DIY Custom Hood Vent Cover

For our kitchen renovation, I knew I wanted a hood vent cover instead of just a cabinet above the stove to bring the design up a notch. When I inquired about it with our cabinet company the quote for a very basic design was around $2500! That was more than I wanted to pay and our budget was already hitting the high end, and since this was more of a luxury item I decided to look into making it myself. I scrolled Pinterest for a while and found a few tutorials but nothing quite like what I wanted so I got my brother-in-law to help us map out the details. He is a carpenter and had he lived closer I probably would have had him build it too.

I had to create this tutorial for the most part as all the ones I found online showed them building it on the wall and then just painting it with a roller afterward. I knew I wanted to have a smooth paint finish like the cabinets so I had to find a way to build it offsite and then paint it before installation so I didn’t have to worry about overspray in the kitchen.

I found a hood style on a site called Hoodsly that I liked and used the measurements from their website to make a starting point for mine.

I wanted to test out the size before actually committing to cutting wood so I made a full-sized template with the cardboard from my new appliances to test it out. The measurements I used from Hoodsly were pretty much perfect so I just made a few adjustments to fit my kitchen.

Once I knew the cardboard model was going to work I sketched out everything so I could plan the wood cuts. This project was definitely not a beginner DIY like I thought it was going to be but I made it through so if I can do it I figure anyone can. I’ve tried my best to break down all the steps so if you want to copy my design you can follow below and adjust your measurements to fit your kitchen.

Here is a sketch of the measurements I used to build the support box. (as you see in the picture above my back panel was shorter than planned as we ran out of wood so we just used a smaller piece.)

First, you’ll need to determine the width between your cabinets. Then choose the type of material you will be using. For the inside box, I used 1/2″ plywood, and for the outside cover panel, I used 1/4″ MDF. (In hindsight using 5/8″ plywood and a thicker MDF would have made it a bit easier to build – the 1/2″ was hard to drill into without it splitting.)

Make sure your support box is square and flush or whatever the term is. I didn’t do the best job at this and ours was a bit warped on one side so we had to shim up some edges in our final install.

We hung it up as a team. I balanced it on my head and my husband screwed it in the center. We also used a laser level to make sure it was level and centered before securing it further.

After this step, we inserted the hood fan and hooked it up to make sure everything was working before adding the cover panels. It looked like this for a few weeks while I finished the outside cover panels.

Here is a sketch of the design I used to make my cuts for the outside cover panels. I didn’t add my measurements on this because it will vary depending on the thickness of the material you use for these panels and the inside box. Still, it’s the almost same measurements (plus the material thickness) as above but your side and back panels will be split since it is two pieces.

I built the two panels separately mitering the corners and then gluing them with wood glue. Then I added extra support using this corner trim board I found at the trim store.

I glued on a bit more decorative trim and then primed everything. Then sanded and primed a 2nd coat.

Then I painted a first coat and then did a light sand. I had a bit of trouble with my sprayer and the tip end so I had to sand down a lot and then paint again. It still wasn’t applying properly so I ended up buying a different paint – Benjamin Moore Advanced which is a water alkyd paint made for trim and cabinets that is better at leveling and has a smooth glass finish.

I found out after one paint trial too that I needed to lay it flat to spray it. While I was at it painted an MDF board to be the top of the window bench.

This paint had some extra fumes and took a bit longer to dry so I let it air out in the garage for a few days before installing it.

For the installation, I slid in the top section first and made sure it was level. Since my inside support box was a bit off being square I used some shims between the layers to make everything flush on the outside.

Next, I slid in the bottom cover panel and shimmed one side again. I put in a few brad nails after this for good measure but it was tight and not going anywhere.

Finally, I attached the side sections of my detail trim with glue so that they would cover the seam between the two cover panels and the holes from the brad nails. (In hindsight I could have done this before as I didn’t really need the extra brad nails for support and securing it after the fact was tricky – I glued it with PL-400 and then wrapped it with painter’s tape until it dried.)

Lastly, I nailed the bottom cover panel that goes around the fan. I just secured it with brad nails and then filled and touched up the holes since it is underneath and you can’t see it unless you bend underneath there.

And here she is in all her glory! This project was so much bigger than I thought it would be but I learned so much and I’m so proud of the result! Plus I saved about $2500! Win-Win!