Outdoor Vent Hoods from AirKing to Zephyr

Vent Hoods for Outdoor Kitchens

Outdoor Hoods at Universal Appliance and Kitchen Center

When summer heats up our attention goes to outdoor cooking. Today's popular gas grills are often not sitting in an open air location, rather they tend to be in a patio, gazebo, or other covered outdoor area. The grill is likely to be built-in and sometimes even part of an entire outdoor kitchen installation.

With all this attention on outdoor grilling, it's important to understand the need for outdoor venting. If your grilling is done under a combustible overhead structure, a vent hood is required to control smoke, grease, and fumes.

Hood manufacturers from AirKing to Zephyr are jumping into the outdoor hood category. Outdoor cooking specialty manufacturers such as Lynx, also offer their own vent hoods to complement their outdoor grills. And some appliance manufacturers that offer outdoor grills such as Viking include outdoor rated vent hoods as part of their lineup.

Standard indoor vent hoods, are not the same as outdoor vent hoods. Underwriters Laboratories (UL) has separate standards for outdoor appliances. For example, wiring must be shielded and protected from the elements.

Buyers should make sure that their outdoor hood not only meets regulatory standards, but that they are also durable and cleanable. Heavy duty stainless steel baffles effectively filter smoke and grease and they're also easy to clean.

Here's a photo of a Lynx outdoor grill with backsplash and vent hood. It's easy to see that this unit will not only be effective in containing smoke, grease, and fumes, but it will also protect the surrounding surfaces and keep the outdoor kitchen free of soot and grease build-up.