks easily visible if the direction of the grain is not followed when wiping.
Ducted rangehoods that vent your cooking gases outside are generally cleaner to run than recirculating rangehoods.

If you've cleaned the filters and body of your ducted rangehood but you're still not getting a good result, get a professional to check the inside of the flue and rangehood as its could also have a carbon filter that may need clearing.

When you keep your rangehood well maintained, your kitchen will not only function well but also will look its best as the extraction of cooking helps to keep everything else from absorbing the cooking odours and residues.

At Fontaine Industries, we have a great selection of rangehoods to suit your kitchen and cooking style. If you need assistance with selecting the right rangehood for you, feel free to call our friendly sales team on: 03 9703 1345