I have a Kenmore SS fridge, made by Whirlpool. It's three years old and has never even flinched at us. We chose it because it was ginormous and has a very bright interior. While looking at some models, you could tell that you'd need a flash light if you put any food in there. I just bought my home and it came with the original 1982 Jenn-Air drop-in range / oven. I don't care for the down-draft ventilation at all. Whoever thought that up was an oaf. Functionally, after 25 years, it's "fair". There's one thing that should be mentioned: "Brand" is no guarantee of quality or reliability anymore. (And you asked about reliability). Most manufacturers contract out the manufacture of their parts, so Company A in China makes the leaded water lines for your fridge and Company B makes the valves for the gas stove. Someone else puts them all together and calls them the brand of the day. The Brands merely "spec" the parts and the manufacturers produce to specs. And if the CEO wants a bigger bonus, they can allow lower-quality plastics, etc, in the middle of a production run. What a Brand does get you is specific kinds of service and support. Bosch may jump all over the chance to wow you on the rebound of a problem, yet the Jenn-Air group may not.

Quick reply to Jenn Air delima. Same problem here. Need to replace our Jenn-Air stove temperature does not heat anymore. Our concern is also with the downdraft. My husband called Home depot and they have one that is a General Electric model, less than $1,000 with down draft. Should hook into our other one vent possibly. Also Sears. we're going to go check it out today

Nice bit of "Jenn-air" history, hvtech42! My only disagreement with it would be to "Lump all the JA products together" in the "History Lesson". I have no experience with the JA cooking products, (cooktops, ranges, ovens~~~etc). But I do have a lot of experience with a Jenn-air Fridge and in fact, I've done a lof of research on them. Back in 2006, I was looking for a 48" built in fridge. Back then, I only had 3 choices, (or at least that's all I could find in stores and on the net). One was GE, since I had a GE S X S full sized fridge I was going to replace, (I could not get icemaker parts even during it's one year warranty)!!, & It leaked and rusted out the sides of the fridge~~sooooo~~~~GE was out of the running, (back in 2006). The other choices were SZ and Jenn-air. Apparently SZ was having evaporator problems back in 2006, (some say it was a copper problem, others say it was caused by copper tubing and aluminum fins on the tubing)~~~~anyway~~~SZ was rated "Dead Last" in reliability by Consumer Reports~~~~yeah I know, but I took time to research the evaporator problem and found out enough about it to scare me off! Jenn-Air "S X S as well has built ins" have been rated the #1 fridge for reliability by readers of Consumer Reports since 2006, and today I believe it is "Tied" with another manufacturer for the #1 position, SZ is about 4 points below, (So not significant, at least to me). The Jenn-Air of 2006 was "Way Ahead of it's Thyme". It offered conveniences and attributes that even most fridges today don't offer. It was one of the first to use the variable speed compressor, very quiet and efficient and great temp control. It has digital readouts and settings for 3 different areas of the fridge, (Meat Keeper, Chrisper and main compartment). It has a 4th digital readout and control for the freezer. It has crank up and down shelves---luv those, so handy when encountering a tall bottle or whatever! The fridge also has built in Diagnostics The disgnostics will check the speed of every fan in the fridge, it will check compressor speed, check the flap operation between the fridge and freezer, all in all about 31 diagnostic test~~~~~sooooo~~~~if I ever have a problem with the fridge, I should be able to pretty well "Nail down" which part is causing the problem and make sure the appliance repair company has it, BEFORE they come out and have a "Look SEE" as they do with most fridge repairs. So, great history lesson, but I think you have to (at the very least) split the JA Fridge from the JA cooking appliances to really see "The Whole Picture"! Unfortunately, today, 2014, it looks like Whirlpool may have removed a lot of the things I really like about my JA Fridge, The crank up/down shelves, The 3 different temp settings for different areas of the fridge, and I would bet money they removed the "Diagnostics" Too!! Gary

Consider upgrading to induction rather than continuing to use gas. This doesn't fully solve your problem, as you still have all the humidity and grease from your food. But it reduces it a little. At least you don't have to vent the hot combustion byproducts. Other than that, I am not sure what to tell you for a budget-conscious solution. Venting is expensive. If you can't easily vent to the outside, then a good recirculating hood can work. Unfortunately, the keyword is "good". There aren't many of those; most of them aren't much better than snake oil. The only recirculating hood that everybody seems to like is the VentAHood product. You'll notice that it has much more substantial filters than the competition. But unfortunately, that also costs a pretty penny. While you didn't mention an explicit price range, I suspect that the VAH is more than you are willing to pay at this time.