Picture this: you’re in the middle of your busiest dinner rush when smoke starts rolling out from un-
der your exhaust hood, grease begins dripping onto your grill, and that acrid smell of burnt oil fills
the air. Your kitchen staff is complaining about poor air quality, and you’re worried about fire safety.
What went wrong? Often, it comes down to inadequate or poorly maintained baffles and grease fil-
ters: the unsung heroes of your kitchen exhaust system.
Every commercial kitchen faces the same fundamental challenge: cooking processes generate enor-
mous amounts of grease-laden vapor, smoke, and airborne particles that must be captured and re-
moved efficiently. Without proper filtration, these contaminants don’t just disappear: they accumulate
in your ductwork, coat your exhaust fans, compromise your fire suppression systems, and create seri-
ous health and safety hazards.
The Critical Role of Baffles and Grease Filters
Baffles and grease filters serve as your kitchen’s first line of defense against airborne contaminants.
These aren’t just simple screens: they’re sophisticated filtration systems designed to capture grease
particles before they can travel into your ductwork and exhaust fans.
When cooking vapors hit properly designed baffle filters, they encounter a series of angled metal
plates that force the air to change direction multiple times. Due to physics and momentum, heavier
grease particles can’t follow these rapid directional changes and instead collide with the baffle sur-
faces, where they slide down into collection channels. This mechanical separation process can capture
between 85-95% of grease particles, making it far more effective than basic mesh filters or no filtra-
tion at all.