KITCHEN RANGE HOODS
8 August 2008
“The Ring of Bling”
With my penchant for doing something a little different from what other people do, I have found myself very much attracted to Elica Hoods since I first came across them in writing these blogs. The kitchen I eventually make for us will, of necessity, be a more traditional design, because ours is a tract house, with all that that implies, bo
th in the quality of cabinetry they installed (cheap, cheap, cheap) and in the design of the house itself. And the one thing you can never do with a design, if you really want it to work, is get ahead of the architect who designed your house. You can remove gingerbread shutters and the like, but the basic house is what it is. Greene and Greene, to use just one example, is not the only choice for a new kitchen in a Craftsman style home, but it’s the one that makes the most sense. And although I do like to go as far out on a limb as I can, I never want to get so innovative with a design that it looks like I just lost my mind! So, I rather fear that Elica is forever forbidden to me. But for those who can make use of a cutting edge design, I honestly think Elica Hoods should be the first place you go for inspiration.
For those who have their stoveto
p on an island and are looking for something dramatic, I cannot think of anything better than the Elica Legend, which we’ve featured at the top of this blog. It really looks more like a free form sculpture of some sort than a plain old kitchen hood. Of the hoods we’ve featured today, it is very much my personal favorite, but it is not, by any means, the only choice for an island hood.
The Elica Menhir has a minimalist look that still, somehow, manages to bring a most unusual decorative element to any room it occupies. Of course, a hood that does not actually do the job for which it is intended is a poor choice indeed, but as I found out when I researched a much earlier series on kitchen hoods, just about any modern range hood will more than do the job. The one we have in our own kitchen is the lowest rated hood available, both in the amount of air it moves per minute and the amount of noise it mak
es. But that said, viewed only from a utilitarian point of view, our hood works just fine. The aesthetics, though, leave quite a bit to be desired, which is why I find myself lusting after companies like Elica.
Finally, I did want to mention the Elica Victoria, which is the hood that looks more like a crystal lampshade than anything else. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a kitchen hood with quite this degree of luxury and sophistication—to a point where you almost find yourself wondering how in the world something like that even works. And yet, Elica has built up quite a reputation, not only for the innovation of their designs, but for how well—and how quietly—they work.
And that is very much the bottom line.
Joseph
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