AEG-Electrolux HC5690M

Author's product rating:   

Performance	Excellent
Durability	Everlasting
Cleaning & Maintenance	Very easy
Noise	Low
Value for money	Excellent

Advantages:	does a great  job removing smells and grease
Disadvantages:	needs an outside vent either through the wall or ceiling

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

When we changed our kitchen one of my priorities was to have a decent extractor. I generally dislike strong cooking smells working their way through my house but some smells are worse than others; a decent deep fat fryer took care of the fried foods and a gas barbecue on the deck near the back door took care of grilled meats so that left us with general cooking smells from cabbage to curries.

The AEG-Electrolux HC5660M Cooker Hood
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This is a 90 cm stainless steel wall mounted chimney hood. It is possible to mount this between cupboards and it needs no clearance space between it and adjoining furniture. Its actual dimensions are (Height x Depth x Width) 120.0 cm 48.0 cm 89.8 cm and it needs to be fitted at least 65 cm above an electric hob or at least 75 cm above a gas hob. It looks quite stylish and its design is strong and smooth and is easy to keep clean ;requiring just a wipe over with our well loved stainless steel wipes

It will either extract (pull air through and discharge it outside) or re-circulate (pull air through its filters to remove the smell then discharge it back into the room).The charcoal filters which are used for recirculation are replaceable but last several months and are definitely worth having. The other 3 included metal grease filter cassettes are washable.

The HC5660M has 2 bright halogen lights underneath which provide a high level of lighting over the cooking space. They look very stylish when on and reduce the glare in the kitchen when it is dark or overcast as you can do without the main kitchen lighting on most of the time unless you are working away from the cooker.

The extraction is a powerful 650 cubic meters/hour and it is fairly quiet; on its loudest operating setting it’s rated at 62 dB. There is a choice of 4 speed settings including 1 intensive setting. The selection is done via an electronic, push button, illuminated control panel on the front fascia. There is a cut off timer which is particularly useful if the oven is set on its timer

These hoods work really well, when they are set to extract they help keep the kitchen cool as well as removing smells. I would advise getting the charcoal filters too as they do make a difference particularly when cooking strong smelling foods such as curry when the weather is cool and you don’t want to lower the temperature in the kitchen but want maximum smell removal.

The other filters seem to collect quite a lot of grease and it makes you wonder where it went to before you had a hood but I imagine it gets spread around the room in a minute layer that takes time to build up into something truly repulsive.

The hood comes with a 1 year parts and labour warranty and will cost around £250