How To Clean A Stainless Steel Range Hood – Complete Guide

So presently you own a range hood, but now what? As you may already know, your range hood performs a myriad of functions for you behind the scenes. Cleaning and regulating kitchen air is only one part of its duties. Naturally, it is important to pursue frequent cleaning sessions for your stainless steel range hood as well. 

How to clean a stainless steel range hood is one of the fundamental components of owning a range hood that everyone seems to neglect. Regardless of what type of range hood you own, it is an extremely “out of sight, out of mind” situation with range hood cleaning. Since they’re responsible for essentially absorbing all the airborne gunk from your kitchen, it is easy to forget that this mystical device, too, needs to be cleaned regularly. 

Accumulation of grime, grease, and gunk is a common problem with range hoods, but guess what? With the right tools, it is actually extremely easy to keep your range hoods look and function like new. This guide discusses everything you need to know about how to remove grease off stainless steel range hood.

What Leads To Grease Accumulation In Stainless Steel Range Hoods? 

To understand this phenomenon as to what leads to grease accumulation in range hoods, we first need to get into an overview of how range hoods work. 

We know the main function of range hoods – making your kitchen space more breathable and liveable, or you’d be constantly choking up from the cooking fumes. Not only this, but range hoods also capture all sorts of dirt and impurities from the air. They do this with the help of the fans in the range hood that attract all the impure air in their direction. This is common for both, vented and recirculating hoods. With this air circulation, the filters in the range hood are responsible for capturing these impurities in place – the fans then regulate cleaner air into the kitchen, with or without the assistance of an external vent. 

The filters can continue to accumulate grime, which leads to a buildup of almost toxic amounts of grease in your range hood.

How To Clean Grease Off Stainless Steel Range Hood?

Before you get down and dirty and attempt to answer the question of how to clean a stove hood, it is important to know exactly what you’re getting into. Know the components of your range hood and plan your cleaning session accordingly.

Equipments Needed: It is important to be thorough and have all equipment on hand first. You’re going to need a regular kitchen degreaser, a cleaning spray, a few rags or paper towels, baking soda, and a constant supply of hot water for various things to be soaked in.

1. Filter

Chances are, your range hood filter is the filthiest part of your range hood. All the grease accumulates in this area and eventually begins to drip, which means you just may have solid globules of oil in this area. Yuck. Here are the steps to clean a greasy range hood and also on how to clean a range hood fan:

• Take out your range hood filter with your hands. You might want to be wearing gloves for this part.
• Soak the filter in extremely hot water for a little less than a half-hour. Add small amounts of baking soda and a cleaning solution into it. 
• After the time is up, attempt to clean your filter with a cleaning brush – scrub firmly yet not vigorously, as the latter may damage the filter. Repeat this process till the filter is all clean. Do the same with the fan of your range hood as well, as this is responsible for sucking in all of the toxic air. 

2. Exterior

For the sake of first impressions, you want to take extra care with this part of the range hood. It is possible that this area might be decked out in oil stains from spilling or maybe accumulating dirt from heavy use. Here are the steps on how to remove grease from your range hood: 

• Make use of some warm water and cleaning solution in order to wipe this area down initially. You want to be using a brush with bristles, yet be careful not to rub too hard. 
• After the initial cleaning is done, you can choose to add vinegar to this solution for the particularly difficult-to-remove stains. 

3. Interior

The inner chamber of a range hood is often the least accessible area unless you have island mount range hood, so you might wanna get a little creative to reach this tricky area. Since this area of the range hood will often have the most muck on it, you want to be wearing your gloves for this part of the cleaning session as well. This is also a precaution against getting any strong chemical in contact with your skin. Here are the steps for how to clean the grease off a stove hood:

• Mix in some baking soda with warm water.
• Take your brush and begin to scrub down all parts of the interior. Make sure to get the corners as well, since it may have been a while since it was cleaned.
• You can also make use of the degreaser, which can be utilized once the initial scrubbing with the baking soda solution is accomplished. 

How to Keep Your Range Hood From Accumulating Dirt & Grease?

As we’ve mentioned, it’s imperative to be cleaning your range hood if you own one. Frequent cleaning sessions are absolutely mandatory if you want to be avoiding a fire hazard in the form of overflowing grease from your range hood.

A simple and perhaps obvious way is cleaning your range hood regularly. Now that you know exactly what tools you require to keep that range hood grease-free, attempt to implement these clean-ups frequently. It’s noticed that grease is far less susceptible to cleaner surfaces. 

Another component of the range hood that you might want to be checking up on frequently is the filter. As we’ve mentioned, these filters are what capture your dirt and grime and lets them fester in the range hood. It is much more manageable to be cleaning these filters since they’re detachable. However, if you’ve been neglecting your filters for far too long, it may be time to replace them altogether. It’s better than wondering how to clean stainless steel range hood to not having it get to a point of stubborn settled dirt and grime.

Final Thoughts 

All of these steps may seem like a lot for now, but we assure you that it’s all worth it in the end. You might be putting in a lot of your time and resources in order to get the best care for your range hood and trust us, it will all payback in the long run. Not only is it more financially viable to constantly be cleaning your range hood and its components, but it also makes your equipment more durable. To further improve the efficiency of your range hood thereby improving your kitchen ambience, you might want to consider venting it through the roof. The constant outflow of kitchen fumes decelerates the rate of grime buildup in range hoods.

It avoids the concern of you feeling the need to change your range hood after a few years of service, worrying that it’s simply not up to the task anymore. However, it is much wiser to invest small amounts of effort into how to clean grease off stainless steel range hood rather than giving up on it altogether. And with this guide, we’ve made it exponentially easier for you to clean your range hood on your own with tools lying around your house.