If the blower is going to be the same size then the larger hood will be quieter- it will be sucking air through a larger opening. If your range is 36" I would not go larger than 46". A 60" hood over a 36" range would look too oversized....

Thanks, Emilner, that's helpful about the noise being reduced with more baffle area.

It's a wood mantel-style hood, so you actually can't tell how wide the ventilator is...It's 70" wide, so whatever part of that 70" width doesn't contain the actual ventilator will be filled in with the stainless steel liner.

Thanks again :)

We have a similar setup with a hood liner hidden in a wood alcove. In this situation, I think the larger hood would be better. Couple reasons:
1) While there's a diminishing return, the wider a hood, the greater percentage of effluent you'll capture.
2) A narrower hood means you will have larger non-ventilated gaps on either side of the hood. This will presumably be finished with some kind of wooden panel. This in turn will collect any grease not captured by the hood. I'd much rather throw my baffles into a DW than have to bend over backwards to scrub the wooden panels.
3) I agree with Emilner that for the same cfm flow rate, the larger hood will be a touch quieter. The only real sound we hear with our hood is airflow through the baffles, and larger hood = lower flow rate = quieter. Realize though that if you overdo that, you'll compromise the effectiveness of the baffles, as they rely on high flow rates to capture grease/smoke particles. Too low a rate and they will lose efficiency.

Finally, did you consider a custom hood liner? It can be made to exactly fit your cabinetry, for a cost that is typically the same as a stock unit.

Hi Clinresga.

Thanks, once again, for your hood help! I've appreciated your assistance along the way. I've gone round and round with the contractor (nothing is as easy as it seems at first!) and ended up with the current solution.

Your points are helpful and well taken...I just have to ponder #3 a bit, as I'm not sure whether I'd be compromising the efficacy by causing reduced flow rates.

We're actually building the cabinetry, basically, around whatever ventilator I choose. However, for additional capture, I may want to go with something deeper (front to back) than what comes standard. In that case, it's good to know that custom liners won't necessarily cost a fortune.

Thanks again!

That's a generalization that may or may not pan out in the real world kitchen.

There are way to many variables to give a "rule of thumb" to someone shopping hoods.

doc - glad to see you back here.

Hi antss,

Thanks for the input. What would you recommend in my situation, 46" or 58" wide? It's a 36" AG range with griddle, ventilator will be 48" above cooking surface.

Always time to discuss ventilation!

"ventilator will be 48" above cooking surface. "

this will pose some issues.

best post a sketch of your floorplan and that elevation.

48" above the cooking surface? That would put it 7' in the air. Can you reach the controls for it or will they be remote mounted? The distance from the range is very far- it will probably cause issues with capturing the effluent...

Hello--

Yes, actually we're replacing a tiled archway--which serves as a hood, and was built around a tiny FanTech ventilator w/500 cfm inline blower, and kinked flexible piping. The current configuration has the ventilator 59" above the cooking surface. I've lived with it for almost 5 years. It's far from perfect, but served me alright.

The new mantel-style hood will be lowered to 48" above the cooking surface. It will house one of the Best by Broan ventilators--either 46" or 58" wide--with a 1500 cfm external blower, and hard piping.

So, I figure it will be a major improvement over my current setup, albeit not the 30-36" above that it should be. This is an aesthetic choice, BTW.

Oh, and yes--I can reach the controls, but will also install a remote switch.

Thanks again :)

I am by no means an expert as some of the others here are, but if you are determined to have the hood that high I would absolutely go with the widest hood you are considering. That is incredibly high for a hood and someone here will I am sure jump in to say that because the effluent will spread out sideways from the range then the higher the hood the less efficient the capture.

Good luck!

48" width will be more than large enough, from a functional perspective depth should be a major consideration when setting a hood 48" above the range top surface, having said that depth may not be what you are looking for from an aesthetics point of view.

Thank you Trevor, I am glad someone with expert knowledge corrected my thoughts!

trevor has it correct, the 48" vent will be fine and offer some ease of fabrication.

The depth is the key at that height. You are in effect placing the 36" wolf into a "hearth"

The 1500cfm BEST motor will be able suck up just about anything you throw at it.

If this is a newer home - meaning well insulated and sealed to air infiltration you will have to be certain to have a make up air system installed or that motor will cause a lot of negative air pressure in your house and you will definitely notice it.

Thank you all so much, antss, buff, trevor, and emilner! I'm placing my order tomorrow.

If I may...2 follow-up questions. My cabinetmaker came today and said he could easily do either the 46" or 58" ventilator.

1) Since the difference between the 46" and 58" is only a little over $100, would there be any reason not to go with the 58", just to gain the additional capture and possibly cut down on noise?

2) Your advice re: depth is duly noted.

The Wolf 36" is 27" deep. The Best by Broan ventilator is 22.5" deep. Is this a sufficient depth?

I asked him if he could mount it "forward", meaning out a bit towards the front of the hood, so it catches the smoke from the front burners. He said no problem.

I guess my alternative would be to look in to a custom ventilator, one that is a few inches deeper...but I don't know if this is necessary (if the standard 22.5" depth is sufficient).

Cannot thank you enough!! This has been so much easier with the help of so many kind GWers.

The unit is 22.5" deep. You can place it into a cabinet, ceiling , ect.. that is any depth. The unit you are looking at is just a glorified metal frame that holds some filters.

The motor/fan and the filters do the heavy lifting.

You definitely need to make the cabinet or soffit as deep or deeper than the range if it's 4+ feet above the range.

Here is a link that might be useful:

You really should consider the possibility of making the vent lower than 48 inches above the cooktop. There is a tradeoff between aesthetics and function, and you don't want to lose most of the function...

Billy

Commercial hoods are typically set at seven feet above the floor (four feet above the cooktop). However, as may be seen in acres of photos that may be found on the web, they have significant overhang of the cooking zone. The reason for this is that even without cross-drafts from moving air or moving people, the effluent cone expands conically. Effluent half angles (angle between vertical and the cone edge) range from 20 to 25 degrees, making the entire cone (truncated at the hot surface) about 45 degrees total. At four feet above the surface the effluent has expanded outward by four feet times the tangent of 22.5 degrees or about 20 inches. This is the distance from the pan or griddle edge that the hood should overhang, at a minimum, for capture at four feet.

kas

Thanks, Kaseki, that info is a huge help.