You're Probably Not Cleaning Your Range Hood Nearly Often Enough

Not cleaning it at the suggested frequency can cause grease fires, air pollution and respiratory problems.

I’ll openly admit to being an emotional cleaner – when the world feels out of control, a round of floor-scrubbing, dusting, vacuuming, and fridge-purging helps quiet my mind and bring me to a more peaceful place.

It was with that goal that I launched a hardcore deep clean of my kitchen last weekend. Once the major appliances were shining and the floor was perfectly polished, I hopped on a ladder to wipe down my cabinet tops, and I caught a glance of the range hood over my stove. As far as what I saw there, grease was the word. Dusty, discolored, generally disgusting.

This led me to wonder: have I ever actually cleaned my range hood? I realized that the answer might be no, and I started to wonder whether I’ve been making a grave safety error all this time.

I turned to a group of food scientists and cleaning experts, and they shared exactly what a range hood does, why it needs to be cleaned, how often it needs to be cleaned, and what can happen if you pull a “me” and never clean your hood.

Stove hoods are designed to filter out air pollutants, but that results in heavy grease buildup.