If you run a kitchen in Lexington, three things are true whether or not anyone has said them to you directly. Your exhaust system is on a cleaning schedule set by NFPA 96 — monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually depending on what and how much you cook. Every cleaning has to be documented, with the paperwork kept on site for the fire inspector. And the grease in that duct is the most preventable fire risk in your building: NFPA’s own data on restaurant structure fires found 61% involved cooking equipment, and failure to clean was a factor in 22% of them.
This site does one thing: connects Lexington operators with trained, insured kitchen exhaust cleaning companies that clean the whole system — hood, filters, duct, rooftop fan — to the standard, and leave the documentation behind. Owner to owner, no drama.
We’re a local referral service for commercial kitchens. Call or send the form and we’ll connect you with a trained, insured kitchen exhaust cleaning company serving Lexington — one that cleans the full system to NFPA 96 and leaves you the documentation your fire inspector and insurer expect. No charge for the referral.
NFPA 96’s cleaning schedule sorts commercial kitchens by grease production. Monthly: solid-fuel cooking — wood or charcoal. Quarterly: high volume — 24-hour operations, charbroiling, wok cooking, heavy frying. Semi-annually: moderate volume — most sit-down restaurants. Annually: low volume — churches, day camps, seasonal operations, senior centers. Those are starting points; heavy grease at inspection moves you up a tier. Full breakdown and a self-assessment here.
There is a version of hood cleaning where someone wipes the canopy, swaps the filters, and leaves. It is not the version the standard describes, and it is not the version that stops a duct fire. A compliant cleaning takes the hood, the ductwork, and the rooftop fan down to bare metal, installs access panels where the duct can’t otherwise be reached, photographs before and after, and leaves a dated service sticker and a signed report on your premises. The sticker is what the inspector reads first.
For a single-hood restaurant, a full-system cleaning typically runs a few hundred dollars per visit — commonly in the $400–$600 range — with multi-hood kitchens, long or complex duct runs, and difficult rooftop access pushing higher. Multiply by your tier’s frequency and you have your annual line item. Honest cost breakdown here, including why the lowest quote often isn’t cleaning the duct.
Schools, hospitals, senior living, hotels, and churches run kitchens with their own tiers, procurement realities, and multi-site scheduling problems. Facility managers start here.
Kentucky’s fire code (815 KAR 10:060) adopts NFPA 1, the national Fire Code, which incorporates NFPA 96 for commercial cooking operations. So NFPA 96 is the standard the fire code Kentucky and Lexington enforce — and your fire inspector, as the authority having jurisdiction, is who checks. Resources and citations here.
The service sticker’s date against your tier, the documentation on file, visible grease at the hood and filters, and often the duct and fan condition. Inspection prep page here.
Yes. Insurers widely expect NFPA 96 maintenance, and a kitchen fire in a system with an overdue cleaning is a claim conversation nobody wants to have. Your documentation binder is as much for your adjuster as your inspector.
The companies we refer are trained, insured, clean the full system to NFPA 96, and leave compliant documentation. Kentucky doesn’t license hood cleaning as a trade, so the credentials that matter are training, insurance, and the paperwork — ask any bidder for all three.
We’re a local referral service for commercial kitchens. Call or send the form and we’ll connect you with a trained, insured kitchen exhaust cleaning company serving Lexington — one that cleans the full system to NFPA 96 and leaves you the documentation your fire inspector and insurer expect. No charge for the referral.
Lexington Hood Cleaning — Connecting Lexington restaurants and commercial kitchens with trained, insured kitchen exhaust cleaning companies.
Serving Lexington, Nicholasville, Georgetown, Versailles, Winchester, Richmond, Frankfort, and Central Kentucky.
NFPA 96 Cleaning Schedule · What a Compliant Cleaning Includes · Fire Inspection Prep · Cost · Institutional Kitchens · Fire Code Resources · Privacy Policy
Call: (859) 470-8930
Information on this site is general guidance on NFPA 96 and commercial kitchen exhaust maintenance, not a compliance determination for your specific kitchen — your local fire authority makes that call. Lexington Hood Cleaning is a referral service and does not itself perform exhaust cleaning, inspection, or certification.