How to Build a DIY Wood Range Hood

In this post, I’m sharing how to build a wooden range hood cover for a ducted insert.

I built this range hood as one whole unit so it would be easy and quick to install in my parents’ kitchen once assembled.

There are a million brands, styles, sizes, and types of fan inserts that can be used above a stove, so this is definitely not a one-size-fits-all project.

But, it’s pretty simple to modify the frame of this project to fit the insert you’re going with and I’ll show you how below.

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What to consider before building a range hood cover

Building a range hood cover is a great project to DIY and can save hundreds (potentially thousands!) of dollars. And it’s fairly simple to build!

But, not every install, insert, or space is exactly the same. So, make sure to take your time, think it through, and pay careful attention to build your cover in a way that fits your application.

Ducted vs Ductless Fan Inserts

Before building, keep in mind that you can have either ductless or ducted range hood inserts. It’s important to know which one you are using before building a cover.

• Ductless fans are also called recirculating fans and they basically just recirculate the air–like a microwave above a stove would.
  • Ductless fans don’t require any ducting pipes, but they do need a hole cut out of the hood somewhere to allow for air flow.
• Ducted fans should have ducting pipes connected to it (that usually run up through the ceiling) that extend to an exterior wall to allow the air to vent outside the building.

In this application, we are installing a ducted fan, so I needed to consider the duct pipe locations in this project.

Sizing the Range Hood Cover

The open space between the cabinets was about 30 ½″, so I made my range hood 29 ½″ wide to allow a little wiggle room on both sides.

I found varying information online about installation height. Some say 20-24″ above the stove top and some say 28-36″ above the stove height. So check your specific fan for manufacturer’s recommendations.

We opted to install ours 32″ above the stove top, and we wanted it to go all the way to the ceiling, so our hood needed to be about 28″ tall.

And I chose to make it about 18 ½″ deep overall–the depth will depend on the size of your insert size and your personal preference on design.

Our insert was ROUGHLY 12″ x 20″.

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How to Build a Range Hood

I’m breaking down the steps to build a range hood cover below, but if you prefer to watch, I’ve also got a full video on the build on my YouTube channel here:

Love watching how-to videos? Subscribe to my YouTube channel for plenty more where that came from!

Tools & Materials

Step 1: Measure the Insert

Before building anything, I took detailed measurements of my insert and studied how it will be mounted. Make sure to understand how the insert will attach to the cover once it’s built.

Our insert had holes in the sides to install these L brackets. So it won’t install directly to the framing, but will install to the bottom panel I’ll show in step 5.

For now, I just needed to make sure that the opening in the frame was going to be large enough to fit the fan housing.

Step 2: Assemble Hood Frame

I assembled the entire hood frame using 2x4s. First, I assembled the bottom frame so that it was about 17″ x 26″.

I attached the pieces together using pocket holes and screws so that the opening here was about 14″ x 19″. Make sure this opening is large enough to fit your insert into.

RELATED: How to use pocket holes

The hood design I was building slanted in on both sides 15 degrees and slanted back from the front 20 degrees.

These four 2x4s should all be the same HEIGHT when they’re standing up on their ends, but they won’t be the same length. I cut mine so that when they stood up on their ends, they were about 15 ½″ tall overall.

I screwed these boards to two 2x4s the same depth as the bottom frame (mitered boards at the back and compound angle boards at the front). Then, I screwed these onto the bottom frame.

Finally, I cut to fit 2x4s across the top–between the front two 2x4s and the back two 2x4s. I attached these using pocket holes and screws.

Then I installed two more 2x4s between these to complete the frame.

At this point, I set this frame over the insert to make sure it would fit and that the duct pipe hole would line up with the opening at the top.

Once I made sure the frame would fit, it was time to cover it all up to make it look nice.

Step 3: Install Top and Bottom Trim

I wanted the range hood to have a two tone look–stained wood on the top and bottom, but painted wood in the middle.

For the stained wood parts, I used red oak to kind of “wrap” around the frame. I glued a 1×2 to the bottom of a 1×6 board and allowed it to fully dry.

Then, I trimmed this board to fit around the bottom of the hood frame with 45 degree mitered corners.

Once they were cut, I glued and nailed these pieces around the bottom of the frame so that the top of the board was JUST below the angled braces.

This will come down past the bottom of the frame on the sides and front–that is intentional.

Then I cut some 1×4 to wrap around the top. I glued and nailed this in place, then clamped until dry.

To give this a little more detail, I also added some small trim along the top of the bottom section and the bottom of the top section.

This was trim I had leftover from my fluted oak bathroom vanity build, but half round, beaded trim, or cove molding would work fine for this.

I actually forgot about the crown molding until later in the build (as you can see in the image below), but now would be the best time to add it.

When installing the crown molding, I made sure to install it so that the overall height of the cover (including the molding) was about 28″.

Then, I stained all the wood trim in Minwax Weathered Oak and gave it several coats of Minwax Helmsman clear coat.

Step 4: Cover Middle Section

For the middle section, I measured the distance between the wood trim from step 3 and cut some ¼″ thick plywood this width. Then, I could place this along the frame and mark where to cut for it to fit.

I cut this with a jig saw because I didn’t need it to be perfect. I’ll be covering all the joints with trim.

I cut to fit and glued and nailed the plywood on both sides and the front.

Then I cut some corner trim to fit long the joints on the front. These pieces will need to be cut just like the compound angle 2x4s–mitered 15 degrees and beveled 20 degrees.

After the corner trim was glued and nailed in place, I trimmed the rest of the box out with additional trim the same thickness as the corner pieces.

Pay attention to the angles–remember the front is slanting 20 degrees and the sides slant 15 degrees, so miter/bevel the trim pieces accordingly.

Finally, I cut some thin strips of ¼″ plywood to run vertically on the front. After everything was glued and nailed on, I puttied the joints and the nail holes and sanded smooth.

Step 5: Cut & Test Fit Bottom

At this point, the cover is complete, but I needed a piece to fill in the bottom. The fan itself did not cover the entire opening on the bottom of the cover, so I needed a “filler.”

I decided to cut a piece of ¾″ plywood to fit inside the cover opening and used a jig saw to cut out a rectangle in the middle so it would fit snuggly around the fan housing.

However, plywood will warp and come unglued if exposed to continuous moisture and heat (think…steam from the stove), so I needed something to protect the plywood.

I called a local metal shop and had them cut me a piece of stainless steel sheet metal the same size as my plywood. I again used a jig saw and a metal cutting blade to cut the same opening to fit around the fan.

I placed the fan right side up on some Styrofoam, then placed the steel sheet over it, then slid the plywood panel over that.

Then, I used the L brackets included with the fan to mount the fan housing to the plywood sheet.

I drilled holes through the steel sheet, and through the plywood so that they would hit on the framing inside the range hood cover.

Then, I test fit the bottom (with fan housing attached) into the cover to make sure everything fit properly and secured with screws.

Once I made sure everything fit, I removed the bottom panel and fan and brought it to my parents’ house to install.

Step 6: Install Range Hood

This part will vary based on your stud locations. Make sure the hood cover is SECURED TO WALL STUDS. It’s very heavy.

My parents had two wall studs in the opening we were installing the hood. Luckily, they were both pretty much centered in the space (equal distance from the cabinets on each side).

So we lifted the cover in place, made sure it was level and drove 3″ long screws through the bottom of the frame into the wall studs.

Then, I drove two more 3″ long screws through each mitered 2×4 on the back of the frame where they intersected the studs.

Because we were installing a ducted fan, we attached a pipe to the fan housing long enough to stick out through the hole in the ceiling to get to the attic, then raised the bottom panel up into the cover and screwed it in through the bottom.

We had to wire the fan in as well before raising it up in place.

At this point, the ducting connections can be completed in the attic to vent it outside and it was ready to test out.

Step 7: Add Final Details

This is just a small part of my parents’ kitchen remodel, so once the range hood cover was in place, they would install the backsplash around it.

And finally, because my mom liked this extra detail, we attached some simple corbels to the bottom of the cover.

I glued and screwed these to a small board, then screwed them in through the bottom. That way, they will be easy to remove should we ever need to later and it won’t affect the backsplash.

And with that, this cover is complete and ties into this new kitchen perfectly. Mom is happy with it and that’s really all that matters, anyway 🙂

If you’re looking into building your own range hood cover, I hope this gave you some ideas to help you get started!

Looking for more DIY kitchen projects?

Here are a few of my favorite kitchen related DIYs you might enjoy browsing:

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Until next time, friends, happy building!