7 Signs Your Rangehood Is Overdue for a Replacement (Most Australians Miss #4)

Published by Kitchen Alliance | Reading time: 5 min

Your rangehood is one of those appliances that's easy to ignore until it really isn't. Unlike a fridge or oven, it doesn't stop working dramatically — it just... degrades. Slowly. Until your kitchen smells like last Tuesday's stir-fry and you've been breathing cooking fumes for longer than you'd like to admit.

The average Australian rangehood lasts 10 to 15 years. After that, even if the motor still runs, the performance drop means it's no longer doing the job it was designed to do.

Here are the seven signs it's time to replace yours.

1. Cooking smells linger for hours after you're done

A rangehood in good condition clears smoke, steam, and cooking odours within 10 to 15 minutes of you finishing at the stove. If you're still smelling last night's fish at breakfast, the fan motor has lost power, the filters are blocked beyond recovery, or both.

This one is easy to test: cook something pungent, turn the rangehood on full, and time how long it takes for the air to clear. If it's still going after 20 minutes, the unit is underperforming.

2. The motor is noticeably louder than it used to be

Rangehood motors get louder as they age — bearings wear, the fan accumulates grease and becomes unbalanced, and the casing can start to vibrate. If yours has gone from "background hum" to "sounds like a small aircraft," that's not normal wear you can ignore. It means the motor is working harder than it should to move less air than it used to.

A good rangehood should sit under 65dB on its highest setting. At that level, you can still hold a normal conversation in the kitchen.

3. Grease is accumulating on your ceiling or cupboards

The entire point of a rangehood is to capture airborne grease before it lands on your surfaces. If you're noticing a sticky film building up on the cupboards above your stove, or a faint greasiness on the ceiling nearby, your rangehood is no longer capturing what it should.

This isn't just an aesthetic problem — grease accumulation on surfaces near a cooktop is a genuine fire risk.

4. You've had the filters cleaned but it hasn't made a difference

This is the one most people miss, because it feels counterintuitive. You do the right thing — you pull out the filters, clean them properly, put them back in — and the rangehood performs exactly the same as before.

That means the problem isn't the filters. It's the motor. Filters block airflow when clogged, but a motor that's degraded won't push adequate airflow even with clean filters in place. If cleaning hasn't helped, you're not dealing with a maintenance issue anymore. You need a replacement.

5. The rangehood is more than 12 years old

Even if it technically still works, a rangehood over a decade old is operating well below current efficiency and performance standards. Modern units move significantly more air per watt of power consumed, run quieter, and have better filter systems that are easier to maintain.

If your rangehood came with the kitchen when you moved in and you don't know when it was installed, that's a strong signal it's overdue.

6. Condensation is building up inside your kitchen

Steam that isn't captured by the rangehood has to go somewhere. Over time, inadequate extraction leads to excess moisture in the kitchen — which shows up as condensation on windows, water damage to painted surfaces, or mould starting to develop on grouting and caulking near the stove.

If you've been blaming humidity for these problems, check your rangehood extraction performance first. It's often the culprit.

7. You've upgraded your cooktop but not the rangehood

This one catches a lot of people out. If you've moved from a gas cooktop to an induction cooktop in the last few years — or upgraded to a higher-powered gas range — your rangehood needs to match the output of what's below it.

Induction cooktops produce significantly more steam and moisture than gas because there's no combustion happening. A rangehood sized for a standard gas setup won't keep up. If your new cooktop is more powerful, your rangehood needs to be too.

What to look for in a replacement

When you're replacing a rangehood, the three specs that matter most are:

Extraction rate (m³/hour) — For a standard Australian home kitchen, look for at least 600 m³/hour. Larger open-plan kitchens or high-output cooktops should be closer to 900–1,200 m³/hour.

Noise level (dB) — Anything under 65dB on high is comfortable to cook with. Premium models come in under 55dB.

Filter type — Baffle filters (common on stainless steel models) are significantly easier to clean than mesh filters and tend to last longer. Look for dishwasher-safe filters to make ongoing maintenance straightforward.

Our recommendation

The Devanti rangehood range is designed specifically for Australian kitchens — with stainless steel construction that's easy to wipe down, powerful extraction for open-plan spaces, and a form factor that suits both freestanding and built-in cooktop setups.

Browse the Devanti Rangehood range →

Not sure which size or style suits your kitchen? Get in touch with our team and we'll point you in the right direction — no sales pitch, just a straight answer.

Kitchen Alliance is Australian-owned. Free shipping on all rangehoods across Australia, with manufacturer warranties included.