Why Hiding Your Stove Range Hood Is All The Rage This Year

Kitchens often have to mix functional needs with aesthetic finishes. Nearly everything in a kitchen has to contribute to making the room work efficiently yet still match an overall design. Range hoods are one the best examples of this phenomenon. These appliances typically sit above a stove and help to remove smoke, odors, fumes, and vapors from the kitchen when cooking, effectively improving the air quality of the room. Range hoods can also help remove excess heat from a hardworking kitchen. 

However, for many homeowners, this appliance can be an eyesore in an otherwise aesthetically pleasing room. It can look like an out-of-place piece of hardware that draws the eye away from other design elements. This is why hiding a stove range hood has been a kitchen design trend that has become increasingly popular in the past year. This design choice allows for an uninterrupted flow of upper cabinets, which maintains clean lines throughout the kitchen. The straight lines tend to be more aesthetically pleasing than a break in cabinetry for an appliance. Hiding the range hood can also make the kitchen appear less cluttered.

Kitchens are one room that many homeowners want to invest in, which has led to many kitchen design ideas trending over the last couple of years. While the specific shades may fluctuate in popularity, painted kitchen cabinets have become a major kitchen trend. Unfortunately, a range hood can distract and even clash with the finish you choose for the cabinets or the hardware on the front. Instead of trying to match the tone of the metallic range hood to the tones in the paint color, hiding the range hood allows for uninterrupted cabinetry, which will provide you with more cabinet color options.

Similarly, design details like open shelving and decorative backsplash tiles are ways to infuse personality and visual interest. A visible range hood could distract from the overall design and even make the space feel cluttered because of too many differing design elements. Concealing the range hood will allow the kitchen's main decorative details to be featured front and center. With a hidden range hood, there is also no interruption in cabinetry, as the design element blends well into the wall. The lack of interruption creates a streamlined look that can help make a room feel larger and more open.

While there are many different types of range hoods, the canopy-style is the one that often comes to mind. These can be wall or ceiling-mounted and are an appliance that hangs over the stove with a funnel-shaped bottom and a tube that helps draw smoke and odors out of the house. To maintain the seamless look of upper cabinets, use a faux cabinet facade to tuck away the vent. With this method, an upper cabinet box is placed around the hood. The top and bottom of the cabinet are removed to create an opening for ventilation fans and the exhaust that funnels the smoke and vapor out of the room.

Similarly, building a custom cover over a range hood is also an option. Use drywall to create a surround and conceal the appliance. You can either paint the drywall surround the same color as the wall, effectively making it blend in, or paint it a different color to make it an accent. Tiling the surround is also an option, especially if the kitchen already has a backsplash that runs to the ceiling, as this will allow for no interruption in the kitchen design. You could also replace your large range hood with an under-cabinet, microwave combination, or ceiling-mounted type, as all of these options are hidden from sight.