It’s essential to keep every nook of the kitchen clean, yet a commonly overlooked spot is the extractor fans. A cooker hood is crucial for maintaining your kitchen’s cleanliness, as it extracts grease, steam, and cooking smells. Despite its importance, the hood can only perform optimally when it’s free from grime and grease buildup.
Tell-tale signs that your extractor fan needs a scrub include persistent odours and increased kitchen condensation. In a quest for cleaning solutions, Josie Bolam turned to the Mrs Hinch Army Facebook group, where she requested advice on tackling her cooker hood filters, alongside an image of the yellow-stained filters, adding: “Hi guys, please can you Hinchers help me on how to clean our extractor fan filters?
“Please don’t judge the state of them, we are in a rental property and haven’t been here that long!”
While some members suggested using products like Elbow Grease or dish soap, both options involve a fair bit of scrubbing.
However, another savvy member offered an alternative natural solution that strays from the usual white vinegar and baking soda routine.
This method simply requires tin foil and soda crystals, available either in powder or liquid form.
Sammie Timms shared her tip: “Line your sink with foil shiny side up, add soda crystals and warm water, then put your filters in.
“They come out grease-free in five minutes. You can see here it worked on my filters that hadn’t been cleaned for five years.”
Intrigued by this kitchen extractor fan cleaning hack, Sandra Bridle enquired: “Why do you need foil?”
Sammie responded: “The foil reacts with the soda crystals so all the grease comes away and attaches itself to the foil.”
Other Mrs Hinch fans have found success with using soda crystals. Amy Hughes wrote: “They always look sparkling clean when I use soda crystals. The grease felt impossible to remove before using this.”
Simon Higgins said: “Soda crystals are amazing, I did mine a week ago. Omg I was ashamed. I normally put them in the dishwasher, but not anymore.”
Anne Seward was also impressed, saying: “I’d never heard of soda crystals before this page. It’s game-changing. It literally cleans everything.”