I wipe it down frequently, take the baffles out and put them in the DW whenever I notice oils building up on the surface and do a more thorough cleaning if I notice an odor -- seems to be once a year to 18 months for the take apart everything you can get to cleaning. That means getting out q-tips and using a wooden skewer with paper towel bits to get into the nooks and crannies and it's a pain, but it doesn't need to be done that often -- thankfully.

The oils you are noticing may be, at least in part, from the manufacturing and any cooking oils may have gotten attached to those. Did you clean it well before you started using it? The dirty part of your description makes me think you may have had some machine oils in there before you started cooking.

Not often enough! Usually when oil starts dripping down :( Whole lot of frying over here. I'm not as attentive as you. But after I washed the baffles (never knew it was called that!) seems they are permanently stained.

We've been in our new kitchen a little over a year and have done a thorough cleaning of our VentAHood once at about 8 months--it really needed it....

The instructions in the use and care manual (Prestige) say wash the baffles after every 24 hours of use, or every two weeks, whichever comes first. I'm thinking that I will have to do it far more often than that.

It's been 9 months for us. I plan to do it this weekend.

Have been using the hood about 10 months now. Have washed the baffles in the DW one time. Probably could have doen it twice by now. Therefore, prbably every 5 months or so would be wise, for the cooking we do.

Well, I wasn't paying much attention to my baffles until one day I noticed that my marble backsplash had darkened considerably in the upper left corner under the range hood. Apparently, grease had begun to drip out of the baffles onto the marble! (Play gangplank music here). Needless to say, I was totally bummed out. Since that awful discovery, I have been much more vigilant in regularly checking my baffles and have been popping them into the dishwasher periodically. At this point, about every 6-8 weeks or so.

Sayde,

I don't know for sure, but a lot of things like this are shipped slightly greasy to protect them. It might be that something like that combined with the wok seasoning and use. Did you run the baffles through the DW? It might get rid of the smell. Either that, or soak in a grease cutting dishsoap. Once they're good and clean and dry and back into place, it might take longer to get that gunked up next time.

The good news is that if the baffles are getting that gunked up with oil, it's oil that's not going into the ducts or dispersing in your kitchen. :)

Uh-oh... now I'm worried. I've ordered my Bluestar and hopefully it will be here in another month or so. My Vent-A-Hood is already installed. I don't know the CFM's but will check tomorow. I know the sales person said I could put the baffles in the DW - but I plan on doing lots of wok cooking, searing, etc. so hope this isn't an issue. I would hate to clean the baffles after every use. My vent hood is huge and I argued with my GC - do I really need something this big? Yes, he said - and so it was and so it shall be.

drdannie, what color Blue Star did you wind up choosing?

I think you will be happy about having a large hood. Mine is 40 over a 30 range. Was planning 36 originally but copper hood maker said it had to be 40 to fit the 1200 Prestige. At first I thought it looked big but now I really like it and I really like how it captures the "effluent."

Hi,
My Thermador hood has a indicator light with "Filter" written next to it; I suppose it's connected to a microchip clock that keeps track up to a set trigger of 24 hrs or ??
So, I installed it in '06, and it finally came "ON" a month ago telling me that after 5 years it needed cleaning! LOL.
In my experience I need to clean it after every three uses (grilling) or it will be really grotty. It takes 45mins/1hr to clean.
Casey

We're not using our hood yet, but I certainly wasn't planning to clean it after every use. Yikes. I'm glad you asked this question sayde because I guess I'd been thinking a couple times/year (maybe seasonally?) but it looks like I'd better prepare myself for much more!

Incidentally, everywhere we went, appliance places all touted the vent a hood (salesperson incentives perhaps...?) but I did not like the idea that I'd have to use a screwdriver to take it apart for cleaning. (I also read a thread about that on appliance forum a while back, grumbling about having to get up on a step stood to reach the back screw.)

For anyone out selecting their appliances now, baffles that you just push on a corner to set it on angle and pull out seem much easier to me. This is the style of the Precision and Wolf hoods that we saw-probably lots of other manufacturers too- just not the ventahood.

I never thought much about how often I'd need to clean the hood, but I did know I wanted it to be as easy as possible ;)

Sayde - after much agonizing, I went with matte black for my Bluestar. I was a little irked that there was an upcharge for a "custom" color - but I really wanted the non-shiny black, so in the long run I think (hope) it will be worth it. Of course I'm a little nervous b/c you never know until something is in place how it will really look. When we're done (hopefully around Labor Day) I'll take pics and post.

Littlesmokie - I don't have to use a screwdriver on my vent a hood. The salesman at the store showed me how to take the baffles out and no tools were involved. He said the baffles could be placed in the DW which was one reason I went with that hood. Although my range isn't in yet, I do have the hood in and even with all four fans on it is amazingly quiet, which was a relief b/c I was a little worried about that.