Who figured out your kitchen ventilation needs and when?

11 years ago

I'm posting this on the kitchen forum so as to hear from you great remodelers and experts about planning for kitchen ventilation.

When in your kitchen remodel cycle was the cooking ventilation determined and by whom? Before you ordered cabinets? Sounds like a dumb question, but I'm a tad stumped right now on our old venting and could use a little help.

I've done my crawling around and know I have a 3"x 20" rectangular vertical ventilation up the back interior kitchen wall which makes a 90 degree turn prior to the ceiling and ultimately changes to a 10" round duct run before the 1000 cfm external fan/blower about 20' away. What I don't know is when the rectangles change to circles.

All the pro vent hoods (24" to 27" deep) seem to have a 10" round duct from the top or back of hood itself. None have the 3" x 10" (two were joined in our case) older configuration. I've got this square on the back wall or maybe a large circle from 3" x 10" adaptors, but until things come down I will not know for sure. I posted my specific information on the HVAC forum on a thread "may I close off a 6" duct" btw. In that thread I give the specifics of my over the cooktop ventilation.

I am getting a 36" pro range (96K BTU)and will buy a 1000 to 1200 cfm external fan/blower integrated to the canopy style wall range hood. But I'm seeing 10" circles from pro range hoods, not rectangles

Should I hire an HVAC consultant to come in and look at the decades old ventilation arrangement since it impacts cabinetry placement and order or did you just order your cabinets with your KD knowing this would be determined eventually and wait until the HVAC person your GC got on board to address this issue? Can most kitchen vent hood issues be worked out by licensed HVAC person?

Thank you for any advice and comments. I don't like unknowns, especially when planning a kitchen remodel budget.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hvac thread link:

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Comments (4)

jakuvall
11 years ago
As a KD I typically make sure what the ducting should be and if and how the hood can vent out. Sometimes the solution requires adjustment to the cabinets.
gwlolo
11 years ago
In my remodel, I did as none of the other pros were into it. My kitchen cabinet guys did not care as long as they knew what the gap was. My GC felt something simple would suffice. I knew how I cooked and I researched it here with the help of the experts in kitchen and Appliances and decided what would work for me.
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Hi - this thread is a little old now so this might be too late, but I have some related Qs even after reading all this helpful advice. I'm starting gut reno of a 120+ year old townhouse in NYC and plan to install 36" bluestar with 2, 22K BTU burners (in addition to other smaller burners of course) which we'll use primarily for stir fry. We HATE grease smell in the house and cook all the time, so want to get what we need for the stove we have. So I'm fine getting major CFM, if that's what it takes, but my concern is the ducting. It seems we have 2 options - up an existing chimney (which we're having relined and is not used for fireplaces; fireplaces were all sealed up decades ago) - but that would be 3 stories or about 50 feet needed to get to the roof and I wonder if that's too far for it to function properly...2nd option would be to bring it down into a soffit on the floor below (a rental apartment that already has a dropped ceiling) and vent out of the exterior wall, but this would require making a new hole in our masonry, and would mean the venting would be just outside our kitchen, under a french door that we're likely to want to open often while we're cooking - so the smoke could in theory end up back in the kitchen, no? I am by no means an expert so forgive me if I'm totally off base here, but any thoughts/advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!
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If you use lisa_a's with 2 entrances to the pantry it may just vent itself easily as I'd imagine the pocket entry door to it from the garage may stay open or ajar frequently. You could possibly fit it in the bump back to match the entrance stairs. Fridges in garages are pretty common around here but we have more issues with freezing temps than overly hot. Otherwise I'd put it in that spot in the garage where the writing says small appliances for inside the kitchen. That's not far of a walk at all.
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Kudos to you for having a budget and a sense of your needs/priorities. My guess is that Sub Zero and Wolf are not going to be in the running for you. That's OK. You'll still end up with a great kitchen. You can get a perfectly fine ~25 c.f. french door fridge for about $1200 (with no in-door water/ice) - $2000 (with in-door water/ice). Possibly even cheaper on sale. A 5-burner 36" cooktop will be significantly roomier than a 4-burner 30" range - as you point out, it's not so much the number of burners going at once that's key, it's the ability to have larger pans not touching. Upgrading to a rangetop would add at least $1000 to the tab, so.... Also, you might consider getting a portable induction burner (under $100 works fine) as a backup/extra cooking spot. Don't forget to budget (maybe $1000) for a range hood. You might have to compromise quality of steel (20 guage vs 18) and decibels to get to that price. Cannot tell you what Make Up Air will cost - depends on contractor/ducting cost. You could have a double oven setup with micro/convec on top, convec on the bottom. KA, Bosch offer these, maybe others as well. Check Kenmore? Otherwise, look at a KA or Whirlpool double oven, and a countertop microwave. A drawer micro is $1000 and up - seems like a splurge to me, but you might decide it's what you want. You can get a perfectly fine DW for $600. Look at Bosch, KA (helps to find them on sale). Finally, once you get a sense of which models you like, you can look around for some good deals on clearance/floor models/dents/open box. I was able to put together this package for about $8000 Whirlpool 25 c.f. French Door frig Bluestar 36" cooktop Kobe 750 c.f.m. range hood Bosch 800 speed/convec double oven 2 x KitchenAid KDFE 204 Dishwashers
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User
11 years ago
You kinda have to be on point on this. A lot depends on what type of cooking you do and with what type of range. That sets the baseline for the needs. Your range or cooktop manufacturer will have recommendations that should be followed in order to comply with code as well. And, when you need to move enough air, that involves figuring out make-up air as well.

Once you figure up how much air needs to move, then you need to figure out what route that air needs to take. That could be as simple as straight through the roof, or as complicated as straight up, 90 degree through the top shelf of some cabinets to another 90 to go through the back corner of the master closet on the second floor and then through the attic and roof. If it's not simple, that's when you involve the HVAC people for the route and the ducting needed. And you hire the best, because make-up air is still not that understood by many in the trade and you get lots of folks who just scratch their head and grunt at you when you mention it.

After the how much, and where's are figured out, then you get down to the specific models and the look of the whole thing. Your own personal aesthetic and budget will be the main limiting factors there, so again, it's best if you are in the drivers seat on this, even if you have a GC or KD. Just be sure that you are in communication with all about the different aspects.

That's the ideal situation. But for people who don't want to be as involved, they usually just pay the GC extra to be sure that it's part of their supervisory responsibilities. Then it's up to the GC and KD to coordinate the nitty gritty.
SparklingWater
Original Author
11 years ago
Thank you very much. We do a lot of range top one pot cooked meals plus fish, veggie or chicken stir fry and occasional seared steak for dinner. Southern ham, roasted chicken, turkey go in the oven. Up to now we've always had to broil outside as we don't have an indoor one. I do like to bake in moderation and look forward to resuming bread making.

I've had the advantage of a 1000 cfm blower for many years and will not go with less. Our house is not tight and I've not noticed any serious pressure difference with the vent on full blast. Still, while code is mum I am planning on installing the Broan make up air damper too.

One idea that came to me is after the soffits come down, the back kitchen wall ventilation aperture (be it a square or a circle) might be customized to the shape needed for the specifics of a new vent hood duct with extenders by a metal worker or the HVAC team.

I've taken down the trim above the current cabinets below the soffit and peered under and taken notes. Just see duct metal and one braided electrical so far. Our bathroom plumbing is not in this area of the house nor in the rooms above. I will probably drill a small hole in the soffits soon and take a better look just to be sure there's no huge surprise.

live wire oaks, thanks for the tip about Pro Source btw. I'm going to check our regional ones out for cabinetry.

Who figured out your kitchen ventilation needs and when?

Comments (4)

jakuvall

gwlolo

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Who figured out your kitchen ventilation needs and when?

Comments (4)

jakuvall

gwlolo

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