Outfitting your commercial kitchen is a task as every kitchen is unique. Finding the right hood for your kitchen is already a task, and many people often forget that a crucial process is ensuring your exhaust set up is properly lit to improve work efficiency and safety of your employees. When it comes to hood lights there are several options out there, however, HoodMart highly recommends you go for a UL listed and light that not only suits your kitchen but is also NFPA approved, which you can find with the HoodMart exhaust hood lights. Lighting does not come off as a huge priority when a restaurant owner is reviewing all of the details required for their kitchen, but it should be known that the right lighting can help improve kitchen performance, ensure your staff’s safety as well as save you money on electricity every month.

HoodMart highly recommends outfitting your commercial kitchen with LED bulbs. There are several key points as to why you should choose LED lights over traditional incandescent bulb hood lights. For starters, you are going to save dramatically on electricity costs. LEDs are highly energy efficient and studies have shown that it could help reduce energy consumption by up to 75%! On top of the energy-saving aspects of LEDs they also have a long life - LED bulbs have a 50,000 usage-hour lifespan and run on average 35x - 50x longer than regular incandescent bulbs. If you do decide to go the route of LEDs for your hood lighting be sure to equip your hood with UL listed LED bulbs and that they are rated to at least 185 degrees to help them withstand high-temperature commercial kitchen environments. 

Next is to make sure your hood lights are properly housed. The light globe housings HoodMart provides are constructed of tempered glass. Be sure to equip your hood with a tempered glass housing to reduce the likelihood of accidental glass breakage and in turn increasing your staff safety. If you do run into an accident where the tempered glass does break the globe will not shatter and will remain intact, keeping the glass from spreading all over the kitchen and keeping your staff safe. On top of tempered glass housings, there are silicone coated housings which have the benefits of diffusing the heat and preventing the brown stains that light housings generally see over years of use, as well as avoiding glass accidents.

If you are building out a new kitchen or upgrading your existing space we highly recommend upgrading your hood lighting. Not only will you be increasing the safety of your staff but you’ll also be saving time and money with more energy efficient LED bulbs that last 35 - 50 times longer than standard bulbs.  If you still have questions regarding the purchase of your hood system please feel free to contact one of our experts today by calling us at 1.800.715.1014 or by contacting us through our live chat system.