Have you considered a telescope vent?

Thanks for feedback.
Anyone else?

just leaving options open (depending on whether we buy or build).

We had our 5 burner Jenn Air JX3 (the newest) gas downdraft installed three weeks ago. Here is my unbiased review.

We love the profile; the grates are a perfect height, not too clunky, but high enough so you can see what the flames are doing. We love the layout of the burners. The knobs are high quality. The downdraft works much better than we anticipated. We had originally ruled out the downdraft because of slight pulling on the flame when we tried a showroom model. But, after months of looking at several possibilities, we went with the Jenn Air. (The cost was considerably less for us than if we had to go with a telescoping downdraft installation; my husband feared that a telescoping downdraft would stop working and we'd be stuck with a particular cut out in brand new counters; we pulled out an old oak hood that held a lighting fixture and fell in love with the openness and light so did not want to install a huge hood no matter how stylish; our cooktop is in a peninsula, and we did not want to change the footprint; etc. etc.)

We knew that we were making a ventilation compromise, but for our needs, the downdraft is actually working really well. If you sear sirloins on a regular basis, this probably wouldn't be the right choice.

Now, here is the downside (no pun intended). One of the igniters didn't work properly upon installation, and this created a gas odor. After a few days, the grate for the largest burner started to chip off large chunks of the enamel coating. And I mean large. After another few days, a chip appeared on the downdraft grate. After a few more days, the downdraft motor stopped working. It then started up again after we tried it about two hours later, and it has never presented a problem after the service technician came out and saw that our installer hadn't fulled taped the vent tubing. We fixed that, and it seems that the motor was working too hard because of this "hole."

The amazing part of what must sound like a real downer to someone reading this review is how incredibly efficient, fast and apologetic Jenn-Air's customer service has been. They immediately sent out a technician to replace the igniter. Problem solved. I already told you about the vent "hole" which the same technician returned to discover. Problem solved. They have send replacement grates which I have not yet used. Hopefully problem solved.

So, we hope that the worst just happened in one painful "Oh my God what piece of junk did we just spend $1,700 plus installation and gas line moving costs of $675 on" swoop, and that we will now just enjoy our really sleek, even cooking, multi btu'd and actually really fun cooktop.

Can I wholeheartedly say, "Oh yeah, you should go with the new Jenn-Air"? Well. . . . Only if you are a patient non-hysteric for whom the pluses will far far far outweigh the possible issues. We are, strangely enough, happy with our purchase now that the kinks have been worked out.

fringer - thanks for posting. I've seen so many less than positive remarks about the Jenn-Air downdraft. I'm having the same model as yours installed tomorrow and was in the same situation - cooktop in island, with existing downdraft (not telescoping) and I didn't want to re-do the island to accomodate it. I felt that for the amount and type of cooking we do (grill outdoors a lot) the Jenn Air was our only option. So I'm encouraged by your final paragraph and I think we will be pleased as well... will post again in a week or two to see if that remains the case.

Hi,

We're considering replacing our 23 year old Jenn-Air downdraft gas cooktop with the 4 burner JX3. We accept the limitations of the downdraft. We really liked our old cooktop and have heard varying reports on the new ones. Looking for experience on quality and functionality of the burners, igniters, etc. Any and all responses from those who have this model are very, very welcome.

thank you,

MJ

I've had the 30" Jenn-Air gas downdraft cooktop for about three years now. Like you, we had to replace our previous aging downdraft cooktop and chose to stay with the downdraft design----despite many dire warnings on this forum about doing so. However, it's what worked for us, and we have been completely satisfied with our cooktop. It cleans up well and still looks good after three years, and no problems to date.

We are building a new home and will be moving shortly. We designed our new home so that we have a ventilation hood over the cooktop, but we are still buying a Jenn-Air cooktop (actually all Jenn-Air appliances, except for the hood) due to our positive experience with our current Jenn-Air appliances.

Hi sail_away,

Love your name! Thank you for your response, this is very helpful. Another question, I noted the controls are on the side which narrows the cooking area;. is the cooking area large enough?

Thanks,

MJ

It is for me. However, our family now consists of 3 adults---DH, an adult multiply handicapped child, and me. I don't often make huge meals for big crowds anymore. And if I do have a group over, I usually tend to prepare things that can be made ahead and just finished off or that can be put in the oven before they arrive. So I'm not trying to get a bunch of pans on the stove at one time normally. Also, I chose the 30" in lieu of the 36" that I had in the past because I wanted the 6" extra of counter space more than extra burners. So, obviously, being able to fit a lot on the cooktop is not a big priority to me.

sail-away,

Thank you, again.

MJ