DéLonghi BETA Series

Kaput after only 4.5 years – I went with DeLonghi because it has one of the very few 70cm wide range hoods available in the market; my wonderful Ariston gas-ceramic stove-top has an unusual width (74.5cm), and my overhead kitchen cabinet and nearby window did not allow me to go with a 90cm wide range hood. The BETA70SS was NOISY to operate, but I lived with it as a trade-off for the external ducting, which I loved (I do lots of stir-fries) .

A few weeks ago, the range hood suddenly went crazy- it simply could not be switched off! It was then that I discovered that the tradie who had installed it did so without any wall-mounted power switch, so Hubby had to turn off power to the range hood from the fuse box outside the house.

When our electrician checked the unit, he said that a part relating to the power switch inside the range hood itself was a goner. A call to DeLonghi's agent revealed that that part costs $100+, but was out of stock. Having the sparkie come back plus cost of one part would mean $300+ out of pocket; the sparkie commented that we may be better off getting a new range hood.

I am VERY disappointed that the range hood did not even last 5 years before a major break down, though I paid good money for it. Even the cheap, basic range hood that the house came with, installed by the previous owner when the house was first built, lasted more than 10 years. External ducting