Skai Solutions read two Australian catalogues on 23 October 2026: a ducted exhaust canopy ran A$1,418 to A$4,908, while a ductless filtered system of the same 1800mm width was A$20,075, which is 6.45 times the price.
The answer is not one number, it is three, and the one that decides your budget is not about the hood at all. It is whether your tenancy can discharge to open air. Below: the real price band for each of the three kinds of hood, the matched pair that shows what ductless really costs, the trap in the middle of the table, and every line the supply only quote leaves out.
We read two Australian commercial kitchen catalogues on 23 October 2026 and pulled every hood and canopy listing out of both. The answer splits in three, and the split matters more than any single number.
| What it is | Listings | Cheapest | Median | Dearest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ducted exhaust canopy, supply only | 9 | A$1,418 | A$3,110 | A$4,908 |
| Condensing hood, for a combi or bakery oven | 5 | A$2,916 | A$4,281 | A$7,809 |
| Ductless filtered hood system | 6 | A$19,662 | A$24,279 | A$31,245 |
So if someone quotes you A$3,000 for a canopy, that is the market. If someone quotes you A$25,000, that is also the market, for a different machine solving a different problem. The gap between them is not a margin question. It is the single biggest fork in a kitchen fit out and almost nothing written for operators names it.
One more number, because it tells you what a single quote is worth. The two catalogues carried two identical model numbers, a 1200mm canopy hood and an 1800mm ductless system. On the same day, both were priced 10.0% apart: A$1,418 against A$1,560, and A$20,075 against A$22,082. Two catalogues, one day, the same box, ten per cent. A second quote is worth the phone call.
Because you are not buying the same thing. A ducted canopy is sheet metal and baffle filters. It collects, and something else moves the air: a fan, a duct, a roof penetration. A ductless system is self contained. It has to capture, filter the air well enough to put it back into the room, and move it, all inside the unit.
Here is the matched pair, from one catalogue on one day, same width, nothing else different:
| 1800mm wide | Price |
|---|---|
| Ducted exhaust canopy, 1800 x 1400 mm | A$3,110.40 |
| Ductless hood system, 1800 mm | A$20,075.00 |
| Difference | A$16,964.60, or 6.45 times |
That is our arithmetic on two published listing prices, so treat it as ours. Across the medians of the full sets the ratio is 7.8 times, which is the same story at a different sample size.
Nobody chooses a ductless system because they like the price. They choose it because they cannot run a duct. A first floor tenancy, a heritage facade, a shopping centre with no roof access, a body corporate that will not approve a penetration: in those buildings the duct is not available at any price and the A$20,000 is the cost of the building, not the cost of the hood. If you can run a duct, the canopy plus a fan plus the ductwork will almost always come in under it.
Which means the question to answer before you get a single quote is not how much a rangehood costs. It is whether your tenancy can be ducted to open air, and that is a landlord conversation. Have it before you sign, not after. It belongs in the same column as the rest of your cafe fit out cost.
Every listing above is supply only. The canopy is the cheapest part of a working exhaust system, and we are not going to invent install prices we have not measured. What we will do is name every line that sits between the listing price and a hood that legally runs, so no quote surprises you.
Treat the listing price as the floor of the capital number and the cleaning schedule as a line in your operating costs, the same way you would treat electricity.
This is the trap in the middle of the price table and it catches people because the cheap option looks like a bargain. Five of the listings we read, from A$2,916 to A$7,809, are condensing hoods. They are built to sit on a combi oven or a bakery oven and deal with steam. They are sold matched to specific oven models, which is the tell: if a hood's listing names an oven series, it is not a general kitchen canopy.
A condensing hood will not handle the grease laden air off a chargrill, a fryer or a wok burner. If you buy one for a cook line because it was A$4,000 instead of A$20,000, you have bought nothing useful and you will buy the canopy again.
The same logic cuts the other way on a bakery or a combi only kitchen. If your heat is steam and your oven takes a matched condensing hood, you may not need a canopy over that appliance at all, and A$4,281 is the median rather than A$24,279. That is a genuine saving and it is the only place in this page where the cheap option is the right one.
Four questions, in this order, and the first one decides the other three.
If the answer to question one is no, stop shopping for hoods and go and ask the landlord. We have seen that conversation change a A$25,000 line into a A$4,000 one, and it is free to have.
A rangehood is capital spent on capacity you hope to use. The calls you did not answer are capacity you already have and are losing today, at no capital cost to recover. A booking enquiry that rings out while the extraction fan is running is gone, and nothing above a cook line brings it back.
A Skai Solutions AI phone agent answers every call, through prep, through service and after close, takes the booking straight into your system and goes live in five days. Against a A$20,000 hood you may be able to avoid with one landlord conversation, it is the cheaper thing to try first.
How much does a commercial rangehood cost in Australia?
Across nine ducted exhaust canopy listings in two Australian catalogues read on 23 October 2026, A$1,418 to A$4,908 with a median of A$3,110, supply only. A ductless filtered hood system is a different machine and a different number: six listings ran A$19,662 to A$31,245, median A$24,279.
Why is a ductless rangehood so much more expensive?
Because it does three jobs the canopy does not. It captures, filters the air well enough to return it to the room, and moves it, all inside the one unit, where a ducted canopy relies on a separate fan and a duct to open air. On one matched pair at 1800mm wide in the same catalogue on the same day, the ducted canopy was A$3,110.40 and the ductless system A$20,075, which is 6.45 times.
Do I need a ducted or a ductless rangehood?
Ducted, if your tenancy can discharge to open air, because it is far cheaper. Ductless exists for buildings where a duct is not available at any price: an upper floor, a heritage facade, a centre with no roof access, or a body corporate that will not approve a penetration. Settle that question with the landlord before you price anything.
Is the listed price the installed price?
No. Every listing is supply only. It excludes the exhaust fan on a ducted system, the ductwork and discharge point, make up air, the dedicated electrical circuit and controls including any fire system interlock, the design and certification work, and delivery and install. Treat the listing as the floor of the capital number.
What is the difference between a condensing hood and an exhaust canopy?
A condensing hood handles steam and is sold matched to a specific combi or bakery oven model. An exhaust canopy handles grease laden air off a cook line. The five condensing hoods we read ran A$2,916 to A$7,809, which is tempting and useless over a fryer or a chargrill. If a hood's listing names an oven series, it is not a general kitchen canopy.
How much do prices vary between suppliers?
By about ten per cent on the same box. The two catalogues we read on 23 October 2026 both carried a 1200mm canopy hood and an 1800mm ductless system, and both pairs were priced 10.0% apart on the same day: A$1,418 against A$1,560, and A$20,075 against A$22,082. Always get a second quote.
What size rangehood does a commercial kitchen need?
Wider than the appliances under it, by the overhang your ventilation designer specifies. The canopies we priced ran 1200mm to 2500mm wide and the price tracked width fairly evenly, so measure the cook line first and price that width rather than ordering a standard size and hoping. Australian kitchen exhaust is a designed system, not a fitting.
What does a rangehood cost to keep, not just to buy?
Cleaning, on a mandatory schedule, for as long as you trade. That is an operating cost rather than a capital one and it is the line most business cases leave out. Put the cleaning schedule and the purchase price into the decision at the same time, because over the life of the hood the cleaning is not the smaller number.