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How High Should You Mount Your Range Hood?

January 19, 2022

Making sure you have proper ventilation in your home is critically important. Effective ventilation rids your home of smoke, grease, odours and perhaps most importantly, moisture.  Modern homes are now built virtually airtight, with very minimal air leakage.  This makes them very energy efficient but also in great need of adequate ventilation.

Moisture and airborne contaminants created by cooking, using chemical laden cleaning products, bathing and even breathing are all trapped in the air in your home, making your air stale, polluted and unhealthy.   In several meaningful ways, your range hood may be the most important appliance you will purchase, and yet many people give it very little thought, even home builders themselves.

There are a number of recent studies showing that the IAP (Internal Air Pollution) and IAQ (Internal Air Quality) of our homes is worse than the air outside and that is due to insufficient ventilation.

So, How High should You Mount Your Range Hood?

Gas Range

For high-heat gas cooking, your range hood should be at minimum 32” from the stovetop to the bottom of the hood and a maximum 36” from the stovetop to the bottom of the hood. The hood mounting height should not deviate from the minimum or maximum for safe and effective cooking and ventilating.

Electric Range

For lower-heat electric range cooking, your range hood should be at minimum 30” from the stovetop to the bottom of the hood and a maximum 34” from the stovetop to the bottom of the hood. The hood mounting height should not deviate from the minimum or maximum for safe and effective cooking and ventilating.

Insert Range Hoods

Another commonly found range hood style is the insert, which is found inside a wooden frame. Builder code for this type of unit is a minimum of 30” above the cooktop, whether gas or electric.  However, we recommend insert hoods be mounted at 36” above the cooktop to protect the wood cabinetry and frame from being damaged by heat and steam caused by cooking.

Over-the-Range Microwave (OTR)

In speaking with kitchen cabinet designers, they measure 72” from the floor to the top of the microwave. The cooktop is at 36” above the floor and the OTR is generally 17” in height, making the space from the top of the cooktop to the bottom of the OTR roughly 19”.

We generally recommend for over-the-range microwaves to be mounted at minimum 18” from the stovetop to the bottom of the OTR microwave and a maximum 23” from the stovetop to the bottom of the OTR microwave. The OTR microwave mounting height should not deviate from the minimum or maximum for safe and effective cooking and ventilating.

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Cyclone Range Hoods Inc. Warranty has recently been updated. Please see it under the Support Tab For questions regarding the warranty. Please contact us, we are happy to help.