Put in a hood liner. Can't imagine why you'd want the grease, smoke and odors from your range traveling through the "whole house" and out through this ventilation system. The point of a hood really is to do exactly the opposite: to exhaust the smoke/grease/odor before they travel through the whole house! Otherwise, you end up with grease all over your countertops and cabinets, and your clothes and sofas smelling of garlic.

Seems particularly crazy not to put a hood liner in if you are already putting in a cabinet hood over the stove! It's so incredibly simple to add ducting for a hood when you're doing new contruction! I think it's absolutely ridiculous not to do so at this stage. You'll definitely appreciate the difference.

We've had posts in the past on this Forum where people have reported Builders recommending against a kitchen exhaust with its ductwork going to the outside. Usually because the builder doesn't feel like installing the ductwork, although it's not difficult. What Clinresga said is exactly on the mark. Please install a dedicated exhaust for your kitchen. And while you're at it, make sure your builder uses an 8" or 10" duct for the kitchen exhaust, which is what most good kitchen exhausts require. I myself am stuck with a 6" duct, and wish I had the luxury, like you have, of installing the ductwork from the getgo.

Also, while you're at it, have the builder install the kitchen duct with as few bends, and as short of a run to the outside, as possible. Like I said, you have the luxury to get the ductwork the way you want it, since you're still in the construction stage.

Out of curiosity I googled Venmar to see what their air exchange system was all about. On one of their pages they have a 3-D cut away drawing showing how the system circulates the air and one of the rooms in the illustration is the kitchen and over the range is a traditional vent hood! The other posters are right on target-get the hood; the Venmar system is no replacement for a range hood. But get a good one with at least 300 cfm blowers and an 8 inch duct to the outside. Since you are having a cabinet over the range, you will need a low profile hood, but go with a good brand not some builders special.

I absolutely agree with the above postings. You need a hood, or at least the venting to put one in. I would suggest a 600cfm hood if possible; if not, I'd certainly put in at least a 300 cfm unit.

Just a differing opinion on duct size. The OP clearly is not in the market for 1200 CFM. At 300 CFM or even 600 CFM, 8 or 10 inch duct is overkill. 7 inch duct would be more than sufficient and allows the use of garden variety hardware for everything. Even 6 inch would probably be fine at 300 CFM assuming there's nothing terribly unusual about the duct run.

If your builder does not want to do it, that might be a reason for you to consider having someone else do it. It suggests to me that he has had bad experiences and has had to go back to correct installations that were not done right. So now, he figures he'll stay away from the thing altogether.

I would discuss the issue with him and ask if he would consider subcontracting the job to a specialist.

Usually the HVAC guy is the installer for vent ducting. Hard to imagine why you wouldn't use them for your vent duct: running duct is kind of all they do for a living and can't imagine a half way competent HVAC crew having any trouble running a simple vent line. They have to be onsite anyway to put in the HVAC.

Thanks so much for all the advice. Makes perfect sense that I wouldn't want to be circulating my kitchen gunk throughout my house. The builder has actually already put in the ductwork to vent it outside. He just didn't think it was necessary to actually use it. I'm guessing that he's just as uniformed on this issue as I was prior to checking out GW.

Capecodcook - Thanks for mentioning what I should have done before - looking at the Venmar website - and them showing a range hood.

You have all convinced me that I need to get one. I think I was just hoping that I wouldn't need to spend any money on it. Now I just need to figure out which one. Feel free to offer up any suggestions. Has anyone used an Imperial Power Liner? Off to do more research...

Modern Aire with remote blower, we used Fantech FKD10XL and silencer and it's an absolutely fantastic combination with the MA liner. See my earlier posts with decibel measurements of the hood compared to our VAH.

Here is a link that might be useful: The real scoop on hood noise

I have a whole house HRV, but it doesn't move near enough air to substitute for a good vent fan.

I know: I did the burnoff in my bluestar oven today. My hood is installed but not wired, and the HRV-- with an intake near the range, btw-- didn't do the job.

It helped, but moves less air than the range hood, and it draws from every intake while it runs. In my case, that's 6 rooms including the kitchen. You balance the amount of air taken at each location by opening or closing the vent cover.

My personal feeling is that good air is key to a comfortable home, and a range vent is as important in that regard as an HRV. My goal is a house where the air is just as fresh indoors as out. Almost every house I enter has a distintive smell. Usually not strong or unpleasant, but there all the same, and a reminder that the air isn't being moved as it should be.