Every time I use the stovetop, and sometimes while baking. Never have had any issues with cold air coming in like dianalo described--might there have been something wrong with the way hers was installed?

A little background info...

We lived in our house 12 years before our recent kitchen renovation. We had NO ventilation for those 12 years. This 1926 house never had it, so all the grease from years of cooking with ventilation was OURS to deal with.

We moved our new range and refrigerator to an outside wall to turn our kitchen into an L shape and so that we could get a Wolf range and proper ventilation for it.

In the old kitchen, we would smell our fish/indian/whatever we cooked dinner for literally DAYS after we cooked it. In the new kitchen we always run the hood whenever we are cooking (oven and range top) and we never smell anything, ever.

And when I'm baking, I usually turn it on because if I don't the glass backslash gets all sweaty and that kinda bothers me.

So, I'm a big fan of ventilation. And I think it's very important.

If it creates steam, smoke or a significant amount of heat I use it (so, probably 90% of the time I cook). Tonight I was making ham and bean soup at the same time I was making tourtiere (French Canadian meat pie). I was using it because the soup created a lot of steam and I was simmering the meat mixture for the pie. Incidentally, DH was in the back yard using the grill and he said it smelled wonderful out there!

Whenever cooking on the cooktop, it's on. Baking, only if I burn something, or the cooktop is in use at the same time. DH leaves it on for several minutes after cooking, too.

After years with a downdraft that brokedown and then had no ventilation for years, I can't believe how much cleaner the kitchen is with ventilation! I really hated washing walls and ceilings. And no lingering smells next morning!

The back stairs leading to my bedroom are around the corner behind my kitchen. If I don't use my vent, cooking smells migrate up there, and the smell of garlic pizza is not pleasant at bedtime!

The mention of smells lingering for days reminds me: Every time I hot-saute peppers with curry powder without fail (except the first time). And, the stairs up to our bedroom are just around the corner too. :)

Even if you don't mind the smell of food, the amount of heat that can be removed is significant.

In my old place, we switched the location of the range because there was another exterior vent location in the kitchen. This one was apparently passive, and was connected to a passive vent in the powder room. (Which also had an exterior vented exhaut fan--strange system). When the range hood was first put in before the vent was blocked to the bathroom, the heat and fumes took the path of least resistance and blasted into the powder room. The temperature in that small powder room would be close to 100 and very humid.

Everytime my husband cooks! LOL That's because he does most the cooking and he actually uses spices, seasonings and makes yummy things! :-) My sense of smell is so good that I drive my family insane. So very happy to finally have a good vent!

Every time. Old kitchen had Jennair Downdraft which vented into garage. Did not work all that well but was amazed at how much "smell" went into the garage, which would have been in the house if not for the vent.

Having a better vent (that vents outside) was one of the primary drivers for re-doing the kitchen. I'm dying to use the new Blue Star but am waiting til the new vent is installed.

It's the grease!!! Cooking smells are one thing - they bother some people and not others but if you don't use your vent you will get grease all over your kitchen.

We use ours a lot. And by the amount of times I take down the baffles and throw them in the d/w due to the amount of grease/oil captured, I'm glad we have ours and use it.

On a side note, we replaced our smoke detectors recently in our house. (Turns out even the wired ones even have a life expectancy-who knew?) If someone forgets to put that fan on, the new smoke detectors (located in the hallway, not kitchen) are set off so easily, they are very sensitive I guess.

Ours is a 1200cfm external motor. At the time of the reno, my dh thought it was overkill, but not anymore.

Just about every time something is being cooked in oil or browned.

If you can see smoke you are spreading grease all around the house.

We do not normally use it for just boiling water though.

A little humidity helps in the winter.

I am constantly using my vent. If I turn on my stovetop, the vent goes on as well.

I use it for all cooking and whenever I cut onions so my eyes don't water. (I have a flat cooking surface and cluttered counters so I work under the hood a lot.)

I forgot. The Crockpot goes under the hood. I don't think the Crockpot makes a lot of badness in the air, but I can't sit around smelling something good all day. I have issues with waiting.

sayde - it shouldn't vent into the garage, fumes from your car can certainly get back into your house!

I use ours every time I cook. It was great for the holidays and really dissipated the heat too. When we had our final inspection, the inspector noted how he doesn't see that many range hoods that really vent anywhere.

If it's getting cold in the house, there is def something wrong.

Most of the time. Biggest problem is, as noted above, starting it before the bacon gets sizzling in the pan.

In old kitchen I rarely used hood while baking (exhaust came up through calrod burner and I just used that spot as a warming surface and ignored moisture), but with new smooth surface range I can really see the steam exhausting from back of unit and I realize how much moisture some recipes generate in oven. Yesterday, with a major slow cook oven project, I had my vent on low much of the day. Yes, crockpot now goes under the hood more often. Goal is to reduce condensation on windows in cold winter.

I am delighted with the "turn off in 10 minutes" feature on our hood. The vent doesn't stay on for hours inadvertently.

Every time I use the cooktop, except sometimes if I am boiling water and the house has been dry (e.g., in winter when the heat dries out the air in the house).

Weissman wrote: "It's the grease!!! Cooking smells are one thing - they bother some people and not others but if you don't use your vent you will get grease all over your kitchen."

I second that. I use my vent every time I cook anything other than boiling water. When I sautee, I only use 1-2 tsp. of oil, so it's a very small amount of oil, and I rarely cook bacon, and primarily cook "low fat" meat. So I didn't think I generated much grease.

I just cleaned the baffles of my vent and was amazed at how much grease had collected there. This showed me what a critical function this vent performs, in addition to keeping cooking smells out of the house.

For those of you with significant blowers in your vent (i.e. 600-1200 cfm) -- do you have any kind of makeup air system?

Wow! I am in the minority here, but I bet if you asked non-GWers, I'd be in the majority.
In the winter, I am happy to cook and keep the "extra" heat in the house. I especially am glad when boiling to let some steam help humidify the dry air.
In the summer, I cook on the grill and use the micro as much as possible and make cooler weather dishes. If I cook on my stovetop then, I'll use the inefficient vent, but often wonder how much it is helping. We do have a whole house fan which is on most of the summer (very rarely use a/c).
I don't cook with a lot of grease or oil and if I have to make bacon or chopped meat, I usually do it in the oven on a cookie sheet. I don't think I am kicking a ton of grease into the house.
As I said, I may change my tune when my new super duper vent hood is in, but I don't think I will be doing it every day in the winter. I love the smell of most food and when dh comes home and dinner is on, he walks in with a smile on his face. Pulled pork in the crock pot is a welcome smell to come home to for me....

And, no matter how much make up air you have, you are venting out heated air and bringing in new air. While you may have a system of heating the new air, it is still sending out heated air and re-heating the new stuff. I try to keep the benefit of cooking in the winter, like a hot oven, and think it is efficient to let the house be warmer for it. If I were to saute a lot of garlic, then I may vent for a moment or 2, but we don't hate the smell of the food we are eating usually....

DITTO Weissman!! I can't believe how gross the filters get! I am very happy mine go in the dishwasher every week - no wonder my old cabinets were so sticky all the time! YUKKKKK

Instead of using our vents I guess we could all switch to foods we like the smell of.

Now that we have a gas range and a good hood that is actually vented to the outside, we use it every time we use the burners or oven.

One unexpected feature of venting the food cooking odors outside is how nice it is to get out of the car in the driveway and smell the odor of fresh bread baking. My dh often comes in after work with the comment that "smells like something good for supper!".

daily

Dianalo my story is the same as yours...summer=grill, winter we'll take the extra heat. My home is older which means plenty of ventilation (read drafty) and the kitchen is rooms away from the main living area.

Just to be sure I just examined my stove area and found no tackiness anywhere, albeit a few splashes of tomatoes from yesterday's spaghetti sauce! =) No stickiness on my cabinets either but I do wipe them down with a steamer occasionally. Very interesting...

For those of you with significant blowers in your vent (i.e. 600-1200 cfm) -- do you have any kind of makeup air system?

Yes, I crack the window that is about 5' away. I am usually so hot standing at that stove cooking whatever is generating the smoke, I love it.

We only use the vent when stir frying or other high heat cooking, never for using the oven, it has never occurred to me to put the vent on when just using the oven. We're in NNY and we, too, will take all the extra heat we can get in the winter, I hate to see heat and humidity going up the vent when we can use it in our house (wood heat = dry air).

I have to confess, our vent has been in just about a year now (March) and I've never even looked at the filters, let alone cleaned them. But, cleaning is not high on our list of fun stuff to do, and we certainly don't go looking for things to clean.

I realize we're in the minority here on GW, but agree with dianalo that the rest of the world isn't nearly as vent crazy as GW'ers.

sandyponder

there was no vent in my old kitchen, but at our previous house I would use it if I were browning meat or cooking anything with oil. Occasionally if I were boiling water and also using the other buners, just to clear the air and the heat since I was right by the stov.

I decided to get a 400 cfm OTR microwave/vent for this kitchen. I won't use the vent daily and I wanted the extra space. I don't mind wiping the cabinets and m/w done and I think for our cooking habits it'll be plenty strong.

If I weren't on GW I would never have given any thought to the stength of the fan. I did get a great deal on this one so that was good enough for me :)

I use mine whenever I cook onions and/or garlic, which is pretty often. Also when using high heat (searing or stir-frying). I don't bother when simmering soup or cooking eggs or pasta. If roasting meat in the oven at greater temps than 400F, I might get smoking that needs to be cleared. Since I installed the vent, I've almost forgotten I have a smoke detector. I'm in a cold winter zone, so extra heat and steam is most welcome. I have a heated make-up air system (code required) for my 600cfm unit.

i am putting new kitchen soon. never had a vent in old kitchen-do not fry much, if at all. not able to put a vented hood to outside in. Have heard that if it cannot be vented to outside it is not worth putting in. Anyone know about that. I think it would be better than nothing.

Only on GW did I learn that it is necessary to have a vent powerful enough to suck a golf ball through a garden hose. Some range manufacturers recommendations are fairly low for a typical range. I do think a recirculating vent is better than nothing, the filters do trap grease.

Every time I cook.

every day. Whenever cooking. Except if it's a simple omelet without onions or peppers.

I use mine almost daily when I cook dinner but I admit -- in the winter, I hate to see all that wonderful heated air get sucked out of my house. My kitchen (addition) is usually cold in the winter so I always use the leftover oven heat as an axillary heater!

PS: I have a Zephyr hood -- instructions say to wash the filters in the dw -- I do, but they are still "tacky" -- any advice for getting them really clean??

I have been cleaning my baffles for almost 5 years. I do mine every Sunday. We stir fry a lot so they get really greasy , my hood really sucks :)

I use degreaser spray. I do one and lay it in the sink then the next one and then the last. I let them stay stacked for a few minutes to let it work. I then use a soft pastry brush and quickly go over each slat. Takes a few minutes . I then rinse them under very hot water. They look new every time. The whole process takes about 10 minutes. I never put them in the dishwasher. They are so large that I have to take out the top rack and then run it with only them and a few other things in the bottom. By the time I mess around doing that....and you still have to use the degreaser and a light brushing if you really want them clean, I am way faster with my hand method.

Hope this helps....BTW I use Greased Lightning. c

"For those of you with significant blowers in your vent (i.e. 600-1200 cfm) -- do you have any kind of makeup air system?"

A 1935 house leaks enough it is not a problem.

How often should I be cleaning my vent?

For cleaning our hood filters, I remove them from the hood, place them in the sink, spray both sides with Dawn Power Dissolver (gel spray), let sit a little while (15 min???), "scrub" (w/ blue scrub sponge), rinse well w/ hot water, dry, and pop back in.

Hardest part is locating the Dawn Power Dissolver in stores!

Wow. I'm currently in the category with Dianalo and Sandyponder. Our last house had an OTR microwave, so our vent wasn't to the outside. I rarely used it and (Lord forgive me) never cleaned it the whole 12 yrs we were there.

However, we just built a new house, and the kitchen now sports a GE Monogram gas rangetop and proper, outside vent. I've turned it on when sauting, frying, or browning meat, but rarely for boiling pasta, etc. I usually use the low setting when I do use it. I don't mind the house smelling like good food. I'd never use it for the wall ovens, nor for the crockpot. Guess I need to reconsider my usage when using the rangetop.

Off to check the condition of my filters!

I use the hood whenever I'm cooking. My husband often comes home at night and tells me that it smells like a restaurant outside. :-)

Cj

"For those of you with significant blowers in your vent (i.e. 600-1200 cfm) -- do you have any kind of makeup air system?"

We have 1600 cfm and no make up air. The kitchen is open (no doors) to 4 other rooms on the 1st floor and hallways and stairs to the 3rd floor. This is about 1500 sq ft plus 24 windows and 4 doors. Typically 7 more rooms are don't have their doors closed either. Oh - we have an 1825 house so it really "breathes".

We use the vent all the time. In our old kitchen with the recirculating fan it took me awhile to figure out how all this dirt was collecting on the exposed interior brick. Yuck - grease and dirt!

Hmmm. I can't use the vent because we stuffed it with plastic bags to keep the cold out!

Rarely, if ever, fry, and there is no grease on walls or cabs. But I will only cook fish, and even then rarely, on the grill outside. It's not great but I buy fish and have them steam it at the market.

I used to broil a lot and did have fat fires but not anymore.

Getting an otr with outside vent and we will have to put a lot of new insulation in our 50 year old house. In the minority, again. sigh

I bake bread and the house smells good.

I bought this place with a broken kitchen vent hood and I peeled grease off the surfaces with a wallpaper scraper and it peeled up in curls of solid fat. The kitchen actually smelled like old grease until I demo'd it. However, one of my clients rarely uses her hood, and after several years, very little grease. I guess it depends on how you cook, and how good you are at wiping up after. (The floor has been refinished and it still smells like cats on a humid day, so I think the previous tenants lacked all around housekeeping wise).

I have two polished stainless baffle filters that just fit into the DW, one on the top rack, one on the bottom rack.

The 'up' side usually requires a wipe to remove any spots, but if I remember I put the 'show' side facing down.

Not as often as I'd like. It is the one feature of the kitchen I'd like to change. It is LOUD. Effective, but loud. I think I need to have the venting redone, but have put it on the back burner.

Every time I CAN'T cook something because I don't want to SMELL it for days & days & days.... (seared scallops, seared medallions of anything, bacon, thai, indian, etc., etc.).

Planning a simple 42" Vent-A-Hood 600 CFM wall-mount positioned over a 36" 6-burner Viking rangetop in the new build...window to the left with a view of the herbs, birding area, personal orchard, or moonrise in the southeast.... am almost excited.....

"For those of you with significant blowers in your vent (i.e. 600-1200 cfm) -- do you have any kind of makeup air system?"

Do the 2 DS who frequently leave the back door open count?

I use the cascade complete packs and my filters don't come out tacky, I also use white vinegar as my rinse agent.