Grease All Over the Range Hood
Baked grease film across the range hood, its filters and the stove surround
The short answer
Grease that has baked onto a hood for a year is not ordinary dirt: it is a hard, varnish-like layer, and kitchen sprays do not shift it. Zep Industrial Purple is a professional caustic concentrate that holds 4.6 stars from 998 reviews at Walmart (November 2026). It comes with warnings: dilute it to match the job, wear gloves and eye protection, and never let it sit undiluted on aluminum, paint or glass. Used as directed, it strips hood filters and surrounds that nothing else in the kitchen cleans.
Why does this happen?
Cooking grease polymerizes. Heat cures the airborne film into a hard, bonded layer, the same chemistry that seasons a cast iron pan, applied to your hood instead. To break it down you need a cleaner strong enough to turn the fat into a soap-like form that can rinse away, which is why gentle sprays smear it around.
The filters hold the grease. A mesh filter that is full stops trapping grease and starts dripping it back onto the stove, so the hood problem is a filter problem first and a surface problem second.
The strength of this cleaner depends on how much you dilute it. The same concentrate that cleans a filter at one dilution will etch aluminum and strip paint at another, which is why the dilution chart matters more than guesswork for this job.
The fix, in order
The steps are ordered cheapest first. Stop at the one that solves it and skip the rest; the product is there only for where the free steps run out.
Free step
Soak the filters first
Pull the filters and soak them in the hottest water your tap makes with a strong dose of dish soap. Run the hood on high while cooking from now on, and wipe fresh splatter weekly so the baked layer never builds up again.
Free step
Test the dilution ladder
Mix the weakest working dilution on the label and test it on a hidden corner of the hood. Only move up one step at a time when the grease needs it. The test patch is what protects your finish from damage.
The product step
Degrease at the tested strength
Spray or wipe the Zep solution on, let it sit, and lift the grease with a cloth or non-scratch pad, then rinse with clear water. Filters can soak at the strength the label gives for them. Work from the top down, so drips land on surfaces you have not wiped yet.
The product for this step
Zep Industrial Purple Degreaser concentrate
The evidence, in tiers
Tier 1 · The method
The method follows the manufacturer's dilution chart and safety data sheet: a professional alkaline degreaser, specified by dilution for surfaces from sealed concrete to kitchen equipment. The maker prints the aluminum and paint cautions itself, in its own safety documents.
Tier 2 · This product
Zep Industrial Purple holds 4.6 stars from 998 reviews at Walmart (November 2026). Its sibling Zep Citrus holds 4.5 stars from 134 reviews at Target (November 2026) and is the comparison this page concedes lighter work to. We have not degreased a hood with this product for this guide, and no claim is made here that we have.
The rating combines professional and home use. Read the home reviews for the pattern that matters: people succeed when they follow the dilution chart, and damage reports come from using it undiluted on the exact surfaces the label warns about.
Tier 3 · What owners report
Owners report filters coming clean in a soak that dish soap alone never achieved, and surrounds wiping down to the finish. The negative pattern is consistent and it teaches the same lesson: etched aluminum and dulled paint where the concentrate was used undiluted and left to sit.
The alternatives, conceded where they win
| Option | What it is | The honest verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Zep Industrial Purple concentrate | Caustic professional degreaser, diluted to the job | Our pick: it is the strength of cleaner that baked grease needs. |
| Zep Citrus Degreaser | The milder sibling, ready to use | Gentler on finishes and on people, and the better tool for weekly grease. It cannot shift the years-old baked layer that the Purple removes, which is why the Purple is our pick instead. |
| Krud Kutter Original | Milder alkaline cleaner degreaser | A respected middle-strength cleaner. It is slower on baked-on grease and kinder to surfaces. A reasonable choice where the grease is months old, not years. |
| Oven cleaner on the hood | Caustic foam made for oven interiors | The wrong tool: fumes in an open kitchen, a risk of damaging hood finishes, and no way to control the dilution. It is strong, but it belongs in the oven. |
The honest price comparison
If the strongest label dilution does not move the grease, stop and identify the surface before escalating. What looks like grease at that point is sometimes a failing finish, and stronger chemistry makes it worse, not cleaner.
Where it falls short
The weaknesses below come from the product's own review record, the same record the recommendation rests on.
- It is caustic. Gloves, eye protection, and ventilation are not optional extras with this recommendation.
- It attacks aluminum, paint, and some glass at strong dilutions. The test patch step is essential.
- A gallon of concentrate takes up storage space, and it must be stored like the chemical it is.
- Surfaces need a clear water rinse pass afterward, which gentler sprays skip.
The product, in short
Zep Industrial Purple Degreaser concentrate
Questions people ask next
Is it safe on stainless steel?
At label dilutions for kitchen equipment, yes, with a rinse. Stainless tolerates the alkaline class well; the cautions are aluminum, paint, and glass, plus any finish you have not tested.
Can I soak my aluminum hood filters in it?
Only at the label's light dilution and briefly, with a rinse. Aluminum is the metal this product can etch. Many filters are steel mesh in an aluminum frame: use short soaks and keep an eye on them.
What dilution for a greasy floor or garage concrete?
Follow the chart on the bottle: it prints the ratios for each surface. Start weaker than you think. A second pass at the same strength is better than one pass that is too strong.
Why not use the citrus version for everything?
For weekly grease, do. The Purple is worth keeping for the baked layer the citrus cannot shift. Keep the strong cleaner for the hard job and the mild one for routine jobs.
Walmart listing record for Zep Industrial Purple (November 2026) · Zep dilution chart and safety data sheet · Target listing record for Zep Citrus Degreaser (November 2026)
The Fix JournalCase 38Home Surfaces