Could This Clever Kitchen App Be Your New Sous-Chef?

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If you’re keeping up with the latest in kitchen trends, one item you’re sure to spot in an inspiring new kitchen remodel — besides the floating shelves and marble countertops — is a silent kitchen workhorse sitting above the stove. Range hoods have become something of a designer’s darling, acting as an architectural statement piece to anchor the kitchen while quietly and efficiently filtering the air you and your family breathe.

Today’s hoods are getting smarter than ever. When paired with an app and voice controls, range hoods become even more convenient and intuitive to use. Read on to learn from three designers and home renovators how these clever appliances can help make everyday life run more smoothly, boost efficiency in the kitchen, take the guesswork out of cleaning, improve indoor air quality and more.

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Design by and photo courtesy of Diana George, DG Design Group

1. Meet Your New Kitchen Assistant

“Smart appliances have become something of a sous-chef in the kitchen — helping with everything from pulling up recipes to knowing the contents in your fridge while you’re at the store, and using voice commands to increase the ventilation hood speed or turn on the lights,” says Diana George, founder of and lead designer at DG Design Group in Walnut Creek, California.

If you’re planning to add smart tech to your kitchen — as nearly 1 out of 3 renovating homeowners are — but don’t quite know where to begin, she suggests starting with a range hood. “A smart range hood is a great first step into smart appliances, because it allows the homeowner to get a feel for how smart appliances work and how they can make their lives easier in the kitchen, without a fully connected kitchen,” George says.

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The Zephyr Connect app allows homeowners to control the hood’s blower speed and lighting levels while cooking, serving or hosting, all with an easy swipe of a finger. “I’ve found with clients that the biggest convenience factor is having the control and notifications all on the phone,” George says. “Our phones are always on us and, with the introduction of smart appliances, the phone has turned into this remote control in the kitchen.”

A bonus: “You don’t need to worry if you’ve left the house and forgotten to turn off the range hood. You can control it with a quick swipe,” George says.

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Design by and photo courtesy of Diana George, DG Design Group

For this California kitchen featuring quartz countertops and calming blue accents, George integrated a smart hood over the range. “Zephyr hoods are packed with technology and features, and I’m confident every time I suggest a Zephyr hood for my clients, they will love the product,” she says. “The app is very self-explanatory, and the connection process is quick and painless.”

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Design by and photo courtesy of Melissa Gayle

2. Help Family Life Run More Smoothly

When designer and photographer Melissa Gayle and her husband renovated the kitchen of their California home, she wasn’t expecting smart tech to boost convenience so much for everyday life with two small children. “Making adaptations and converting to a smart kitchen has allowed me to spend more time focusing on the things that matter,” Gayle says. “I use tech to gather my grocery list as I cook and restock necessary items, set timers, play music — nothing crazy invasive, but the little tweaks have really simplified these tasks.”

The Gayles purchased their home, a 1950s cabin, during the height of the pandemic and have spent much of the past year renovating it for their family of four, a process that landed them an episode feature on the Magnolia Network’s show First Time Fixer. In the kitchen, pictured here, they lifted and vaulted the ceiling, whitewashed the newly stone-clad walls and brought in details such as a farmhouse sink, an antique wooden table and wood beams to set the rustic-meets-modern farmhouse theme. A new range hood, covered in wood cladding, looks perfectly in keeping with the kitchen’s design and provides modern convenience for the family.

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Design by and photo courtesy of Melissa Gayle

“We have the Zephyr Monsoon Connect, and I love how quiet it is yet still really powerful when I’m cooking with high heat,” Gayle says. “I am also obsessed with the fact that our hood has no buttons and just turns on when we approach it. I can also turn on the lights with a quick voice command. Smart tech allows me to not be involved in handling, cleaning and touching buttons as my hands are full with children and messes!”

When she or her husband are away from the kitchen, they can control the smart range hood through the app. This added convenience is key when they’re busy with the children or hosting extended family — eliminating the need to interrupt quality time to get up from the dinner table to switch off the range hood.

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Design by and photo courtesy of Ashley Montgomery

3. Elevate Your Kitchen to Pro Level

Whether you’re juggling busy family life or you frequently entertain, a smart range hood can elevate your cooking experience. If you’re interested in taking your cooking to the next level, smart range hoods go hand in hand with high-end, professional-grade ranges and ovens, making your kitchen look and function like a professional chef’s.

“Zephyr continues to push the envelope of traditional applications and asks how can we make this better for our customers while still offering a beautiful-looking product,” says Ashley Montgomery, principal designer at Ashley Mongomery Design in Toronto.

Equipped with Zephyr PowerWave technology, Zephyr hoods deliver professional-level performance with surprisingly little sound — ideal for keeping the air clean and noise down when you’re cooking and entertaining.

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Design by and photo courtesy of Ashley Montgomery

Montgomery points to voice-activated controls as one of the biggest trends she’s seeing in smart kitchen technology. “Voice activation is so helpful in the kitchen — when do you not have your hands full?” she says. “This hands-free feature allows you to use your hood without worrying about what is on your fingers and the mess that comes along with it.”

The combination of automatic features — such as Zephyr’s Proximity Touch Controls, which turn on as you approach the stove — and the ability to connect to voice-activated smart speakers like Google Home and Amazon Alexa make smart range hoods a highly useful asset for any home cook.

Plus, the latest range hood designs look good too. Many hoods feature smooth, beveled edges and are less boxy than traditional pro-style hoods. With a wide range of design options to choose from, including different sizes and silhouettes, the hoods complement a variety of kitchen styles and layouts. Or you can integrate a Zephyr Connect Insert into a custom design, as Montgomery did here.

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4. Simplify Cleaning With In-App Notifications

Range hoods clean and recirculate the air properly only if their filters can adequately trap grease, smoke and other particles. To do so, the filters need to be routinely cleaned and replaced. “Having a smart tech device to remind you that it’s time to switch out those old filters helps ensure your kitchen is clean and free of bacteria and other build-ups that can happen in the home,” Montgomery says. “The Zephyr Connect app has a feature that notifies you when the grease traps are full. It also includes videos on how to easily clean or replace the grease and charcoal filters. This ensures that your hood is always running at optimal levels without affecting the performance, and ultimately extends the life of your appliance.”

“It’s also very convenient to have direct access to customer support if something comes up, and to have helpful links to online resources,” George adds. Plus, if your range hood ever needs servicing, the Zephyr customer care team is available at the tip of your fingers to help.

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5. Create a Healthy Indoor Environment

It’s safe to say we’ve all spent more time thinking about airborne particles over the past year or so than we’d care to, and we would like to rest assured that our homes are as safe and healthy as possible. Wellness in the home really starts with clean air, and a range hood can be one of your best assets for improving indoor air quality. “I’m noticing more and more clients requesting high-quality kitchen ventilation, whereas before it used to be an afterthought in kitchen design,” George says.

She emphasizes the importance of air filters and proper ventilation, especially in homes with open kitchen layouts. “I am designing a lot of open kitchens, and people are cooking in the same space that they’re entertaining and eating,” she says. “My client’s love Zephyr’s CleanAir Function that automatically turns the range hood on to speed 1 every four hours for 10 minutes to circulate the air. With everyone hypervigilant about sanitizing and staying healthy right now, this is definitely an important feature.”

From adjusting fan levels and lighting with the swipe of a finger to taking the guesswork out of cleaning, smart range hoods combined with an app can bring ease to everyday life.

More: For more information on Zephyr range hoods and the Zephyr Connect app, visit the company’s website.

This story was written by the Houzz Sponsored Content team.