How to Tell if Your Oven Hood is Working, and What to Do If It's Not

By Emily Farris

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It's well-documented and, as of late, well-publicized that cooking on a gas stove releases by-products like nitrogen dioxide and formaldehyde into your home's air. While switching from a gas range to induction can reduce or eliminate some of the scariest sounding stuff, it turns out that cooking anything—on any kind of stove or grill—still poses a risk if your space isn't properly ventilated.

"Your kitchen is the primary source of air contaminants in the home," says Dennis French, an air quality expert and Indoor Air Quality Association board member based in Alberta, Canada. "When you smell food cooking, you’re smelling the chemicals that the food naturally gives off during that process."

No matter the fuel source (gas, induction, or electric), French says that every time you cook, you’re releasing pollutants like smoke and oil mist into the air. And if you don't have a good kitchen exhaust system, he says those particles will make their way into the smallest reaches of your lungs and cause irritation. Over time, they may cause damage and disease.

In many ways, an induction cooktop is safer than gas. But no matter the fuel source, cooking indoors without proper ventilation is bad for your lungs.

If you have an oven hood and you’re wondering how well it functions (or if it functions at all), you don't really need any special tools or gadgets. French says you can hold a small source of smoke, like a blown-out candle or incense, near the exhaust, and then turn on the fan and look at how much smoke is being captured. But don't expect everything to get sucked up because, as he told me, no exhaust system—not even the kind found in commercial kitchens—will pull all of the pollution from the air.

"What you want is to visually see the air moving toward that hood," he says.

If you’d rather not burn a candle or incense in your kitchen, you can buy a smoke stick, which is what French uses in his own testing.

As far as testing the levels of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide in your kitchen, French suggests leaving that to the pros, because most affordable, commercially available units are either prone to false alarms or require constant calibration. That said, you should always have a functioning carbon monoxide detector on every floor (just don't keep it in the kitchen, again, because of false alarms).

For a more complete picture of what you’re breathing in at home, consider an indoor air quality assessment. You can find a professional assessor on the IAQA's website, though French (a pro assessor himself) says that if you’re mostly concerned about air pollution from cooking, there's plenty of data online that can tell you what you’re releasing when you prepare certain foods on the stove and in the oven. For example, a 2001 study (PDF) found that broiling fish "produced very high levels of particles in the kitchen and other rooms of the house" and that the self-cleaning function on any gas or electric range might just be opening a portal to hell.

If it turns out you don't have a functional oven hood—or if you don't have a hood at all—there's no need to panic. And no, you don't have to renovate your kitchen, either. There are a few far-less-expensive steps you can take right now to mitigate the indoor air pollution caused by cooking.

Though usually not as effective as a hood that vents to the outside, a ductless hood can still capture oil vapors and other contaminants through a series of filters before recirculating the cleaner air back into your kitchen, similar to an air purifier. Often, these hoods are called convertible, meaning that in addition to the ductless configuration, they can be connected to an existing duct system.

No room for a full-size hood? You can still install a compact version under upper cabinets, or swap your mounted microwave for one with a decent built-in exhaust system.

If you go for a ductless hood, be sure to clean and/or replace the filters regularly. When I finished chatting with French, I immediately inspected my own and was both pleasantly surprised and completely disgusted by how much gunk it had captured since I last cleaned it.

An easier solution is to get an air purifier for the kitchen. In addition to making sure the unit you pick is powerful enough to match the size of your space, look for something with both HEPA and VOC (volatile organic compound) filtration. The HEPA filter will catch particles and oil vapors while a chemical/VOC filter will capture strong smells and hazardous fumes.

Keep in mind, however, that a dedicated kitchen air purifier is bound to trap grease, grime, and dust in a way that a unit in a living room or bedroom will not, which is why manufacturers generally recommend against placing an air purifier directly next to or above a cooktop. But the closer it is to the source of the pollution, the more effective it will be, says French. Of course, in order for it to remain effective, it's imperative to replace the filters and clean the machine regularly—much more frequently than the manual or indicator lights suggest, according to French.

Beyond filter replacement costs, French says that if you’re going to use an air purifier as your primary kitchen exhaust, you should also plan to spend some money on the unit. As someone who recently upgraded my purifiers, I can report that the difference between cheapies and premium models is immediately clear. In the month or so that I’ve been alternating between the decor-friendly Coway Airmega 160 and the futuristic Dyson Purifier Cool Formaldehyde, my house smells better, I’ve noticed less overall kitchen grime, and I love that both devices automatically kick into high gear when I start cooking (something my budget units never did).

For a more affordable, low-maintenance option, check out the new AirHood. Marketed as "the world's first portable range hood," it exists somewhere between a ductless table-top exhaust system and an air purifier. Though it doesn't have true HEPA- or VOC-specific filters, it does have a stainless-steel mesh oil filter and a purifying internal charcoal filter similar to what you’d find in a ductless oven hood.

Wired and rechargeable models are available, as long as you visit the site when preorders are open (the brand turns off the option periodically to keep up with demand). I was able to get my hands on a rechargeable AirHood and I was impressed with how powerful it was for a cordless device. Because I can so easily move it around the kitchen, I’ve also been using it when I cook in my countertop oven and even putting it next to my cutting board when I chop onions (it helps a little with eye irritation).

Though it's kind of brilliant, the AirHood isn't perfect. Even with a flame-retardant ABS plastic shell, it's not approved for use near an open flame. But if you cook on induction or electric, and have a small space or a limited budget, the AirHood is certainly worth considering. Upkeep is relatively affordable, too, since the (dishwasher-safe!) oil filter can be replaced for $15 and you can get five replacement charcoal filters for the same price.

Even the most effective exhaust system is only effective until it gets too dirty. So if routinely cleaning a machine and replacing pricey filters feels like too much, French says there's a simpler, even more affordable solution: Put a fan in the window. Just ensure that it's pointed out or reversed so it forces the polluted air out from your kitchen. You’ll also need to open another nearby window so fresh, clean air can replace what's being removed.

Unfortunately, no kitchen exhaust system is completely maintenance-free—all that grease and grime has to go somewhere—so plan to occasionally check the blades and motor housing for buildup.