Vent hood on island..pix? love? hate?

13 years ago

I am sure this has been discussed, but I cannot find it using the search.

Bittersweet experience..we had hopes of building (we have finally relocated to our new area) and gave ourselves 6 months to rent and look around before we made the leap. We found a home we are planning to buy and are giving up the building dream. This new house is more than I had hoped for but of course, it is not the kitchen I would have picked. It is not bad, just not what I would have done. I digress...

We are debating if we should move the cooktop (electric) off the island (we hope to convert to a propane cooktop or rangetop) ..which may mean more cost to cut the granite tile counters and vent. Or, we could just replace the current cooktop and do a vent hood over the island.

If anyone has a vent hood on the island and loves it, can you post pix and shout out you like it?

I appreciate any pix/comments.

Thanks in advance.

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Comments (5)

prospect711
13 years ago
We are thinking about doing an island cooktop as part of our remodel so I shall be interested in the replies here!
mtnrdredux_gw
13 years ago
I assume you dont like the pop-up vents? When we bought our house the kitchen had that, but it also had radiant electric cooktop. We wanted gas, and I hear that those vents dont work well with gas as they distort the flame?

Anyway, a vent hood over the island may be costly to retrofit. Moreover, unless the kitchen is quite large, and with vaulted ceilings, I think the vent hood in the middle of a kitchen can be overpowering aesthetically and block sight lines.
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There are myriad posts about it here. Search on "kaseki" and "MUA" to find some in the Appliance forum. (The Kitchen forum is for marble vs. granite vs. soapstone, inter alia.) Here is a link to and image from a 2012 thread. There are earlier ones. http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/appl/msg0711051415510.html For a better understanding of what is going on with kitchen ventilation, I also recommend reading the first dozen of so pages of the Greenheck Guide: http://www.greenheck.com/media/pdf/otherinfo/KVSApplDesign_catalog.pdf We can start at some basic principles. One is that no air goes up the vent hood without getting into the house to begin with. Hence there is always make-up air, but it might be insufficient to meet all requirements. Another principle is that if moving air up the vent hood reduces the pressure in the house relative to outdoors, several undesirable things happen: - You may back\-draft combustion appliances (hot water heaters, fireplaces, etc.) and cause a safety hazard from carbon monoxide - You may pull outside air moisture into the walls - You may unbalance your heating system, if moving air based - You certainly will reduce the flow rate you are getting from the hood blower. I would prefer not to address your MUA options in the context of your architecture and hood until you have become familiarized with the issues and selected a hood and blower that meet your ventilation requirements. As to "why?" there wasn't information put in front of you, it may be that the people who should be advising you are ignorant of basic HVAC issues, quasi-informed but too lazy to delve more deeply to fully learn their trade, or not in the business of selling MUA system components.
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Wow, I'm very grateful to all of you who took the time to reply! Great to see your pictures, too. Some responses (if you're interested), now that I've finally been able to go through: Sammy and The Kitchen Place are correct that we could put it in the upper above the dishwasher — that's the only upper that is the right size that wouldn't block other cabinets. (Thanks for the pictures, The Kitchen Place!) I was intrigued by nidnay's idea of bumping into the bedroom closet, but that closet is filled with custom cabinetry so it would be a huge project to put the microwave there.If Icould put a Miele microwave (/speed oven) in an upper cabinet, I'd try for that, but of course our uppers are only 13" deep and the Miele opens down, so not workable. My better half is against mounting a "normal" microwave in an upper cabinet (he thinks in that case we might as well go OTR, and that it will pull away from the pretty stove/hood that's the whole reason for this conundrum). (ci_lantro questions the whole premise of opening the kitchen. Others in our building have done it and it makes a significant difference in the feeling of the whole unit—we're confident it's the right move, long term.) Helen, HU-41121833, Buehl, Interior Concept, RTHawk and others: Thanks for saying good things about the Sharp microwave drawer. nidnay, thanks for your criticisms of it, too! The slimline microwaves are attractive too! Unfortunately induction sounds great, but not in the cards for us. I do believe everybody who says we need something more powerful than a microwave fan — the Vent-A-Hood system does look quite good. kaseki, thanks for your hood comments. pittsburrito, I hear what you're saying about external ventilation. There is a small vent in the kitchen and windows in the living room, so we try to be careful. Thank you all! Still not sure what we'll do, but I'm grateful for all the advice on the Houzz forums.
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Buehl
13 years ago
My experience is that downdrafts are not worth the money, even telescoping...they're only marginally effective for pots and pans sitting right next to them and a few inches shorter than the vent. Anything else (farther away, taller) and they're useless.

I strongly recommend going with an overhead rangehood...even if it is more expensive and interrupts your view. With an overhead hood, you will get good venting if it's sized appropriately...at least 6" wider than the cooktop, at least 24" (preferably 27") deep, and strong cfms (at least 900). Why? Because there are more and stronger air currents in the middle of the room than against the wall that will more quickly "grab" and spread smoke/grease/odors/etc. throughout the room. Additionally, you have no wall to help corral the smoke/steam/odors/etc. so you need to be sure your hood is big enough & strong enough to capture the effluent as it rises and spreads. I really don't think you'll regret getting an overhead hood...functionality-wise.

Of course, your idea to move the cooktop to the perimeter is an even better idea...easier to vent, less expensive to vent, and no "view-buster". Remember, only 10% of the time spent in the kitchen is spent cooking, so put that task on the perimeter and move the Prep Zone (70% of the work/time) to the island so you can enjoy the company and view!
Buehl
13 years ago
BTW...the need for venting is not determined by the type of fuel used, it's determined by what & how you cook. Although, some will argue there are additional considerations with gas b/c of fumes...I don't know if that's true today as I haven't used gas (other than at my mother's) for many, many years.
funfarm
13 years ago
We are putting an island vent hood in over a 36" gas cooktop. It is in the middle of our kitchen, but the height (66+") and the model/style (Zephyr Milano with glass canopy) makes me worry less about it being an obstruction - downdraft was not an option I considered for very long. The alternative would have been placing the cooktop in the peninsula with the vent hood over top of that. We lived with cupboards above that peninsula for years and are very excited about opening that up to the dining room. A vent hood there would have been more of an obstruction than the one over the island.
Depending on the type of cooking you normally do, the size of your cooktop and the power and design of your rangehood, you may be able to fudge a few more inches of height for your hood (e.g. go to 68" - 69"). If you're not overly tall and your hood isn't monstrous, I don't think it would be much of an obstruction.
Ours is not up yet. Once it is, I'll chime in again and give my impressions.

Dean

Vent hood on island..pix? love? hate?

Comments (5)

prospect711

mtnrdredux_gw

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