To answer this question, it’s important to know a little about how a kitchen exhaust fan works.

An exhaust fan removes grease, smoke, and cooking odors from your home. It also removes hot air from your kitchen.

To improve ventilation, it can help to crack a window in the kitchen. Or, you can use a makeup air kit. If your fan is quite powerful, you’ll feel the air coming in from your window when it’s running.

An exhaust fan will remove cooking exhaust and reduce heat in your kitchen. 

Keep in mind that only ducted exhaust fans can reduce heat in your kitchen. Ductless exhaust fans recirculate your kitchen air, which means that the cooking exhaust is never evacuated.

If an exhaust fan alone isn’t enough to cook comfortably, here are six more tips to keep your kitchen cool while cooking.

6 Ways to Keep Your Kitchen Cool While Cooking

Open doors and windows (if it’s cooler outside).

An easy way to cool your home is to open doors and windows. This also improves ventilation but you should only do it when the temperature is cooler outside.

When the weather is nice, I like to crack open a couple of windows while cooking. If it’s getting incredibly hot, you can open doors as well.

The cooler the outside temperature, the better this strategy works!

If you’re in a hotter climate, there’s plenty of other techniques you can try.

Turn on the air conditioner.

This is probably a no-brainer. The downside? It costs money – sometimes a lot of money. Depending on the climate where you live, you may want to open windows for a while to cool the kitchen down a little. Then turn on the air conditioner so it doesn’t have to do all the work.

This tip may not work for everyone, especially if you live in a warm climate and cook a lot. You may not have the budget to run your air conditioner for that long. Or you may want to run it a little less to help the environment.

Keep reading for more ways you can keep the heat down without having to break the bank.

Use an electric stove instead of a gas stove.

If possible, invest in an electric stove instead of a gas stove. It will produce significantly less heat. You won’t be able to do heavy cooking as efficiently, so electric stoves may not be right for everyone. But they will definitely reduce the heat in your kitchen.

Close your blinds.

If you have windows in your kitchen, close your blinds to keep the room from warming up quickly. The sun will heat the windows which will heat your kitchen. So this is an easy way to keep the temperature in check. If you don’t have blinds, consider buying them. Or you can invest in curtains.

White curtains will keep the room cooler than dark curtains because they reflect rather than absorb light. But white curtains may allow some light to penetrate into your kitchen. You can look for one that’s a little thicker than normal to keep the light out.

Don’t turn on your oven. Use the microwave if possible.

An oven can heat up your kitchen several degrees in a matter of minutes! Your microwave is much better if you’re trying to reduce heat.

In the winter, if you’re using your oven, leave it open a crack after cooking to warm up your house.

Cook early or late in the day.

Mid to late afternoon is the hottest time of day, so cook early or late to keep your kitchen cool.

You can prepare food for lunch and dinner in the microwave, which doesn’t use a lot of heat. Just store the food in the fridge and you won’t have to cook later!

Use a slow cooker.

A slow cooker heats food over several hours so it doesn’t get nearly as hot as an oven. It’s a great way to keep the heat down in your kitchen.

It’s also convenient! Prep the food in the morning, go to work, and come back to a delicious meal!

Cook outside.

If you want to keep your kitchen and home cool, do some outdoor grilling! It’s a nice change of pace from cooking indoors and you can make an event out of it. Invite your friends and family for a cookout!

Is it bad to leave an exhaust fan on?

It is not dangerous, but residential exhaust fans are not designed to be left on for several hours at a time. If you use your exhaust fan for several hours a day or leave it on overnight, it will wear down quite quickly.

If you need the power, look for a powerful exhaust fan with several speed settings. Use the lower speeds as often as possible to keep your exhaust fan in great condition for years.

To learn more about running your exhaust fan, check out our complete article ‘Can I leave my kitchen exhaust fan on?’

That wraps up our article! Remember that exhaust fans only reduce heat if the outside air is cooler than your kitchen air.

If you found this article helpful, check out more exhaust fan articles below.

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