CHOOSING THE RIGHT RANGEHOOD FOR THE JOB

A rangehood is the foundation for your kitchen’s function and elegance. It can change the look of your kitchen; be a statement piece, change your overall design, move your cabinetry, or transform your benchtop.

Choosing the right hood is one of the most important appliances you will decide on.

It is the work horse of the kitchen. Sometimes not seen, hopefully not heard, but always doing its job. The hood is designed to reduce cleaning the whole of your kitchen. When a low powered hood is installed, a film of fat and dirt can accumulate over all your surfaces from the floor to the ceiling.

A high-power hood sucks the bad air and odours out quickly and effectively before the greasy film can find a home in all the nooks and crannies. They also feature amazing lighting systems that can be both mood lighting and functional lighting to light your cooking surface.

The Sirius airflow calculator can help work out the minimum airflow you will require to effectively negate this issue and provide you the best living environment.

Our Sirius rangehoods are designed to excite and amaze, but it’s not mere aesthetics. We’ve created the right balance between beauty, technology and functionality.

So, do you go with a statement pendant that adds glamour? A hidden downdraft that pops into view? A simple classic canopy? Or a hidden away undermount? With so many styles available, choosing the right rangehood look that best suits your style doesn’t have to be hard. First, let’s discuss the space and how this will define your options.

What’s The Right Hood Style for You?

Different kitchen designs lend themselves to different hood styles, and is important to the flow of your cooking space. Some obvious design aspects to consider include:

Open plan layouts, often leading to an alfresco area - You may need more a powerful rangehood as you need to consider the air currents and additional windows that create crosscurrents.

Galley style kitchen – depending on the size, almost anything goes with this style of kitchen

Ceiling type – Skillion, raked ceilings, cathedral, vaulted. Where are the beams? Does the rangehood need to be suspended in a bulkhead? Is it exposed like an industrial style? Depending on the height of the ceiling, you can use almost any style of rangehood, but you may need to use an extension shroud with canopies.

Island Cooking Solutions – cooking in the middle of the room leads to a few limitations. While wall canopies and undermounts are out, you can use ceiling cassettes, downdrafts, pendants, or island canopies.

Alfresco BBQ Cooking – generally requires more power and a higher hood placement so you’ll need to consider where the BBQ is located and how high is the ceiling. Generally, lighting at the front of the hood than the back and if you live close to the sea, you may want to consider Marine Grade stainless steel. We have specially designed outdoor rangehoods to suit island or wall mounting like island, canopies and undermount options with remote control.

The Universal for clean-air home extraction in the bathroom, Butler’s pantry, home handy man (workspace), or anywhere else you may need air extraction. Generally, you need a lower air extraction for these smaller areas, so lower powered rangehood will work best here.

Your Cooking Style

The style of cooking you and your family enjoy can also define the hood that’ll work best for you. Some hoods are better suited for boiling, some for fragrant foods, and others for frying, so it’s good to understand how your cooking can help choose the best hood style.

Highly aromatic and wok cooking – you’ll want a hood that quickly emits and diffuses strong scents, so look for hoods that have:

• Strong airflow
• Positioned above the pans – it’s about the science; easier extraction when air rises
• Auto run-on for clearing the fragrant air (timer)
  

We’d recommend looking at an undermount or canopy

A lot of boiling like pasta, rice and water – you’ll want a hood that’s good at dispersing condensation buildup, so look for hoods that have:

• Heated panels to help breakdown steam
• Closer rangehood extraction to catch the steam before it disperses
• Consistent extraction power

We’d recommend a downdraft, heated undermount, canopy or you can go for the combo induction cooktop and rangehood

Induction Cooking – as induction cooking differs from gas, you need a hood that will work with no active heat element and little vertical air movement. This is because induction cooking uses the pan itself as the heat source rather than the cooktop.

• Large filter area
• Strong airflow
• Heated panel where possible

We’d recommend a heated undermount, ceiling cassette or canopy, downdraft or undermount or a canopy with 25mm baffle filter – no mesh filters

Pan frying – this is high oil and high heat cooking, so you need a rangehood that has high power and is good at pulling the airborne debris.

• Baffle filters with an oil channel to catch excess oil
• High power and direct extraction
• Larger filter area with extra depth

We’d recommend undermounts or canopies with baffle filters, not mesh.

Let’s take you through our Sirius-ly cute styles to help you better understand your options.

Ceiling Cassettes

Ceiling cassettes are a sleek and minimalist design that’s installed flush into the ceiling or bulkhead above the cooktop. This design is perfect for open plan kitchens with island cooking and offer unobstructed views, so they’re perfect if you’re a kitchen entertainer. Powerful and quiet, our ceiling cassettes offer options with glass panels, LED lighting, dynamic lighting so you can adjust the light temperature to suit your mood, WiFi connectivity, and we have designs where the light hangs down from the ceiling which makes it more of a modest statement.

Downdrafts

Downdrafts are discrete and unobtrusive. With sleek, flush installation and designer lighting, the downdraft is sure to be the talking point of the kitchen. Perfect for the open-plan kitchen concept, the elegant design offers the best use of space with the base being installed flush and integrated within the cabinetry, they can also be recirculated. The slim hood extends up from the benchtop when needed and seamlessly retracts back when you’re done. With designs that offer a modern glass finish, or the use of your benchtop material, we even have an induction cooktop with integrated downdraft on offer.

Undermounts

A popular choice for any kitchen design, the undermount rangehood is installed into a cupboard above the cooktop. It’s versatility and hidden design means it can be styled to suit the most modern of kitchens, to the most basic and traditional styles with its sleek, contemporary lines. Offering optimal performance, the undermount comes with features that include LED or dynamic lighting, innovative Bi-power function offering energy and cost savings, glass finishes, heated panels for anti-condensation buildup, and WiFi connectivity, as well as single, twin or triple motors.

Pendants

If you want a statement piece for the kitchen, then you can’t go past a pendant. Strikingly beautiful, efficient and functional, it’s not one to shy away from the spotlight. Fitting for the more contemporary style of home with open plan living, it’s designed to sit above an island cooktop where it offers open views across the room and striking lighting. Pendants are available in colour options from copper to white to black, and offer LED lighting, remote control and recirculating powerful air extraction. It’s the eye-catching design that perfectly blends functionality and beauty.

Canopies

An oldie but a goodie, the canopy rangehood is one of the most classic styles. Traditionally designed to be installed against a wall, they also come in island designs where they’re suspended above an island cooktop and are an exposed focal point that include a ‘chimney’ that extends up to the ceiling. The versatility and powerful performance of this design make it a popular option, particularly for large or industrial style kitchens. With options that include stainless steel or black finishes and LED lighting, its timeless design pairs well with any kitchen style and layout.

Alfresco

BBQing is a way of life for us Australians and alfresco living is becoming more popular with the expansion of outdoor kitchens. Including an alfresco rangehood above your BBQ can not only be a building regulation in some states but can also bring you peace of mind as they add a level of safety while providing additional air extraction to your outdoor cooking area.

Just like your indoor hood, a powerful extraction will extract smoke, odours and oil all while reducing oil and grime build up on the surrounding areas of your alfresco kitchen. Sirius offer powerful twin and even triple motor hoods.

You also want good lighting over your cooking area so bright LED lighting is a must where often the outdoor lighting is minimal, and extra depth as BBQ cooking is slightly different to cooktop cooking. Our BBQ hoods are designed deeper than standard hoods as most people cook at the front of the BBQ, meaning the smoke is also rising from the front. They also feature extra-large 25 mm stainless steel baffle filters for the best air extraction coverage. And a Marine Grade stainless steel housing is perfect for homes near the coast as they're more resistant to the Australian weather conditions and rust.

It's important to note that Alfresco hoods are required to be installed higher, at a minimum of 1200mm above the cooking surface and up to 1600mm in some situations. Sirius have models that include a remote control for easy reach to control the power and light settings.

Alfresco hoods are available in canopy, undermount and island design so you can choose one to fit the style and requirements of your space.

We’re constantly evolving our range, adding new designs, modern technology and innovative components, but the objective remains the same; to provide you with a stunning, functional, imaginative, efficient rangehood that’s perfect for your home.