Cleaning the air in you home's kitchen
Do you need an appliance to clean the air where you cook? That is a great question! It depends on what kind of kitchen you have. It also depends on what you want your kitchen environment to be. Wonderful aromas coming from the kitchen can be a very good thing. But, is your kitchen where you and your love enjoy a cup of coffee, or are you feeding a small army? We “start with four air changes per hour when specifying air purifiers. This is good for the kitchen, where we cook one main meal daily. If your kitchen becomes more of a production area where you are into canning or baking often, you will want to look for eight air changes per hour. If you are into some serious Curry, or your casseroles are more like culinary landmines, move to 10-12 air changes. The air purifiers below have ratings for four air changes per hour. If you would like a better idea of the CFM needed for more serious kitchens, please visit our CFM Calculator Page. We share more insights and information about kitchens and the right air purifiers for them in a section later on this page.
- Max-700
- 650 CFM (4 Air Changes / 1200 sq. ft.)
- Variable Speed (40 – 68 dB(A))
- Washable / Carbon
- 97% efficiency to 0.1 Micron
$995.00 ~ 750 CFM
- Maxum HEPA
- 500 CFM (4 Air Changes / 1000 sq. ft.)
- Variable Speed (40 – 58 dB(A))
- True HEPA / Carbon
- 99.7% efficiency to 0.3 Micron
$850.00 ~ 500 CFM
- Maxum Electrostatic
- 275 CFM (4 Air Changes / 500 sq. ft.)
- Two Speed (47 / 41 dB(A))
- Washable / Carbon
- 97% efficiency to 0.1 Micron
$700.00 ~ 275 CFM
Professional Kitchen Air Purifiers
- LA2-RC2 Kitchen Electrostatic
- 1000 CFM 8 Air Changes 900 sq. ft.
- Variable Speed 43- 68 dB(A)
- Grease / Electrostatic / Carbon
- 97% to 0.1 Micron
$2800.00 ~ 1000 CFM
The LA2-RC2-Kitchen air purifier has everything a commercial kitchen needs. The pre-filter removes larger particles from the air. The grease filter separates and removes grease and oil. The electrostatic filter removes smoke and small particles. The carbon filter removes odors and gasses, leaving kitchen air clean.
The LA2-RC2-Kitchen can be hung from the ceiling, mounted on the wall, or mounted to a cart. It is an affordable addition to any commercial kitchen.
Professional kitchens are a different animal. They are much busier and require better air purification. Eight air changes per hour is where we start spec’ing out a commercial kitchen. Most times, air purification is used in conjunction with makeup air. You can supplement makeup air with air purification. If your municipality calls for “X” cfm per cubic feet of kitchen, you can substitute air purified by ambient room air purifiers for makeup air. This can save you a great deal of money on utilities. Professional kitchens offer more challenges for air purifiers. We have commercial models that are great commercial cooking Air Purifiers. To see these products, visit our commercial kitchen air purifier page.
Keeping your Home and Kitchen in Harmony
Keep the house out of the kitchen.
A healthy kitchen is a happy kitchen. It makes sense to wash the dishes, wipe down the counters, and keep the food safe from rodents and insects. We also keep our frozen and cold food cold enough. We know the importance of carefully watching expiration dates so our food is safe.
Are we making sure the air in our kitchen is clean? We don’t want pet dander falling into the food we prepare. If there is smoking in our homes, are we ensuring no third-hand smoke is getting into our cooking? (Third-hand smoke is when smoke or residue from smoking lands on our cooking surfaces, plates, or even on the food itself.)
Many activities outside the kitchen can adversely affect the food being prepared for our families. When considering a kitchen air purifier, ensure you are protecting the food prep area from harmful things in the air outside the kitchen. It is essential to protect the rest of our home from undesirable elements that might come from the kitchen.
What kind of challenges should we protect our kitchens from? Well, smokers or Pets would lead the list. Homes with pests that require pesticides would be another—homes where crafts create extra indoor air pollution. Activities like woodworking, painting, spray glue, or any other activity can add impurities to the air. If these activities are in our homes, we should strive to have kitchen air purification equal to at least eight air changes per hour.
What happens in the Kitchen Stays in the Kitchen
Many lovely smells emanate from our kitchen. The smell of freshly baked bread can bring real enjoyment to a family’s life. However, when your favorite soup smells more like old socks as it cooks, well, not so much. Sometimes, especially if you live in an apartment or duplex, the neighbors might not like the smell of your cooking as much as you do. You would be surprised how many air purifiers we sell to rid the home of the neighbor’s cooking odor.
The right air purifier can keep everyone in your home and maybe even your neighbors happy. Some kitchens don’t have adequate ventilation, and everyday cooking smoke can become a problem. The proper kitchen air cleaner can remove smoke from the air without opening windows or doors. Let’s look at some of the air quality issues in greater depth and find the right products to make a recipe for a happy and healthy kitchen.
The 2 Issues facing the average kitchen, Odors and Smoke
Odors
The central air quality issues in the kitchen are smoke and odors. Odors are gasses in the air. These gasses are so small no regular filter can capture them. Some of the gasses are harmless, and some even have pleasant smells. Others are repugnant, and many are just plain dangerous. Most of these gasses can be removed using an activated carbon filter. One of the most hazardous, however, cannot be removed. This is Carbon Monoxide. This gas must be vented outside. It is essential to install Carbon Monoxide detectors in your home and kitchen.
The odors and gasses that activated carbon can safely remove are more complex gasses. These gasses pass through a carbon filter and are adsorbed into the carbon. Activated carbon is the same substance that helps odor eaters’ shoe inserts keep shoes from stinking. Your LakeAir Air Purifier is the odor eater for your kitchen. To learn more about how activated carbon works, you can find more information in this article. If your cooking has a good deal of “aroma” or other gasses are being caused elsewhere in the house, like pesticides, then a Super Carbon Filter is for your Kitchen Air Purifier.
All LakeAir Models offer some level of activated carbon filtration. This is the best way to remove odors from the air where you cook. They also remove Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) from the air. The odor-eliminator value of these filters is immense. Carbon filters cannot be washed. They must be replaced when they have adsorbed all the odors they can.
Smoke
Smoke is a regular part of cooking. Many homes and apartments have stove vents that do a good job of venting smoke to the outside, which is the best way to deal with smoke. However, the amount of smoke is more than the system can handle due to the amount of smoke or the lack of a ventilation system. This results in too much smoke, overfilling the kitchen and spreading through the home. This situation is unsafe, and a high-quality air purifier can help immensely.
All the products shown on this page are very good at removing smoke. These products are often referred to as smoke eaters. A smoke eater is nothing more than an air purifier adept at removing smoke. The volume of smoke your kitchen produces should lead you to the right kitchen air purifier. If your kitchen is frequently plagued with smoke, you should be looking for more than 10 air changes per hour. Our best home kitchen air cleaner for handling a large volume of smoke is our MAX-700.
HEPA or Electrostatic
HEPA
Choosing the filtration type is an important part of selecting the best kitchen smoke and odor removal product. The two filtration technologies to choose from are Electrostatic and HEPA. There are good and bad points to both. HEPA filters clean out more impurities in one pass. These filters are disposable and easy to replace. HEPA filters cost more money than a media filter but do a better job. HEPA filters clean the air fewer times an hour. Electrostatic cells remove 3% fewer impurities compared to a HEPA system. The electrostatic tend to clean up the air 2 times more air an hour.
Electrostatic
The Electrostatic kitchen air cleaning models move more indoor air. Their free flow filters are 97% efficient to 0.1 microns. Electrostatic filters are great at removing some small particles from the air. Instead of replacing expensive filters, you wash the electrostatic cells. The filter cells are easily removed and washable.
I think regular cleaning is essential. The cleaner the filter cell, the more efficient it is. Most professional kitchens clean these filters every other month. Commercial-model electrostatic filters fit in a commercial-sized sink. There, they are soaked in hot, soapy water, rinsed, and returned to the unit after drying. Residential electrostatic cells usually fit into your dishwasher and can be reinserted into the air purifier. You can also buy an extra cell to make your air purifier maintenance schedule more manageable.
Both technologies work well. You need to decide which system is best for your kitchen. We offer a great comparison on our “Electrostatic vs. HEPA” Page. If you need more advice, give us a call at 800-558-9436, and we will help you sort it out. Here is a brief comparison of the two technologies.
HEPA
99.97% efficient to 3 micron
Disposable $ 150/year cost
Requires large blower more electric
filters go into the trash / landfill
Electrostatic
97% efficient to .1 micron
Washable 2-3 times a year (takes 2 hours)
Radial fan less noise less electric
produce a small amount of Ozone
If you have questions or need help choosing the right Air Purifier for your cooking space, please call us at 800-558-9436
Frequently Asked Questions:
Smoke, cooking aromas, and oil may be eliminated from the air in a kitchen with the use of air purifiers.
Typically, they employ a variety of filters, including HEPA filters and activated carbon filters, to catch and remove these air contaminants.
It is crucial to remember that an air purifier cannot eradicate all kitchen pollutants on its own; it must be used in conjunction with correct ventilation and routine cleaning.
In addition, it is essential to choose a unit with the proper size and characteristics for the kitchen area.
Yes, certain air purifiers are intended particularly to eliminate kitchen scents, such as cooking gases and food odors.
These types of air purifiers often employ activated carbon filters, which absorb and neutralize aromas, or UV-C lamps, which destroy the bacteria and viruses that contribute to foul odors.
A kitchen air purifier should be placed either near the main source of air pollution or close to the major area of frequent use. This might be in close proximity to a stove, a sink, or some other appliance used in the cooking or preparation of meals.
When deciding where to put the air purifier, it’s also helpful to think about how big your kitchen is.
If you want your air purifier to be able to efficiently clean the air in your whole kitchen, it’s best to put it in a prominent spot.
Need More Information?
If you want more general information about home air purifiers, we suggest you visit the “Home Air Purifier” web page. If you need help right away, we’d like to invite you to call customer service at (800) 558-9436. You can also reach customer service via email at [email protected]