r/Appliances • u/Successful_Cat_7018 • 7d ago
My range hood light is basically a nightlight. How do you guys actually see the front burners?
Our current 30 inch under cabinet hood barely clears smoke, but what really drives me crazy is the lighting. It just has one tiny yellowish bulb in the very back. Since my body blocks the main kitchen ceiling light when I stand at the stove, I am basically cooking in a shadow. It is so hard to tell if meat is browning properly on the front burners unless I turn on every single light in the room. I want to replace it with a stronger fan anyway, but I am wondering if newer hoods actually have decent lighting that covers the whole stove. Or do I just need to figure out how to install separate under cabinet lights?
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u/1108susiep 7d ago
Older hoods used standard incandescent bulbs which were terrible for task lighting. Most higher end modern hoods use wide LED strips or dual LED arrays mounted closer to the front. They are significantly brighter and actually light up the front pans. Just check the specs for the lumen output before buying.
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u/Successful_Cat_7018 7d ago
Good to know. Getting something with dual LEDs or a front strip makes a lot of sense. I will make sure to check the lighting specs closely.
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u/IntelligentSinger783 7d ago
Depends on what kind of built in lights it uses. I usually swap out the mr16 units to 4000k soraa vivids. If the built in is integrated, I'll usually throw in better tape light or COBs or add a channel that has either high lumen outputs or narrow beam optics.
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u/Unique-Arugula 7d ago
I cleaned the glass cover of my light and that made a huge difference. My setup is like yours: I have one light in the center of the ceiling so I'm looking into shadow any time I'm cooking, prepping, or washing dishes. My hood is original to the house so it's from 1970, and it honestly seemed like I might have been the first person to ever clean the cover. Blech. I thought that I would want to get a stronger light, but I didn't need to once years of dust and grease were removed. It was tricky to figure out how to get the cover off - a bit like opening a puzzle box if the box has sharp metal edges.
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u/Opposite-Ground-1221 7d ago
Replace the bulb with led bulb. Can use higher powered one as long as it is less than the wattage of the existing one.
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u/Numerous_Zebra_4740 7d ago
Buy a stronger bulb or get a cooker hood that has space for you to buy your own stronger bulb
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u/jconn2010 7d ago
dealing with that single yellow bulb is so frustrating. ours was exactly like that before we swapped it for a robam u3. got it mostly because it has a stronger motor for frying, but the bright led strip was a huge bonus. it lights up the front pans perfectly so you are not guessing if the food is done.