I have Monogram, but they're all pretty similar, and very simple. Jenn-Air and KitchenAid are Whirlpool, but they're almost identical to the Monogram which is GE. :) As far as I can tell the Jenn-Air and KitchenAid are completely identical to each other.

The moist/dry lever slides a piece of metal over or away from the vent holes. There is a hollow area between the inner surface and the front panel, whether factory or custom. I assume, though don't know for sure (where' Kas?) that the steam condenses in the relatively cooler hollow. On mine there are slits in the bottom of the hollow. Of course, that means that the moisture will be venting right into the drawerfront below, but there isn't enough moisture to matter for most things. It's really more about crisp vs. spongy. Sometimes you want one, sometimes the other. The air inside gets very dry. Retaining the moisture from the food for things that are supposed to stay soft could be important, especailly if they're held uncovered for quite some time. OTOH, venting the little bit of steam when you want crisp to stay crisp is really useful too.

It's not perfect. If your crisp thing is like a waffle, which is crisp on the surface, but still moist in the middle, it's not going to stay as crunchy as right out of the waffle iron. OTOH, if you have soft crackers you can recrisp them. They're not so moist that they'll soggify in their own dampness. Does that make sense?

It's really very similar to how there are some things that are moist inside, like crusty bread, that you wouldn't put in a plastic bag because it would get soft. That's the kind of thing that you don't want to seal in a closed up warming drawer either, so you open the vent.

I have a paneled KA. I never knew exactly how the vent worked considering the panel covers the front. Plllog, as usual, your vast library of kitchen-related knowledge floors me.

I did think about looking under my WD, but it's located under my double ovens. I know my noggin wouldn't fit under there to get a view. :)

LOL!! Breezy, what a picture! I just asked my cabinetmaker. :)

Thanks Pillog for all the info. So if I understand you correctly the hollow is in between the actual drawer and your panel and the moisture escapes at the bottom of the hollow?

Breezygirl are you happy with your KA and do you ever use the vent and does it seem to be venting without having to open the door?

Thanks again.

Yes, you got it right. That's the way it works on my Monogram. The hollow is formed by the interior panel and the edges that bend forward to attach to the exterior panel (the custom panel).

I assume the KA/J-A is the same, but do check it out for yourself before you buy.

Jenn-air and KA are exactly the same.. Same manual where you can see that they just did a find replace for words with typos on the same page :) I was interested in these because of the slow cook function. I ended up getting a GE because I got it on CL for a song. Note the depth of the unit, Dacor is slightly smaller front to back and the only one you can do a flush installation with if you have standard 24" cabinetry.

True. Most panel ready expect the cabinets will be 24" before doors, not including doors. They're generally made for 25" front to back (or the metric version thereof).