What makes a hood a wall mount
A wall mount hood hangs off the wall behind the range and carries its ductwork up through a chimney cover to the ceiling. The chimney is what visibly separates a wall hood from the other mounting types: it is what turns a hood into a piece of the room's architecture and not a fitting hidden inside the cabinetry.
It is also the arrangement with the fewest constraints. There is no ceiling joist plan to work around as there is with an island hood, no cabinet depth to fit inside as with an under cabinet hood, and no custom surround to build as with an insert. The wall does the work.
The hood chimney and the ceiling
Chimney covers are sized for a standard eight foot ceiling. On a nine or ten foot ceiling the chimney stops short and leaves a visible gap, which is the single most common surprise in a wall hood order and the reason an extension is worth settling before the hood ships rather than after. Extensions are model specific, so the ceiling height belongs in the conversation at the same moment as the width.
The other measurement that matters is the distance from the cooking surface to the bottom of the canopy. Manufacturers publish a mounting range for each model and the range hood page goes into what governs it. The window belongs to the model rather than to the fuel, though a gas range generally pushes toward the upper end of whatever window is given and an electric one allows the lower.
Wall hood width above the range
Widths follow the two standard range sizes, with the rest of the band filling in around them:
- 30 and 36 inches: a 30 inch range hood or a 36 inch range hood covers most kitchens.
- 42 inches: the in between size, usually chosen to overhang a 36 inch range.
- 48 inches: wide and professional ranges.
- 24 inches: a galley or a compact cooktop.
- 60 inches: the top of the band, over a commercial style range.
A hood the same width as the cooktop works. A hood that overhangs by a few inches on each side works better, because the plume spreads as it rises and a canopy that only covers the burners is already chasing it.
Against a wall the plume has one side contained for free, which is why a wall hood can do the same job as an island hood at lower airflow. What that airflow should be, and how the ductwork decides whether it arrives, is set out on the range hood page.
Wall hood finishes
Stainless is the default on a wall mount and the range hood page covers the finishes the category shares. What is unusual here is how far past them this collection runs: white, black, blue and bronze bodies, a handful in red, and hand finished copper.
A colored hood is a different design decision from a stainless one. Stainless disappears into an appliance wall; a blue or bronze canopy becomes the thing the eye lands on when it enters the kitchen, which works when the cabinetry is quiet and fights when it is not. That choice is harder to reverse than most, because the hood sits at eye level on the one wall nothing else competes for.
Ducted, convertible and outdoor hoods
Most wall hoods can be converted to recirculate with a charcoal filter kit, which is the fallback when no duct route exists. It is a fallback, not an equal: a recirculating hood returns the heat and the moisture to the kitchen and handles only the odor. Where a duct can reach an exterior wall, the ducted arrangement wins on every measure of capture.
A smaller group of these canopies is built for covered outdoor kitchens, which is a different specification from an indoor hood in the same body, and the model's own documentation is what says which is which. An outdoor kitchen is also a different ventilation problem, since an open air cook space moves smoke differently from a closed room.
Blower placement
A wall hood normally carries its motor inside the canopy, which is the arrangement that needs nothing beyond the duct. A few take the motor out to the roof or an exterior wall instead, and on a wall mount that decision reaches further than the appliance: the duct leaves through a wall rather than a ceiling, so the route is settled by where the hood sits. The range hood page compares the placements.
