Are Kobe Vent Hoods still the quietest on the market?

14 years ago

I remember back 4 years ago when I re-did my kitchen, the Kobe vents were the quitest on the market.

I just took a look at what they currenlty offer and they still appear to very quiet, with their quiet mode being 380 cfm (1.0 sone).

This would be going over a Pro range, I'm currently leaning towards the Wolf DF 30".

Your feedback and comments would be much appreciated.

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Comments (18)

castironcook2
14 years ago
We just installed a 36" Kobe CH-77 over a 30" BlueStar rangetop, venting out the back with a very short run directly through an outside wall. (We bumped it out 2" from the back wall in order to get 24" depth and improve our capture area.)

The Quiet Mode is just a purr; we leave it on during dinner, to dissipate the heat remaining in those cast iron grates and to vacuum the air of cooking orders. Even when we have to bump it up to full bore (800 cfm) when Hubbest sears a steak, it's still quiet enough to hear the TV or to converse without shouting.
markbr
Original Author
14 years ago
I really figured that in 4 years there would have been more advances from competitors on the quiet sounding vents, I geuss not.

Appreciate the feedback.
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that is interesting about calling directly to place an order, and not online. someone mentioned doing this for purchases at galaxytools. off topic, but i called to place my order for a ticor sink and got a really nice guy to help me. not just nice, but knowledgeable and with authority (to make slight changes without having to get approval from a supervisor). anyway, i was shocked to find the sink at my doorstep this afternoon (less than a week after ordering). so, i agree with your advice, crazyhouse. i have not received my hood yet, btw. but it is scheduled for delivery tomorrow afternoon. i told the lady at the freight company that if the delivery is botched tomorrow, i'll cancel the order. preston, i looked back at the prices online for my hood (google shopping), and ventingdirect is only a few dollars cheaper than the next guy (naturalhome is quite a bit more expensive). knowing what i know now, i would pay the tiny bit more and go elsewhere.
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I had a VaH and was not a fan. To answer your question about cleaning, I always had to wipe, scrub, and scrape. Even if it was only a month or so between cleanings. The paint they use on the box likes to hold on to the grease. In fact, the paint started to bubble in a few areas after the first couple of trips to the dishwasher and I had to pry the paint bubbles off in order for the blower wheel to not scrape. Yes, it left exposed metal but I had no choice. Getting the box back around the hamster wheels was a challenge as well. Lots of fiddling involved. Have baffles now and love them. Clean them often because it's so easy. With regard to noise, current hood is about three times more powerful and has about the same noise level. Maybe even a bit lower now. That said, there are many here that swear their VaH are whisper quiet so your mileage may differ. Good luck.
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I may have failed to notice catinthehat's response of April17, 2018 because I don't see a response from me. Thanks for the link. Ria Raj: The fan curves by duct length can be converted, but either way don't tell the critical part of the story -- what is the pressure loss vs. flow rate of the hood with baffles in place? This pressure loss may be expected to dominate duct loss when using 10-inch ducts at the 1400 CFM blower's full power, even a 100-feet's worth. And that assumes no MUA pressure loss, which will certainly exist, even with a sophisticated active MUA blower system. I still recommend assuming a 2/3 of rated actual flow rate when all of the variables are not known, and using that value divided by the hood entry aperture area to achieve roughly 90 CFM/sq. ft. My asserted hood rule is: Overlap the cooking plumes to achieve good capture, get the velocity in the baffle gaps up to roughly the highest plume velocity, ca. 180 ft/min. (With induction one might squeak by with a bit less due to lack of a gas flame aiding the upward velocity of the plume.)
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darbuka wrote, in part: "Also, the way Vent A Hoods are constructed, you can go with fewer CFMs than other hoods, which affects how much make up air you’ll need." I would argue that this statement is misleading, at best. For adequate containment within the capture volume, the air flow velocity has to be sufficient to entrain the uprising cooking plumes and assure no spillage out of the hood. Although actual measurements of plume behavior with VaH hoods seems to be lacking in the kitchen ventilation data base, I see no reason why the achieved air flow volumetric rate and hence air velocity can be lower for the VaH hoods. I can imagine plume reflection effects in the VaH hood structure that might call for more velocity due to not having the baffle barrier to help trap the effluent once entrained. This implies that the achieved make-up air volumetric flow rate has to be the same for either system configuration, because the only mitigating factor -- the same for either case -- is house air leakage. And this will be small if the house air pressure is kept near that outside to assure safety. Where VaH shines (so to speak) flow-wise, is that it operates without baffles, and hence the blower sees less of a pressure drop due to baffles. When MUA is sufficient, and the duct length is short and adequate in diameter, the zero static pressure flow rating of the VaH blower can be lower than that of a conventional blower with baffles. This difference, I believe, is where the "equivalent" flow rate value that VaH touts comes from. However, given restrictive MUA, or worse than minimal duct losses, the squirrel-cage VaH blower loses performance faster than typical conventional blowers, so VaH hoods should be treated as having the performance their fan curve data specifies and not some comparative number when evaluating a specific configuration of hood, ducts, and MUA system. And a comment about what the OP needs: Strive for an actual flow rate of 90 CFM per square foot of hood entry aperture. This requires that the ordinate point on the fan curve corresponding to where the area times 90 value is located on the abscissa, be greater than or equal to the total pressure loss of moving air from outside to the kitchen, through the hood, and back outside. It can be easy with filtered passive MUA for the pressure loss to exceed that of baffles; in such cases VaH loses its advantage.
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sfjeff
14 years ago
There are quieter hoods, but not in the same price range. If you have the budget (and aren't stuck with Luxury Products as your distributor), Modern-Aire is well worth considering. Prestige and Independent may be worth looking at as well.

I was impressed with Kobe's offerings compared to their competition for not only less-annoyingly-loud sound quality, but also reasonable capture area and baffle filters. At the price, they seem to be an excellent option.
castironcook2
14 years ago
sfjeff, I also like our Kobe's twin impellers. One fan over each baffle (we have the 36" version) really sucks it up. Not to mention the beautiful seamless finish.
guadalupe
14 years ago
No manufacturer list any hoods with lower sones or db's then Kobe
markbr
Original Author
14 years ago
ok that's good to know, I guess I can stop looking at stick to Kobe, it's good to knwo that 4 years later after my initial purchase it seems that there is more awareness about KOBE.

Now all they have to do is improve their controls, I noticed on some models they did already. I rmemeber always fiddling about trying to get the right speed going, or getting the light on without the fan.
castironcook2
14 years ago
Markbr, we have no trouble running the light without the fan. We just have to remember to first hit the Power On button, THEN the light switch. LOL.
markbr
Original Author
14 years ago
yeah it probablt speaks more about my intelligence but seriously even after 3 1/2 years I still would screw it up, in fact I think on the newer mels they are improving the interface.

I know I'm not alone (there are other dumb people out there) because I was reading reviews from one of Kobe's affiliates that sells their hoods online and it was a comment that other people made.
christymoose
14 years ago
Markbr, I am in the market for a Kobe hood. Can you tell me what is the website where you read the reviews online?
Thanks so much!
markbr
Original Author
14 years ago
christymoose,

Check it out, look under at the specific Kobe vent and the one I looked at how a bunch of ser reviews.

http://kobe.ventingdirect.com/index.cfm?
castironcook2
14 years ago
christymoose, you'll find a lot of good information about Kobe hoods at thenaturalhome.com. Link posted below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Good info about Kobe hoods, also pictures
eandhl
14 years ago
I bought my Kobe hood from "the Natural Home". I am very pleased with the hood. I will say the Yellow Truck delivery they used was slow but it did come and I was warned it would be slow.
jaym2009
14 years ago
I have a Kobe hood on order, but I was hesitant because of its stupid controls. I would love to have lunch with the guy who designed them to get his rational.

How hard would it be to have an on-off button for the light, and a dedicated button for each fan speed + off? Anyone could figure that out.

I can guaranty you that my wife will never use the hood because of the controls.

But the price, performance, and looks justify it.

~Jay
castironcook2
14 years ago
The controls are electronic, and far less difficult than programming a microwave, imho.
eandhl
14 years ago
On my 176 there is one button for lights, one push and they come on high, another push and they are dim, one more and off. The button for the fan is separate, one for the power on and 4 for various speeds. To turn off fan, one push of the power button will stop it in 10 minutes, push it twice to turn if off immediately. It seemed a little confusing at first but once you are used to it, no problem.
markbr
Original Author
14 years ago
By the way, Kobe has started to roll out updates to their products which improve the light control, in fact some appear to be digital, even a remote to turn on the fan in some cases.
jaym2009
14 years ago
A remote controlled hood? Is it possible that they are making it even more complex?

What's wrong with a simple off-high-med-low switch like every other fan in the world?

Anyway, at the end of December I'll have one, so I'll know for sure. As long as it draws the smoke out I'll be happy.

~Jay
weav_2007
14 years ago
Jay,,,,,,,Did you get your kobe yet,and what do you think of it ????? I'm looking at modern-air,vent-a-hood ,and kobe....Thank you,Dan

Are Kobe Vent Hoods still the quietest on the market?

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Are Kobe Vent Hoods still the quietest on the market?

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