Extraction without a wall
A wall hood works with the wall: rising air is already contained on one side, and anything that drifts backward meets a surface and turns up into the canopy. An island hood has open air on all four sides and nothing to contain what escapes it.
The practical answer is width. An island hood is usually specified wider than a wall hood would be over the same cooktop, so the canopy reaches out past the edges of the pans rather than sitting directly above them. That is why the canopies in this category are proportioned the way they are, and why the wider sizes repay a look for a cooktop that would take a narrower hood against a wall.
A hood seen from four sides
A wall hood presents one face. An island hood is seen from the front, both ends and often from an adjoining room, and it hangs in the open middle of the space rather than against a boundary.
That is why this category carries finishes the others mostly do not: alongside stainless there are painted hoods in black, white and gray, bronze, blue, and hoods in copper. An island hood is furniture as much as equipment, and it is usually the largest object hanging in the room.
The chimney in open space
On a wall hood the decorative chimney runs up a wall and reads as part of it. On an island it stands free, seen from all sides, and it is the tallest vertical object in the middle of the kitchen.
That changes what it is doing visually. It draws a line from the island to the ceiling and divides the space either side of it, which is why an island hood affects how open a kitchen feels in a way no other mounting type does. The range hoods page sets out the ducting behind it.
Mounting an island hood
A wall hood is fixed to a wall, which sets its alignment for it. An island hood hangs from the ceiling on rods or a frame, which means it has to be positioned square to the island in plan as well as level, and both are visible from across the room.
A hood that is an inch off center over an island is noticeable in a way the same error against a wall is not, because the eye has the island beneath it as a reference. The center line is agreed before the ceiling is closed, not after.
Island hood widths
The widths run 28, 30, 36, 42, 46, 48 and 60 inches, with 30 and 36 the most common, which follows cooktop widths rather than cabinet modules since there are no cabinets involved.
The larger sizes suit a wide island even with a standard cooktop, because a hood that looks small above a large island reads as an afterthought. Proportion to the island matters here in a way it does not on a wall.
Wall hoods and inserts
If the cooking is going against a wall, not on an island, the wall range hoods page covers that type. If the hood is to be concealed inside joinery, the range hood inserts page covers the machine on its own.
The range hoods overview sets out airflow, ducting and filters across all of the mounting types.
