How to Choose the Right Chimney for Your Kitchen? – Tips and Guide

Cooking has its own fun, no one can deny that. But cooking involves smoke, a lot of it sometimes, and it kind of ruins the delightful experience. The smoke also leaves a permanent impression on your kitchen tiles and the ceiling which hampers the look of your kitchen.

However, kitchen chimneys are there to save that delightful experience of yours from the annoying smoke. These kitchen appliances serve to protect your modern modular kitchen from smoke and oil. The best part of all is that these modern chimneys blend-in perfectly with the design of your modular kitchen.

However, plenty of chimneys with different specifications are available for people with different-different tastes and requirements. You don’t want to end up buying the wrong chimney for your kitchen. Consider this article a buying guide for kitchen chimneys.

Decide which type of filter do you want in your chimney

• Mesh Filter: Mesh filters usually come installed in the entry-level chimneys as they are of cheap quality. Mesh filters use multiple layers of steel or aluminum to trap the oil particles and allow the smoke to escape. These filters get dirty pretty easily and thus require high maintenance.

• Baffle Filter:  Instead of just a wire mesh, these filters have multiple curved panels that trap the solid particles and allow the smoke to escape. On top of that, baffle filters are 30% more effective than normal mesh filters. These mid-range filters require low maintenance than mesh filters.
• Carbon filter: Carbon is known to absorb impurities very efficiently. These are probably the best type of filters used in chimneys and also the most popular. The oil and other solid particles stick to the carbon while the smoke is allowed to escape. That said, these carbon filters cannot be cleaned and require replacement every 6 months.

As per Soumya Goswami, a kitchen appliance expert and editor of Homeplace, you must check design and type of chimney, their power requirements and size besides selection of any of the above filters. This is because all these factors vary with the area of kitchen and cooking requirements. For more information about selection of best chimney for your kitchen, you can visit https://www.homeplace.in/best-chimney-in-india/.

Choose the Suitable Design for Your Kitchen

The choice of a chimney can be based on your budget, kitchen design, and location of the cooking platform. Choose the one which suits you the best.

• Wall-Mounted Chimney: These chimneys are suitable for most of the kitchen types. You can mount it just over your stove for the best performance. Wall-mounted chimneys suck in the smoke and oil particles more effectively than any other chimney if your cooking platform is located near the wall.
• Island Chimney: Island chimney is suitable for you if your cooking platform is situated at the center of your kitchen. These chimneys hang from the ceiling to absorb smoke and oil particles.
• Built-in Chimney: These chimneys come built-in with the kitchen furniture and require no additional installation. Built-in chimneys work against the wall and thus are unreliable in most cases.
• Corner Chimney: As the name suggests, corner chimneys are situated at the corner of your kitchen. These chimneys work best if your cooking platform is also situated at the corner.

Choose Your Budget

Budget is the most important aspect to consider before buying anything materialistic. You can go as high as Rs 1,00,000 or as low as Rs 5000. The price of the chimney highly depends on the filter type and the chimney type. Mesh filters are the cheapest filters as they don’t involve much engineering in their function. Carbon filters, on the other hand, are the most expensive types of chimney filters just because of their modern yet efficient design and function.

Other Important Factors

Size of The Chimney

You can’t blindly spend your hard-earned money on a chimney only to find out it doesn’t fit in your kitchen, have proper measurements of your kitchen and especially the stove. Chimneys have a standard size of 2 to 3 feet, you should choose the size of your chimney based on the size of your stove. A typical stove 3 ft in size suits best with a chimney 3 ft in size as well. We recommend not to buy a chimney if your kitchen is just too small or confined, an exhaust fan will do the trick in that case.

Suction Power

The suction power of the chimney is one of the main factors that determine its performance. It’s the ability to suck in smoke and other solid particles. If it fits in your budget, choose a chimney with higher suction power. However, high suction power has one side effect too- the noise. Chimneys with a high suction power are known to produce irritating noise which disrupts the cooking experience. We recommend purchasing a chimney with medium suction power.

Maintenance

Chimneys get dirty and require maintenance very frequently. Although it’s necessary to maintain your chimney properly to get the best performance out of it, choose the one which requires less maintenance. The requirement of maintenance of a chimney greatly depends on the suction power and filter type of the chimney.

Style

You want your chimney to blend in perfectly with your kitchen, you want it to fit perfectly in the surrounding environment of your kitchen. The style of your chimney depends greatly upon your budget, ranging from economical to expensive ones. However, some brands do offer customizable designs of the chimney to suit every type of kitchen but these types of chimneys are generally expensive than the pre-designed ones. You should choose a customized style only if you find all other styles unfit for your kitchen design.

Warranty and Service

In most cases, you won’t be able to maintain your chimney on your own, you need a technician for that. In that case, you should buy a chimney only from a reputed brand with a good track record. Apart from that, having a brand warranty is a cherry on the cake.

Conclusion

A chimney can escalate the elegant look of your modular kitchen only if you buy the one which suits your kitchen the best. On top of that, hand-picking the best kitchen chimney for your home isn’t a difficult piece of work either. All you have to do is to choose the right size, budget, style, suction power, and brand of the chimney and you’re good to go.