Simple Hood Surrounds
I’ve been collecting simple hood surrounds this last week. Here’s a sweetly traditional version, from a Spanish home outside Barcelona – I like the way the hood is integrated with the shelf, giving a single horizontal to frame the lively backsplash tile. That shelf provides much needed storage in the absence of upper cabinets:
Designer Elsa Peretti via they.ro
This version is a little more stylized, more elegant than rustic. This time the strong horizontal defines the top of the hood, and frames that amazing vaulted ceiling:
Erin Martin via House Beautiful
The next two are as clean and simple as can be – with no ornament at all they are still strong presences in these simple rustic-luxe interiors:
Atelier AM Hollywood
A matching pair – somewhere between minimalism and farmhouse tradition. With its strong Shaker influence, I think of this style as 21st Century Puritanism – though I’m sure there must be a better description out there:
John Lewis of Hungerford
John Lewis of Hungerford
A nod to tradition in the shape here, striking and right up to the minute with the veiny Carrara marble trim:
ABy Elizabeth Dinkel via Decorati
Lastly one of my favorites – I’m sure I’ve posted it before. It’s just so simple, but every detail has been thought out. The way the hood interacts with the backsplash tile is brilliant, and works so well with the tall ceiling. Because of its slightly unexpected juxtaposition with a grand French range, I’m even prepared to forgive the subway tile for being white:
via Cote de Texas
I do wonder how that travertine floor works out for them? I love the texture it brings to this mix, but I think in this situation you’d have to have quite a tolerance for patina.
Hi Joseph – I guess the one thing they all have in common is room to spare – no cramped little under-cabinet hoods necessary here.
I think the under-cabinet standard cheap kitchen hood is a waste in every possible way. To begin with, the vent pipe runs up through the cabinet above and renders it pretty much useless for any meaningful storage space. We have old cups in ours, but we don’t use them; that’s why they’re there collecting dust and kitchen grease. But that being the way of it, I firmly believe the better course of action is to make of that space a glorious hood surround. You can then turn a liability–the truncated storage space–into an asset, a design statement for the kitchen itself. I like some of the examples you’ve shown here better than others, but every one of them is better than the cheap under-cabinet hood!
Thanks Robin – you are so right. Each one designed specifically for its space,
A hood surround can make or break the kitchen design. In all of the photos you show the hoods are representative of a custom well-thought-out hood. Each depict a simple design yet they all flow elegantly with the room.