An under-cabinet hood is the most common range hood in American kitchens, and it is the one that sits closest to your head. It hangs between the wall cabinets, usually two feet or so above the burners, which on a standard 36-inch counter puts the fan at about the height of an adult's face. You stand under it for the whole time you cook. So the number that matters is not the quiet figure on the box, which is almost always the slowest speed. It is the sone rating on the step that actually clears the smoke from your cooktop.
We took every 30 and 36-inch hood that the Home Ventilating Institute (HVI) directory files as under-cabinet, matched the current models to their makers' pages, and ranked them on the certified high-speed rating. Then, for each hood, we read off the figure at the airflow a 30-inch and a 36-inch cooktop need. For the kitchen as a whole, see our page on planning a quiet open-plan kitchen.
Our picks are listed above, with full specifications for each.
How we ranked them
Picks are in order of their HVI-certified rating at high speed, measured at 0.1 inch of static pressure. That is the one speed every hood here has certified in the same way, so it is the only fair basis for a ranking. Sones are compared only with sones. Where a maker also prints decibels, we keep those in a group of their own.
Sones are linear: 4 sones sounds twice as loud as 2, and 8 twice as loud as 4. That makes gaps easy to read. The Pixie Air at 2.5 sones on its cooking step and the Glacier at 6.5 on the step a 36-inch cooktop needs are not close: the Glacier sounds more than two and a half times as loud. Decibels are logarithmic and work differently, and there is no reliable way to convert one into the other. Our explainer on sones vs decibels covers why.
Step one: the airflow your cooktop needs
HVI's own table is simple. For a range against a wall, it recommends 100 CFM per linear foot, with 40 as a minimum:
- 30-inch cooktop: 250 CFM.
- 36-inch cooktop: 300 CFM.
HVI adds that hoods with multiple speeds "allow low-level, quiet ventilation for light cooking with the ability for higher rates when needed." So the useful question for each hood is which step first reaches 250 or 300 CFM, and how loud that step is certified to be.
Step two: read the sones at that step
Here is what that does to the picks:
- Zephyr Valina 290: high is 260 CFM at 3.5 sones. That covers a 30-inch cooktop. It never reaches 300 CFM, so a 36-inch cooktop is outside its range.
- FOTILE Pixie Air (UQG3002, UQG3602 and UQS3001): speed 1 moves 240 CFM, just under the 30-inch figure. Speed 2 is 370 CFM at 2.5 sones, certified, and covers either width.
- Broan EBS1: medium is 270 CFM at 3.0 sones on Broan's sheet, not certified. A 36-inch cooktop needs high, certified at 5 sones at 370 CFM.
- FOTILE JQG7501 and JQG9001: low is 230 CFM, a little short. Medium is 400 CFM at 4 sones, certified.
- Broan Glacier: medium is 280 CFM at 4.0 to 4.5 sones, not certified. A 36-inch cooktop needs high, 6.5 to 7.5 sones depending on the duct.
- Bosch Benchmark: 230 CFM at 1.2 sones, then nothing published until 810 CFM at 7.5. For either width, the step you can rely on is high.
The pattern is the point. Two hoods can be a sone apart on high and three sones apart on the step you use every night, and a hood with a gap in its published table leaves you guessing at exactly that step.
The duct you already have
Most under-cabinet hoods replace an old one, and the old duct stays. That matters, because the certified figure belongs to the duct it was tested on. HVI certifies FOTILE's Pixie Air UQG3002 at 2.5 sones at 370 CFM on speed 2 through a 7-inch round duct, and at 4 sones at the same airflow through a 3-1/4 x 10-inch rectangular one. On high the gap is 4 sones against 5.5. The UQS3001 shows the same pattern: 2.5 sones against 4.5 on medium.
It does not always run in favor of round. Broan's Glacier is certified at 6.5 sones at 420 CFM through a horizontal rectangular duct and 7.0 sones at 380 CFM through 7-inch round. Zephyr's Breeze II is certified at 7.5 sones at 390 CFM through a rectangular duct and 8 at 320 CFM through 7-inch round. Read the figure for the duct your wall actually has.
Broan's Glacier installation guide puts it plainly: the ducting "has a strong effect on the air flow, noise and energy use of the fan", and "fans installed with existing ducts may not achieve their rated airflow." Bosch's Benchmark manual lists ductwork that is too small, too large or loose among the causes of excessive noise. HVI's advice is to match the duct to the size of the fan's outlet, use smooth metal rather than flexible, and keep the run short and straight. If you are swapping an over-the-range microwave for a hood, HVI also suggests checking the direction and size of the existing duct first; our guide to over-the-range microwaves covers the microwave side of that choice.
Ducted or recirculating
Most hoods here can recirculate with a kit, which is often the only option in an apartment or on an interior wall. What you cannot find is a noise figure for that mode. HVI certifies ducted performance. FOTILE's own Pixie Air page notes that its data "are results of ducted range hoods" and that "there is no standard evaluation system for recirculation, nor is there a standard test method." None of the spec sheets we read, from FOTILE, Broan, Zephyr or Bosch, gives a sone rating for recirculating mode.
There is a bigger point than noise. HVI says that "nonducted, recirculation kitchen range hoods provide no actual ventilation", and its FAQ adds that the humidity, smoke and heat "will all be re-circulated back into the home." If you have any way to duct outside, use it.
Make-up air and the 400 CFM line
Every hood pulls air out of the house, and past a point the code wants that air replaced. Our main range hood guide explains the International Residential Code rule, which starts above 400 CFM in homes with fuel-burning appliances that are not direct-vent. Zephyr's make-up air damper is sold "for use with any Zephyr hood operating over 300 CFM" and is listed as meeting IRC M1503.4.
For a 30 or 36-inch cooktop by HVI's rule you need 250 to 300 CFM, so you rarely need to cross that line, and the makers know it:
- Zephyr sells the Valina as a 290 CFM model, certified at 3.5 sones at 260 CFM on high.
- Broan's EBS1 tops out at 370 CFM certified, and its spec sheet offers a reduction to 300.
- Broan's Code Ready Technology on the Glacier sets the blower "to a maximum of 300 CFM", so the hood "will perform within the allowable limit of Make-Up Air (MUA) codes."
- FOTILE's CAT can adjust the Pixie Air's maximum certified airflow to under 400 CFM. FOTILE notes it cannot be reversed once activated.
The trade-off is that a capped hood's certified figures were measured uncapped, and none of these makers publishes a sone rating for the capped setting. The Bosch Benchmark, at 810 CFM on high, is the one hood here that is well past the line by design.
What else you hear at face height
Automatic modes. Bosch's Benchmark manual says its automatic mode monitors heat from the cooktop, turns the fan on and adjusts its speed, and may run on until the cooktop cools. The Glacier's auto mode follows temperature changes the same way. FOTILE says the Pixie Air's Intelligent Air Management "will automatically operate" the fan to extract harmful gases.
Run-on. The Glacier has a 5-minute delay; FOTILE's JQG7501 has 2 minutes; the Pixie Air UQG3002 offers 5, 15 or 30. Broan's page lists a 10 minute delay for the EBS1, and its installation guide describes a 15-minute automatic stop timer.
Memory. The Benchmark turns on at the last saved fan speed. If you saved high, that is where it starts.
Brand and series. Bosch's own 800 Series under-cabinet hood, the DUH80553UC, is certified at 11.5 sones at 640 CFM on high, so the Benchmark is both quieter on paper and moves more air. Read the figure for the model, not the badge.
Low-cost hoods. Price does not buy quiet on its own. HVI lists Broan's entry-level BCSD1 series at 5 sones at 210 to 240 CFM on high, louder than the Valina and still under the 250 CFM a 30-inch cooktop needs.
Decibels on the box stay in their own group
FOTILE prints decibels beside its certified sones: 38.50, 46.00, 51.40 and 56.4 dB for the Pixie Air's four vertical steps. Its JQG7501 manual explains that those are sound pressure levels under IEC 60704, and gives sound power levels of 68.3, 63.2 and 53 dB(A) for the same speeds. Proline advertises "4 Sones / 48 dB on Max Speed" for a hood that is not in the HVI directory. We do not rank any of those decibel figures, against each other or against sones; sound power vs sound pressure explains why the two kinds of decibel do not mix either.
What quiet costs
The quiet hoods here cost more. The Pixie Air UQG3002 is $999 on sale and the UQS3001 $749, against $479 for the 30-inch Glacier. The Bosch Benchmark is $1,849 and was out of stock. Quiet can also cost airflow: the Valina's 3.5 sones comes with 260 CFM, which rules out a 36-inch cooktop. And it can cost installation work, since a round duct where a rectangular one runs now is a job for the installer. If your hood is a custom one built into cabinetry, our guide to range hood inserts compares the blowers that go inside. If your kitchen opens onto a living room, our open-plan range hood guide adds wall chimney hoods to the comparison.
How we chose
We downloaded the HVI certified products directory (data generated September 23, 2026), took every hood filed under Undercabinet in 30 or 36 inches, and kept the models we could match to a current page on their maker's site. We left out Venmar, Vissani, Reversomatic, Air King and Sharp, which are outside the makers we cover. We reopened each product page, spec sheet and manual from FOTILE, Broan-NuTone, Zephyr and Bosch, recorded every sone and CFM figure with the speed and duct it describes, and noted where the maker's own figures differ from the directory. Discontinued models, including Best's UCB3 and Broan's ALT3 and BCDJ1, are left out. Airflow targets come from HVI's own table. Prices are the makers' own, checked on October 4, 2026; where a maker shows none, we say so.
We did not measure any of these hoods ourselves. Every sone and CFM figure is HVI's certified rating or the maker's published one, quoted with the speed and duct it describes, and we say each time which is which.
