600 CFM should be sufficient. An overhead island hood will be much better than a downdraft.

Remember you are not venting combustion byproducts, nor heat from the cooktop itself. You will be venting steam and odors, for the most part.

Induction cooktops are used on submarines precisely because they do not emit their own heat or combustion byproducts. I assume they are not vented to the outside ;)
I bet you could do without ventilation altogether if you had to, but it would not be ideal.

Could the Electrolux be mounted to the SIDE of the cooktop? You'd be limited in your use of hobs, and cabinet configuration would require some thinking outside the box, but you'd have more room and flexibility in the placing of the unit. Would this work?

Losing valuable cabinet space underneath is also a factor with the downdraft. I just checked underneath my extremely weak 30 year old range hood, and there is not hardly a spec of grease. So that makes me think I dont need too powerful of a ventilation system. The DD sytem we are looking at is 500 cfm, with the capability of going bigger with an outside blower.
Also, we are opening up our kitchen, and its quite small, and we have beautiful waterfront and mountain views from inside our house. I dont really want to block that with an islnd hood, but we do want the "wow" factor with our kitchen.
Pecanpie, I have been in contact with Electrolux, and they havent been that helpful, but after many emails, they said "it wont work".

Are you using an appliance salesperson? If so, you could ask him or her. We are getting the Viking induction unit and the Viking downdraft. Our kitchen is part of a large open space and my DH does not want a hood. I know that goes against what most GW folk recommend (as does putting our induction unit in our island), but after lots of thought on this issue, we have concluded it's what's best for us. When we were looking at induction units (Diva, De Dietrich, Thermador, and Viking), the appliance folk had recommendations to go with each one. If you search "downdraft" on this forum, I'm sure you will find many previous discussions of downdrafts.

Well, why WON"T it work?

I'd like to have a reason- is it electrical, spacing requirements, what is it?

If Electrolux induction isn't compatable with an Electrolux pop-up, would you consider other brands? You have a powerful aesthetic incentive to leave your view unobstructed and use a popup vent. You may need to make your island cabinet deeper to accomodate the popup unit.

Brachl has found the Viking combo- research that and let us know.

Pecanpie.
The Electrolux people said simply"it wont work because it is a down draft, and it will blow down on the unit"??
We are now looking at a Broan DD. I liked the Electrolux, as I thought they would be compatible, and they claim something like 1600cfm on their DD.

That answer sounds very fishy. Some people with downdrafts have problems with gas burners because the downdraft will pull on the flames but with induction that shouldn't be an issue. If I were you, I'd call Electrolux and ask to talk to one of their techs to find out what the real story is. The person who emailed you may not be familiar with induction, sad to say.

OK - I went to the Electrolux web page to see what's up. You have to hunt around a little but in the installation manual for the downdrafts they have a chart (basically by size) which shows which downdraft fits with which GAS cooktop. So it looks like they only recommend their downdrafts for their gas cooktops, not their electric or induction cooktops. As I said before, this seems strange to me and I'd call them and ask to talk to a tech. Unless there's an issue with size or space, I don't know why their downdrafts wouldn't work with their electric or induction cooktops. If you do call them, please post the answer here - inquiring minds want to know.

weissman. Crazy eh. I too checked out the installation manuals. This is why I emailed. I will phone in the morning, and find out why they wont work???

I'm not sure how to do this politely but, if necessary, ask to speak to someone who knows what they're talking about. In my experience phoning customer support to get product information it's hit or miss, well, mostly miss, especially about technical issues.

If it's any help, I'm getting a Thermador downdraft (a hood wouldn't work in my space) for my induction cooktop. It rises highest above the counter (14" I think) to collect the grease and steam from cooking, and has an adjustable speed for flexibility.

Best of luck!

I just phoned Electrolux. They said a DD system wont work with their cooktop because the DD would block the "fresh air intake" which is located on the rear of the cooktop. Bummer. The search continues.

I'm assuming the "fresh air intake" is to keep the electronics of the cooktop from overheating. In that case you probably won't be able to use any downdraft behind the cooktop. I don't know if anyone makes down drafts that can be mounted on the side of a cooktop but it might be worth checking out.

I just phoned Diva (la provence???) and they said theirs would work with a downdraft. It even shows it in their installation instructions. They said it needs 1/4 inch from back of cooktop to downdraft unit. This makes me think that the Electrolux will work with a small amount of spacing for fresh air intake(?).

Don't do it. It would void your Electrolux warranty.

Different cooktops vent differently. Mine is a Brandt (a rebadged Diva- or vice-versa) and it vents from beneath. It sits flush on the countertop with only the thinnest of stainless strips around it- I can see where a pop-up vent would not draw from the area beneath the cooktop.

Thanks guys(and/or girls). I have contacted lots of people today, and am gonna go with the Diva induction. They say you can use a DD system with it !

Not to complicate your life further, but . . .

You might consider Heartland instead. I think the price is better ($2380 for the Heartland vs. $2830 for the Diva for the same product as far as I can tell) and they're throwing in a set of induction cookware.

Congrats, no matter what.

Here is a link that might be useful: Heartland induction

Gaggenau makes a side-mounted downdraft.

Pammo. Thank you. They sell Heartland close by, they look the same as Diva, and we need the pots as well. Plus cheaper !!
I love this website.

Let us know how you like it (and the cookware)!! It looks like a nice product.

I have an electrolux induction cooktop and was planning on using their downdraft ventilation system as recommended by a salesperson. Glad I saw this post. What if your island is deep enough to allow space between the cooktop and the ventilation system? Where are you finding a phone number to call electolux? I submitted a question by email and never heard a thing back.

Wendy. Electrlolux website, kitchen appliances, top of page, customer service, bottom of next page, contact us, there you have it.They emailed me back in minutes.
Good luck.

Just a thought -- your ventilation system will be much more important once you open up the kitchen to the rest of the house. When we took down our walls, I was surprised how the smell of whatever I was cooking permeated the house. It felt homey in the evening when I was cooking, but I hated smelling dinner when I woke up the next morning. We ended up putting in a 1400 cfm commercial-quality vent with an outside blower, and I think it is my favorite thing in the whole kitchen. I love being able to get a good crust on a thick steak without filling the house with smoke, and not smelling it the next morning with my coffee.

Good luck in any case!

you could also go with a Bosch induction. IT has the same poer levels as well a s a 12 inch buner for $2000.00 Looks nice. Don't know if it can have a dd though

I have the Viking 36" 6 burner all induction cooktop. I also have a Thermador downdraft. I had a Thermador previous to this one and it ran for 20 years without one repair, still is functional but it was part of an electric coil cooktop that I parted ways with when we did our renovation.

No problem whatsoever in having the two units together. And the downdraft does not take up much space below whatsoever, particularily if you get the motor that is exterior mounted. Even with it mounted under your induction cooktop unit, it will not take up much space at all.

Something is not right about the person who told you it will blow "down" on the unit? First of all, the downdraft ventilation units do not blow, they suck.

You can get downdraft ventilators with different "sucking" capacities too, and all of them will rise to different heighths when in use. You dont want one that does not rise high enough as then it will not be able to pull down as much steam, odors etc.

I'm looking at getting the Gaggenau 36" as it appears to be the same price as Electrolux and it comes frameless.

I'm also considering the new Gaggenau AT400 downdraft for my island installation. It's very expensive (would be most expensive appliance I get!!) but it fills the need. If your budget can handle it you should look into it.

I have an Electrolux induction cooktop and was told by electrolux I could install their downdraft ventilation as long as there was a 2 1/2 inch gap between the ventilation and the cooktop. I hope it works. The induction cooktop has ventilation slots in the rear so the downdraft can not fit flush up against the cooktop. The counter will have to be deeper than a standard counter or island.

Check out the worlds only integrated induction ventilated cooktop mabe by Western Premium www.westernpremium.com

Here is a link that might be useful: Western Premium Products