How Does an Outdoor Kitchen Ventilation Hood Work?

How Does an Outdoor Kitchen Ventilation Hood Work? image by An outdoor ventilation hood (

What Does It Do?

Outdoor ventilation hoods work just like the vent hood over your stove. The hoods clear smoke and fumes emitted by your grill and move it away from where you cook or entertain. These are particularly helpful if you have a built-in grill or a full outdoor kitchen and live in a temperate environment where outdoor entertaining can take place beyond one season.

Why Would You Want One?

Outdoor kitchens are more about the appearance and experience of cooking and entertaining outside. By venting the smoke and fumes away from your cooking and entertaining area, you eliminate the chance of your guests getting a face full of grill smoke and lessen the residual smell of smoke that will stick to your clothing. If your cooking surface is against a wall, it will also reduce--but not eliminate--smoke and grease residue that forms behind an outdoor grill or stove.

How Does It Work?

Outdoor hoods work the same way as indoor hoods. The hood sits over the cooking surface and is equipped with a fan and light. The variable-speed fan sucks the vapors and smoke from the cooking surface and ventilates it to another area. Depending on how the vent is mounted, it can be pumped away from your house, into a chimney that leads to your house's roof or in a power-venting solution that uses a fan to blow the smoke through a ventilation pipe and away from the cooking and entertaining area.

About this Author

Jared Paventi is the communications director for a disease-related nonprofit in the Northeast. He has extensive experience in the health care, technology and sports industries. He holds a master's degree from Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communication and a bachelor's in journalism from St. Bonaventure University.

Photo by: An outdoor ventilation hood (

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