Westinghouse WRH608IK / WRH608IS / WRH608IW / WRJ608IW

Fan stopped after 4.5 years! – Off to purchase a new rangehood as after 4.5 years of purchasing this Westinghouse rangehood it just stopped working. I've been told it's cheaper to buy a new one than call a repair guy out but very disappointed in the quality of Westinghouse these days.. no where near the quality as years before..  Show details

Gets the job done – We wanted a half decent fairly cheap exhaust fan and this is certainly that. It works pretty well considering I mostly have 4 cooktop burners running at the same time. It's not too noisy even when it's on full, it's very easy to use with 3 options; light only, low fan or high fan.  Show details

Noisy! – This is the worst rangehood as we can't have a conversation in the same room. Is in house we have moved into. Sounds like an extremely loud vacuum cleaner. Will have to replace as driving us crazy. No external controls and lights blow easily. Not happy and wont be buying this brand again.  Show details

Good piece of gear for the kitchen with a warning! – Had this unit installed after previous Chef unit died, went into the old spot near perfect fit, but had to trim cabinet doors above by 7mm. Works well with pre-existing venting to the outside and had no issues, looks good too. However note: be extremely careful cleaning the washable filters. The metal edges on them are very thin-like razor blades,… Read more

I sliced the top of a finger severely while washing them. That will not happen again because next time I will be properly cautious.

Still can't believe this. Recirculators, beware! – For me, this is a replacement rangehood for use in a unit which has no vent to the outside. I was very careful to check that it was a recirculating model of exactly the size that would fit my cabinet. Imagine my disappointment and amazement when I found out (after it had been installed) that I have to get a cabinetmaker to make me a fascia that is… Read more

a minimum of 70mm high to replace the one already on it which is 40mm high. Why? Why isn't a 70mm fascia included as well, as it is essential for this model to work properly in recirculating mode - other manufacturers supply two fascias with their rangehoods I've since found out.

Or why can't I request one from Westinghouse instead of them saying " the supplied drawer facia is not to be used and must be replaced with a client specific custom facia. The custom drawer facia must be a minimum of 70mm deep as air expelled through the recirculating vent must be deflected upwards." This to me is an admission that it won't work properly as supplied, therefore I know it will be covered for return under Australian consumer law, but of course it is already installed at enough expense and bother.

As it is now, the air exhaust blasts me in the eyes, and the bare lightbulbs shine into my eyes, so I can't actually use it. It looks awful too, when the plastic cover is removed to allow recirculation and there is no 70mm fascia to hide the gaping hole.

I was already annoyed to find that Good Guys assured me it only needed one carbon filter, when it actually needs two, another trip and another $30 only to find I can't actually use them and it looks ugly so with the gap. It will have to go. Other than that, it absolutely blasts air out, so it must be sucking it in pretty well, and is as noisy as I expect rangehoods to be.

An inexpensive satisfactory replacement, but be aware of vent settings and carbon filter requirement – Despite reading some disparaging reviews, I bought this model to replace a 19yo single motor Technika range hood. Existing cabinetry and wall flue meant staying with a 600mm unit in this style, a very similar design to the old one. Did a DIY installed, ensuring the inside/outside venting levers were correctly set, and it works better than the old… Read more ·  1

one at extracting cooking fumes.

It is fairly noisy, especially on high speed, but so was the old one. However, rising steam can be seen to be drawn in towards the hood - the old one didn't really seem to attract any vapour apart from what was already rising towards it. One reason may have been that although the old one was installed to vent outside, and by a professional, on its removal we discovered the carbon filter had been left attached when installed 19 years ago. This has been an unnecessary drag on its suction since using an external vent means there's no need for the carbon filter in the old unit and the same advice also goes for this replacement twin motor (twin filter) Westinghouse model.

No filters are included with this Westinghouse model, but more importantly, there aren't any range hood installation instructions at all in the box, although they are available online. Any DIY installer (and even a professional, it seems) could easily miss the requirement to buy a pair of charcoal filters for the recirculating setting, fail to fit the included plastic disc blocking cover over the hole for the external duct and also fail to set the two inconspicuous levers correctly for the inside/outside venting. This mistake could certainly be the reason many owners are complaining of the noise, fumes and ineffective suction. Recirculating hot cooking fumes without the charcoal filters, and especially without the duct cover, would mean oily smoky vapours are being blown straight back out into the kitchen - very loudly.

Two candle style incandescent 40Watt bulbs are included, however these have been immediately replaced by 8Watt low profile compact florescent bulbs. We like to leave range hood lights on as a kitchen 'night light' in the evening, and similar old-style incandescent 40Watt bulbs in the old range hood were prone to blowing.

The 3 speed fan and light controls are simple and intuitive apart from a main switch, concealed behind the slide-out hood, that turns everything off when changing a light bulb. for instance. The slide-out mesh filters, which are designed to catch greasy vaporised oils (not smoke or steam), are easily removed and can be washed in a dishwasher. The carbon filters (if fitted) appear to simply turn and click into place under the motor units, with the mesh filters removed for easy access.

So while not a very quiet range hood, it is inexpensive and, if installed correctly, reasonably effective even on the low (quieter) setting. Just be sure to get it installed correctly, or it will be very noisy and fill the kitchen with fumes.

Happy with this! – Happy with this 6 years on. Nice and neat, bright light and I found it easy to dismantle to clean when needed.

Absolute shocker – On my way now to buy earmuffs after just having this installed. Worst $200 ever spent in my life! Not happy Jan!

Front rusted within 2 years – We purchased this rangehood to install on our newly renovated kitchen. We always have it on whilst the cook top is in use. It is a noisy appliance however within 2 years of it being installed the front panel and underneath have this horrible looking rust on it. Looks terrible against our beautiful kitchen. I know stainless steel polish is a no no for stainless steel appliances but I don't know how to get rid of it.

NOISE – After 3 yrs of going deaf with this re-circulating exhaust fan my visiting brother who could not stand the noise checked it out and discovered that the front cover plate which should only be left on for a fan exhausting to the outside atmosphere had not been removed (obviously oversight by installer, but how many others don't work due to this… Read more

reason?). I had wondered why the filters had never got dirty - reason being the product has never worked for the purpose it should have. That made it work at last however did not address the noise problem. Still sends us deaf. I bought it because I'd had one before and it was good but I'm put off for future purchases. Reliable, inexpensive Horrible noise, you can't watch tv or have a conversation

Does not work – Purchased from Good Guys some 1 and half years ago put into a new kitchen, has not worked for 6 months except the lights that still operate. When working was very noisy, the fan speed did not differ as I retracted the hood. Until now until I came across this site, did not realise they have a 2 year warranty Looked good for the price When was working very noisy, no change in speed

very noisy – After 3 years we have had this model I am going out to buy another brand, it sounds like a jumbo jet when on, I don't mind noise but gee this thing is loud. I only use the fan when I have too and mainly use the light on it, so another winning product I have bought from Westinghouse, we will also be replacing our Westinghouse oven and cooktop,… Read more

that are also 3 years old, with the ariston brand as they seem to have the quality Westinghouse no longer seems to care about, its a pity another big company in Australia has lost sight of quality and is peddling the same old muck you can buy at Bunnings. Very disappointed we wasted our money on their product. looked good & well known brand really noisy

Impressions – We have bought the above model from Good Guys and yes the Range hood is noisy, but since it has been installed today...yet to be tested completely. One globe is busted and needs replacement and also I read on the web-site that this comes with 2 years Warranty, but the Invoice does not indicate this. Can someone please confirm the Warranty and also where I need to buy the globe replacement. Dual Motors Wish it was low in noise level

Noisy and rather ineffective – I replaced a very old "Chef" rangehood with this due to my positive experience of the last one. After many years of 'innovation' I thought Electrolux (Westinghouse/Chef) would have made a decent rangehood and decided to stay with the brand. Wrong. This rangehood is very loud (much louder than the last one) and the suction power is poor, even on… Read more

the highest setting. Suction is even worse when fully extended - I will see steam literally float along the filer as opposed to being sucked-up into it. This ineffective suction is likely due to all the large gaps in the unit - specifically between the sliding shelf and main unit. The sliding tracks are also bad and loosely fit - I am often having to lift and "angle" the shelf back when pushing back in due to the two filters jamming or the track getting jammed. Would never buy a Westinghouse again - a really poorly made unit overall. Lights are bright! But old design. Noisy, poor suction, poorly designed sliding tracks,

Annoying! – We bought this Range-Hood around 1.5 years ago to replace a almost 30 year old 'RobinHood' model that was in our house. Suffice to say, this model is no where near as good as the old one (which used push-button controls). You are limited to the fan speeds being selected by how far out you slide the hood. Nice, if you need to clear up lots of… Read more

steam, but not if you are using the large burner on your stove.

This thing is NOISY! Even on low speed, this thing makes as much noise as an (OLD) jet at takeoff (OK, not quite, but still close), and doesn't move nearly as much air as our old RobinHood when it was on low speed. In fact, on this terrible excuse for a Range-Hood, you can barely even feel the suction through the filters, which are always clean, whereas our old hood, you could feel incredible suction even on low speeds.

Filtration: What filtration? This thing uses a filter, which at best will stop Tree Branches and Volkswagens entering the fan. You can see right through the filter, and we haven't needed to clean it yet, because we never use the fan (its that bad). There is two stage filtration, sort of, when using it at low speed. After that, its just poor single stage filtering. I get the feeling that this thing is just sucking air through the gap between the outlet and the sliding bit. You can see how poor the filtration is by looking at the motor cover for this thing. Greasy, almost to the point of dripping! No wonder the cockroaches like it! And you know what? The old range had double filtration, with the first filter being practically not see-through. The 2nd filter was much finer, and the air outlet was not even the slightest bit greasy when we removed it. It was greasy inside, but after 30 years, of course it should be. It was terribly dirty when we first arrived, but worked great (and quietly too). Great fan in that thing, lots of air movement, but little nose!

The light: Great! Lights up the kitchen on its own, just about. But sadly uses Incandescent Candle Lights, which are being phased out soon.

Overall, Westinghouse need to improve their design a lot! This is a terrible excuse for a vent hood or filter/recirc. device. It is loud, Poorly designed (Filters) and uses ageing technology for its use. We only ever use it as a light, or to move some steam, its too loud otherwise (whereas the old hood was used always when cooking... Besides, this one vents in your face, rather than into the ceiling, like our old one, making cooking with it terrible. Don't buy it, get something older and better! (Like our old RobinHood!) The light is bright, it looks pretty good Poor filtration, noisy fans, old lights, sliding design.

Good – Bought this for our new kitchen last year and it has been a good unit. This model (the 608) has twin motors whereas the 605 only has a single motor. If you're looking at this range hood, take off the filters and have a look as they look identical on the outside. Ours cost about $160 from Seconds World. The negatives are that it is noisy (we… Read more

sometimes turn the TV up in the lounge room) and that the controls are designed in a way that is good and bad. The switches for the lights and fans are concealed and operate via the sliding mechanism in the rangehood. The positives are a sleek look and ease of cleaning. The negative is that if you want the rangehood extended all the way out then you're stuck with full speed.

Still, it is undeniably strong and the filters are easily removed for cleaning and it hasn't given us any fault to date. Powerful, good price, controls. Noise, controls.