Yes.

Yes.

It really helps keep the air you breathe cleaner, plus the surfaces in your house cleaner as well.

I think it has a bit to do with how sealed up your home is and your tolerance for lingering smells. Our last newer home did not have an externally vented range hood, and as such we seemed to avoid cooking any strong smelling foods like fish because of it. Some, if not most, indoor air experts don’t seem to like the idea of gas appliances burning In a room without external exhaust.

It is not necessary, but helpful. It all depends on how you cook. If you do a lot of high temp frying then it is very helpful to remove the smoke. I rarely use mine, because we do very little frying. I have lived in houses with and with out and a vent is not a must have for me as long as the kitchen has a window that can be opened.

I lived my whole life in apartments or fixer uppers without hoods and I cook so not absolutely necessary. At most I’ve had those fan units with a filter that prob has never been changed since the kitchen was installed.

However I am building my first real house and a hood is a requirement for me. I’d give up almost anything to get the hood. Hate having either whole house smelled up if anything smokes

Some people don’t make their bed. Some Dont clean the refrigerator out. Some never wash their walls. Some people just don’t mind a dirty house. Those people don’t use hoods.

I've never even heard of washing walls. (Didn't know that was a thing!) But having lived the past 15 years with a recirculating microwave vent (which is on par with having no hood), I'm with roccouple. The entire purpose of our kitchen remodel is to acquire access to an exterior venting hood. We are building a soffit to make it possible. Don't go without a hood, or you'll be like roccouple and me.

You can choose to cook the same thing many different ways. For example you can pan cook a hamburger on a low heat setting with a glass lid. Flip it several times and drain the moisture and fat. Use a thermometer to monitor it until it gets to 125*. You'll pretty much eliminate the need to turn on your exhaust hood. Plenty of other foods can be cooked the same way. An that's not even counting sous vide with a browning finish.

Dan1888 - there is nothing like a fat juicy burger cooked in a cast iron pan - except for outside on the grill. Your method of cooking a hamburger is effectively par-boiling it. Why bother then with a hamburger. The OP should just get a hood. Anyway, this OP is not coming back. Any time they post without a full sentence or punctuation, they never return.

Can you live without one? Yes, but your kitchen will be a mess.

What's your reason for wanting to skip the hood?

This is a new build? You need a hood. Indoor air quality needs all the help it can get.

My grandmother and mother washed walls every spring, with SpicNSpan, with real phosphate content. That was part of spring cleaning. Of course that was with old fashioned lead paint on the walls, and cigarette smoke, wood smoke, and ventless cooking contaminates. Newer latex matte finishes can’t stand up to scrubbing. These days people don’t smoke, use gas logs, and (hopefully) vent the greasy cooking vapors out of their houses.

Without a hood you can save the mess and make a juicy burger under the oven broiler.

https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/07/juicy-broiled-burgers-recipe.html

From Molly Gilbert's "One Pan And Done"

Thank you all for your responses. I asked if a hood is necessary because I'm currently working on a new layout for a very small kitchen in a cabin. The current layout is very awkward and I would like to place the stove under the kitchen window. I'm just not sure that the placement of a hood above the window would take away from the aesthetics of the space.

Make sure you check into that... Many area do not allow for a stove ( if its gas ) to be under a window... not sure about electric...

And no you don't need a hood but it does help. You can do a hood infront of a window - you would just need to purchase a peninsula/island model

Good luck!

It is code in some places (I've heard) that you have ventilation of some sort. If there is ever a fire your insurance company may not pay. Something to look in to.

The way people jumped to say “Yes” without any further info from the OP was curious. I’d have to say the “need” for a vent really depends on what kind of cooking you do. I live in a vegetarian household. We cook all the time but never meat or fish, so there are never the sort of lingering odors that those things create.

Likewise, there’s never any bacon fat/grease to coat the walls and cabinets, and we don’t deep fry. About the only thing ever rising off the stove is steam from boiling pots, which a recirculating fan handles pretty easily. So the “need” for venting is not universal. (Unless it’s required where you live.)

I wanted one in this house & I appreciate having it since I cook a fair amount of fish. That said I also remember coming home from school & loved the smell of baked good or or what ever was cooking.

I've never even heard of washing walls. (Didn't know that was a thing!)

This is part of my annual Spring cleaning and BOY do they need it. In part because or hood is insufficient for our use. And in part, because we just get a lot of dust and kids' fingerprints, and, and, and...

It's always best to install a hood appropriate to your cooking device, with a corresponding make-up air intake somewhere, as well.
Again, it depends on the situation. New builds are so sealed up they MUST have MUA. Mine is so leaky, we pretty much heat and cool air as it passes through, and probably don't.

If you're planning a new build, it's probably also wise to check code for your area on the topic.

I do vegetarian meals from time to time, and yes, I need a hood for them. A good curry has an odor, regardless of whether it's chicken, lamb or cauliflower and pumpkin. And who wants to live life without good curries? ;)

Most condominiums and apartments units do not have vented hood and people still manage to cook and eat. Many people have hoods and don't use them because they are noisy and annoying. I love mine but this is just my observations.