Best Range Hoods of 2023

Smells and smoke are no match for these stellar models

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A range hood just might be the most important appliance that many homeowners never fully consider. A good vented range hood can improve air circulation in your kitchen—helping to eliminate odors and cut down on cleaning too, since grease droplets that would otherwise settle on cabinets and countertops are redirected.

But most importantly, range hoods help improve your kitchen’s air quality. Whether you’re cooking with an electric, induction, or gas stove, particulate matter and other air pollutants can form when food cooks. These are then released into the air and breathed into our lungs. Range hoods typically draw in the affected air through a filter, which captures these pollutants, and then (in the case of vented range hoods) expel the rest of the air outside, through an exhaust installed on the exterior wall of a house.

It may be even more crucial to install a good range hood if you have a gas stove. Gas stoves have been found to produce potentially dangerous compounds, including nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, and volatile organic compounds such as benzene. Vented range hoods, especially when used with an open window, may help reduce some of this indoor air pollution. (Read more about Consumer Reports’s testing on gas stoves and nitrogen oxides here.)

Many people opt to include a range hood as part of a larger kitchen remodel or renovation, since the installation process can be invasive. A typical installation for a vented range hood—one that exhausts air to the outside—requires cutting through exterior walls, running ductwork, and in most cases, adding cabinetry or a soffit to conceal the ductwork. It’s possible to replace an existing range hood after it dies, but your choices are limited, given that you must choose a model that uses ducting of the same diameter. If your range hood is struggling to clear the air, try cleaning or replacing the existing filters, since a dirty filter can restrict airflow. If the hood won’t turn on at all, you can have a repair person replace the internal blower or fan, which is easier and less expensive than replacing the entire hood. Skilled DIYers can even attempt the job themselves—if you do, remember to turn off the power before you start working and make sure to select replacement parts that are compatible with your current hood.

Some range hoods, which are often called ductless, ventless, or recirculating hoods, don’t vent to the outside. Instead they draw air through a series of filters designed to capture droplets and particulate matter, before recirculating that air back into your kitchen. In our most recent tests, the lone recirculating hood (from a leading brand) we tried was the worst of the bunch—which makes sense, since it’s only capturing contaminants in filters, instead of completely expelling the dirty air outdoors. However, if you live in a home or apartment where you simply can’t vent to the outside, ductless range hoods can provide some benefit, particularly when it comes to cutting grease. Just remember to open windows, too, when you cook.

Vented range hoods come in two basic styles: under-cabinet and wall-chimney. In our tests, models of each type can perform extremely well, and the shape didn’t matter. Ducted, or vented, versions of these hoods work similarly, by using a backwards fan to suck air out of your kitchen, through a filter, and out through the side of your house. But there are key differences between under-cabinet and wall-chimney models.

As the name suggests, under-cabinet range hoods are installed under a wall-mounted cabinet, which conceals the ductwork that runs from the top of the hood and through an exterior wall. These hoods are rectangular, resembling the shape of a DVD player, and the vast majority are 30 inches wide, to match the width of most ranges.

Wall-chimney range hoods (also called wall-mount range hoods) include a chimney, usually made of stainless steel. The chimney is used to hide the ductwork in a kitchen without a cabinet over the stove. The hoods themselves vary considerably in design—most are metal but some use elements of glass or wood—though they’re typically all 30 inches wide, to match the width of most stoves. The chimney portion typically comprises multiple pieces of metal that run from the top of the hood up to your ceiling. Most people choose to run the chimney to the ceiling for aesthetics, even if the ductwork exhausts out at a lower point on the wall.

Smoke is inherently hard to control, so our test engineers built a custom jig that uses a smoke machine to produce controlled quantities of smoke for our tests. The jig holds each range hood at the same height as we filled the area with smoke for 10 seconds. Then we turned on the hood and filmed the area as each hood worked to clear the air, allowing our expert engineers to watch and make visual assessments about which models did the best job.

We also measured the pressure exerted by the total airflow at the end of a standardized duct, to calculate which models move the largest volume of air within a controlled amount of time on each setting. “Models that move air faster will clear smoke faster,” says Bernie Deitrick, CR’s test engineer in charge of range hood testing. A model needs to clear the air both effectively and quickly to score well in our range-hood ratings for both "Smoke" and " Volume." (Those with strong marks for Smoke will work effectively, but won’t clear the air as fast as those that also earn high marks for Volume.) Finally, we used a noise meter to record sound just below the hood, at a height chosen to simulate where a user’s ears might be while cooking.

The models below include a mix of under-cabinet and wall-chimney hoods. Each range hood was among the fastest at moving air and most effective at clearing smoke.

Paul Hope

Paul Hope is a senior multimedia content creator at Consumer Reports and a trained chef. He covers ranges, cooktops, and wall ovens, as well as grills, drills, outdoor power tools, decking, and wood stains. Before joining CR in 2016, he tested kitchen products at Good Housekeeping and covered tools and remodeling for This Old House magazine. You’ll typically find him in his old fixer-upper, engrossed in a DIY project or trying out a new recipe.