Venting!

This is one of the hood vent panels from our fan over the stove.  Unfortunately, we can't vent the fan outside because the stove is on an interior wall and it won't be possible to change that until we completely renovate the kitchen.  There was no fan in the kitchen when we moved in, so even one that vents into the room is an improvement.  I like that the vent is entirely stainless steel.

We rarely cleaned the vents before I retired.  Once I took them down and saw how greasy they were, I was totally appalled.  It took hours of soaking, scrubbing and steaming to get them de-greased and clean again.  I remember the old wire filters that used to be in hood vents.  The best you could so was soak them and they had to periodically be replaced.  This style seems to make more sense -- if you are smart enough to keep them clean.

Once I got the entire thing clean, I vowed to take this task seriously on a more frequent basis.  I am now cleaning the hood around once per month.  At least, that was how I started.

After my second or third round of scrubbing the vent panels, it occurred to me that I could fit them in the dishwasher.  They are too wide to stand up, but I can lay one down on each rack and still fit in a half load of dishes.  As a result, I am removing them and running them through the dishwasher once a week.  What a time saver!

While that might seem excessive to some folks, I cook on this stove every day.  I saute a lot.  This fan runs very frequently.  I figure not only will it look nice if it stays clean, the air it circulates will smell fresher.  Besides, it is so simple to take the vents out, plop them in the dishwasher, and let it run over night.  There's the psychological benefit of only needing to put away half as many dishes in the morning too!