Kitchen appliances are the best commodity for the modern home, as they not only make cooking easy, but also have many benefits to improve our health, spaces and the speed in which we cook. Many appliances have double functions or some may need maintenance to properly work. This is the case of range hoods.
Cooking and enjoying delicious dishes without having your kitchen filled up to the brim with the smell is possible thanks to the use of range hoods nowadays. They come in various shapes and sizes to adorn any kitchen and provide many types of additional functions besides filtering.
This large fan is responsible for getting all that smoke and grease fumes out of the way while you are producing those quality dishes and maintaining the kitchen air pristine and free of gasses. But with time, your once clean range will look like a nightmare as the filter collects the fumes from your rib eye sear for dinner, the bacon grease from that brunch and so many more. As important as maintaining a clean kitchen, a clean range will improve the quality of the cooking and will have a longer utility life than if not cleaned properly, and as a result of neglecting this appliance, you kitchen might start collecting grease on surfaces where you don’t want it, or smells after cooking that are not so desirable.
Since a regular inspection of this appliance can be done fairly easily if you do it periodically, we will show you how to keep your range hood grease free for longer and let it air out your kitchen back again in no time. It is important to know the correct way to clean this appliance as it is an electro domestic device as so many others you own, thus needing special directions when performing any cleaning on it. Read on to get a good idea how to clean the gunk out of a range hood in no time, by following the next guidelines.
Materials.
The task of actually softening all of the grease that might be resting on the appliance is not an easy one, and depending on the levels of curd that are present in your hood it might take you some serious deep cleaners. But a few methods are pretty much infallible when it comes to cooking oils sudsing.
Is best to perform a good wipe down on the outside of the hood every other week to keep it from collecting a serious layer of grease? For this you can get the job done with white vinegar, as well as dish soap with a good -or at least decent- degreasing action mixed with warm water. For the heavier layers of curd go for severe deep cleaners like oxy clean, Mrs. Myers’ all purpose or any kitchen degreaser you have at home already.
Although these products are mostly on the safe side, when handling high amounts of gunk it is best to keep a pair of gloves ready if the job needs serious elbow grease. Another good thing to have at the ready is a kitchen towel or dishcloth to wipe everything done once cleaned. This way we can also get the thin layer of dust off from the outside of the range regularly in order to extend the overall cleanliness of the entire appliance for longer periods of time.
Cleaning the outside
In case you need to thoroughly clean the outside of the hood from a heavy frying session, by creating a mixture of warm water and dish soap you can obtain nice and easy results with little to no effort. Applying this soapy water with a soft sponge will get the stainless steel spotless with just a few scrubs. For tougher, stickier or greasier spots on the surface, mix some vinegar and water to spray the zone and wipe it away with ease. If your hood has an exhaust chimney go ahead and wipe that too while you’re at it.
After everything has been scrubbed, clean the entire surface with the help of a kitchen towel to achieve a polished look that will impress any guests. As this task can possibly get real messy and start dripping on your counter space and stove tops, make sure you cover any and all surfaces that might be affected from a cleaning aftermath. Otherwise, this same method can be applied to your stovetops and oven to degrease those too if you want to tackle all greasy spots in one session.
Cleaning the inside of the hood.
The majority of the stains and buildup will most probably reside within the inside of the appliance. Being the side with the greatest exposure to most of the direct hits of grease and flying splatters, it will surely contain several layers of grease which will pose some difficulty for softening.
Luckily we can employ products such as Oxiclean and many more heavy degreasers to pry it away from the hood. In this guide on how to clean the gunk out of a range hood the next step is to get the inside as spotless as the outside with the degreaser of your choice.
These products will expertly remove all the gunk out, yet in some cases you might need to scrub at the stains for a couple of minutes with a soft brush and gloves so the curd is completely extracted.
For curd that has been sitting there for one too many grease washes, you might need to apply a pasty mixture of baking soda to the spots with the zones where the curds are the most stuck. Leave the paste on for half an hour to an hour and then enjoy your spotless and brilliant range interior.
Cleaning the filter.
Cleaning the filter is a key step to learn how to clean the gunk out of a range hood since leaving it out will make any previous effort by for naught as this is the piece that collects the most gunk out of all the parts of the appliance. For ranges with an included filter, the process goes the same way as we have managed so far, with some minor details we should definitely mention so you know how to clean the gunk out of a range hood effectively from all sides.
In the case of an aluminum filter, removing it and soaking it in soapy warm water and scrubbing it clean with a soft brush will remove mild grease and soaking it for a good period of time or repeating this same process a couple of rounds will be best for accumulated curd. We recommend against using the dishwasher for this type of filter unless you are willing to use it just for the filter piece which is a huge inconvenience in the long run as well as the fact that some grease chunks might make their way into your dishwasher’s filter and clog that too.
