Noise levels and choosing a cooker hood – what you need to be aware of

Depending on how powerful your cooker hood is, it is by no means always necessary to run it at the highest setting. Ideally, your cooker hood should be able to handle everyday cooking at level 4 or 5 out of 9, while the highest setting is only used in particular situations.

The Boost/Intensive function will of course be noisier than the other two settings. However, it is worth bearing in mind that this function is designed to be used for up to ten minutes at a time. In other words, the priority here should be effective extraction rather than the fact that it is louder while the function is in use.

The Maximum function will generally be used often. Here, you need to take into account whether you are cooking in an open-plan kitchen/living space or in a closed room. The noise level will vary depending on the type of room you are in.

The minimum setting can be very low. It can be used, among other things, when the cooker hood needs to run for a longer period or for post-extraction. Post-extraction is used after you have finished cooking. Here again, the noise level and what you consider acceptable are factors, as is the type of kitchen space. For example, if you can close the kitchen door, the minimum setting may be allowed to make slightly more noise than if you are watching TV in the same room.

Compare with other everyday noise levels

To give an idea of different noise levels measured in everyday situations, here are a few points of comparison:

• Air-raid siren at a distance of 30 metres: 120 dB
• Loud music in a nightclub: 110 dB
• Workplace noise limit (8 hours): 85 dB
• Vacuum cleaner at 1 metre: between 75–80 dB
• Whispering (0.3 m): 40 dB
• Quiet bedroom: 20 dB

It is also said that 60 dB(A) is a good rule of thumb for when noise starts to interfere with conversation.

A cooker hood’s noise level (sound power) is always stated in dB(A).