Galaxy Horizon Internal Blower Cabinets

The full comparison lives in our range-hood CFM guide. For this page, the short version is enough.

All three fit every Allure wood hood, with one exception: the 250 is not offered for the 48″ plain box, GHZ RHA483021. Each carries Broan-NuTone’s one-year limited warranty. Maximum-speed noise ratings are not published, so we do not quote them.

In principle, yes. The insert is a separate part that mounts in the hood’s liner, and every shell in this finish accepts all three sizes, apart from the one exception above. Swapping a 250 for a 400 in three years’ time does not mean replacing the stained shell, which is the expensive, finish-matched part.

In practice, three things decided on the day of the first installation make a later upgrade either simple or a small renovation. None of them is the blower itself.

Because the blower is priced separately, a hood’s real cost is the shell plus the insert. This is the whole list in this finish, before ductwork, the exterior cap, electrical work and installation. The accent versions (Timber on the chimney and designer; Timber or Walnut on the slim and curved glass) cost the same as the plain shells shown.

Two patterns stand out. The gap between the 250 and the 400 is $484.25 on every shell, and between the 400 and the 600 it is $884.00, so the blower decision moves the total more than the choice between most neighbouring widths does. And at 36″, the plain box and the designer shell are $1,625.00 apart before any blower goes in; the shape, not the blower, is what separates the top of this list from the bottom.

The stainless liner inside every shell keeps heat and grease off the wood on the inside of the canopy. It does nothing for the outside: the front face, the lower edge, the sides, and the doors on the cabinets either side, all of which sit in the path of whatever the blower does not catch. Fabuwood’s warranty lists colour change from exposure to smoke, as well as to UV and sunlight, among the things it does not treat as defects. On a stain, where the colour is partly the wood beneath a clear coat, that is worth taking seriously.

The protection is simply a blower that gets switched on. Our cabinet care guide puts it plainly: grease that gets exhausted never lands on a door. That turns the published noise figures into a finish-care number. A blower that is loud enough to be annoying at the setting you need is a blower that gets left off, and a hood left off is a stained face collecting smoke and grease.

These are our habits for any wood hood, not a Broan-NuTone instruction; the insert’s own manual governs its controls.

1. Switch it on before the pan goes on the heat, not when the smoke appears. A running blower sets up an upward draft that captures the first plume instead of chasing it.
2. Use the lowest speed that clears the cooktop, and step up for searing, frying and anything in a wok. A bigger blower on a middle setting is usually quieter than a smaller one at full speed.
3. Leave it running for a few minutes after the burners are off. Steam and odour keep rising from hot pans, and that last stretch is when condensation settles on the cabinet faces closest to the range.
4. Wash the insert’s own metal filters regularly. A clogged filter moves less air, which means more of the plume reaches the wood.
5. Wipe the hood’s outer faces as part of the weekly routine: warm water with a little dish soap, a wrung-out soft cloth, with the grain, then dry. Anything stronger, and the order to escalate, is in the care guide.

For most kitchens in this finish we draw the 400: quiet enough at normal speed to be left on, and sitting at the rating most homes can install without makeup air, subject to how your inspector reads its listed maximum. We move down to the 250 for a small electric or induction kitchen on a short, simple duct, where it is the right size and the saving is real. We move up to the 600 for a 36″ or 48″ gas range with high-output burners, on an 8″ duct, with the makeup-air question answered in advance.

Whichever it is, choose it as if it were permanent, even though it technically is not. The shell is the finish-matched part you will keep for the life of the kitchen; the duct and wiring behind it are the parts you will not want to open again. If a ductless setup is the only option, the recirculating kit page covers what changes.