This site is more about function than form. Most people don't do island cooktops for functional reasons as it's really difficult to do correctly with the needed amount of space. Of those that do island cooking, they generally use overhead venting. Downdrafts are also more about form than function. Attempting to go against the laws of physics by sucking naturally rising steam, heat, and smoke downward isn't nearly as effective as capturing what rises and ducting it out.

I realize that, but in my situation we have no choice. I can't have an overhead vent, and my husband hates them even if we could. He is 6'4'' and the height they are meant to be mounted ends up being in the way for him. Exterior walls have lots of windows and doors to contend with, so big island it is. Just trying to make the best of what works in our house. thanks though :)

Hi ali80ca,
I'm one of the few on here that find an island cooktop and downdraft suit us perfectly. I love being able to look into the family room/dining room while cooking, and we put the sink on the exterior wall to take advantage of the windows. The cooktop is a 36" Electrolux Icon and the downdraft is a Broan. I'm sorry I don't have the specs and sizes, but the motor is under the island and vents through the crawl space to the outside. I have room for a utensil drawer and a double cabinet under the cooktop. I also have more cabinets than drawers- I'm surprised they still let me post on here!! :) Oh, and I have a raised bar, too! Gasp! That was a function over form decision to hide the cooktop, for safety, and to hide the stuff on the couters. If I had a flat island, I couldn't stand to have stuff on it.
Good luck with your project!

I did have a Thermador telescope vent - it worked perfect on back burners. For the front burners I tilted a lid on pans with a spoon across the pan to direct steam and that worked. I miss my island cooking that I had for about 30 years. If you go with a telescope get one of the tallest and good motor. They are not as good as an overhead vent but I found it was a big improvement over my old JennAir.

Thanks Angel...your kitchen is beautiful...for such a radical :) Function is different for everyone...what is functional for me isn't for everyone else. For example...lots of people adore pantrys with rollouts...we are too lazy to pull them out so everything just gets shoved back...so in this kitchen we aren't doing that. I also will have my sink on the window wall, taking advantage of the view. The island will be large, so its not like we will be limited by lack of space for safety.

eandhl...we don't have a vent at all right now (except for the natural venting though uninsulated walls...lol) so anything would be an improvement. Listening to my husband curse when he hits his head on the corner of an overhead vent wouldn't be fun for either of us! Anyway in order to find a wall that I could put a vent against would end up with me stuck in the corner...or in front of a window, which I wouldn't want.
Thank you both :)

Angel...I really like your curve above the window...it looks very nice!

Thanks! Here is a better picture of the arch over the window. It came about because I couldn't have cabinets go all the way up to the ceiling (10 foot ceilings) and didn't want my cabinets to just hang on the wall. So we designed sort of a soffit turned arch over the window.

We had a Thermador with the telescoping vent for 27 years. As eandhl said, it worked fine with the back burners, and also center grill/griddle. I think many on GWs experience has been with the Jenn- Air type of downdraft that truly was worthless. This was ours just before I started our makeover which I recently finished. As I recall, the top drawers were limited to about 16" deep, and the pullouts in the cabinet below were probably around the same, maybe a little less. All our Thermador appliances lasted the full 27 years and were still working, but getting tired, and kitchen needed a freshen up...

ctycdm...thanks! I could live with 16" drawers. What did you do for countertop when you freshened up the kitchen?

Since you asked, and I love showing it off ;) ...Soapstone on the counters and backsplash, and 2-1/4" thick Mesquite on the upper bar tops. We now have a range on the end of the peninsula, which is another GW no-no, but I love it! Good luck with your re do!

This post was edited by ctycdm on Wed, May 15, 13 at 10:17

ctycdm...I am planning on soapstone too. I love the functionality of it and not having to worry about it despite the warnings about oil upkeep. It is easier to enjoy a kitchen when you aren't worrying about burn spots! The world would be rather boring if everyone on GW had exactly the same kitchen :)

Although it is not installed yet, we will be replacing our 1984 jenair in the island with a 36 inch induction and a telescoping downdraft. I love having the cooktop in the island! I like not facing a wall while I cook and I did not want a overhead hood blocking my view into the family room. Even as bad as the downdraft is in the old range I find that I rarely use it anyway, I probably don't do as much serious cooking as otters here but the downdraft suits us just fine!

I totally agree with you KimSig. I don't do a lot of frying and steam in my house isn't a big deal, the rooms are open to each other, with high ceilings and lots of windows which are open in the summer. In the winter the added moisture isnt a huge problem. What brand of induction and downdraft are you installing? LOL and in what type of cabinet??
Alison

Hi. We also have a gas cooktop in our island that we are keeping. Ours is a GE profile glasstop gas cooktop with a telescoping vent. It definitely works better with the back burners, but I haven't had any big issues with all of the cooking that we do. It's definitely not a popular choice here. We can just keep it on the down-low. Lol!

angel411: I love the idea of the drawer under the cooktop! I am going to have to see if we can get something like that put in.

We struggled with this as our stove is set into a peninsula between kitchen and dining--I initially said we didn't need any kind of vent, but the contractor was persuasive. We researched pop ups and decided it just added another layer of complexity. Went with Jennair and a good warranty. However, some engineering friends made their own vent. Their stove also backs up to a raised bar, so they got a pipe made that fits up inside the raised bar and vents to the outside, and put a vent grid facing the stove. An outside motor puts out some suction that could whip your cat out before she could say Mia--. It works great! I'd have loved to have done that if I had the time and know-how.

rkb21...I won't tell if you won't :)

ashe42...I admire people who have the ingenuity to come up with stuff like that! Likely why they are engineers.

Ali80ca we are going with a 36 inch Kitchenaid induction and Kitchenaid 36 inch telescoping downdraft. I realize that on this forum there is a lot of talk about the Kitchaid being a noisy induction and I took that into consideration but I also have a friend with one that loves it and has no issues with noise. My husband basically doesn't hear much lol, so if there is noise it's just me and I can live with it! Our cabinets are being custom made so he will build what ever we want. There is something exciting about being in his shop and actually watching cabinets being built and working directly with the man creating them!

KimSig, we also are planning on going with kitchenaid...36'' induction and downdraft. I would really appreciate seeing your pictures when the cabinet maker is done. What are you currently thinking you want below the cooktop?? I just wish the specs would say if you aren't reversing the blower this is how much room you have left...if you are reversing the blower you have this much room. I know the specs do say that in their own way, but its not as clear as I would like! Yep...afraid of screwing up on dimensions of drawers if I go that way! Have fun with your planning :)

I did a 36 Bosch induction and a KitchenAid downdraft. I picked the KitchenAid because it was the only one that allowed the motor to vent out the back instead of the front. I have full depth drawers under my cooktop but my island is like a quarter pie shape so we had the room for the vent out the back. I got a lot of grief from others here about doing my cooktop on an island, but I had limited options and it works fine for me. I also had some install problems because of the very tight clearances, but it did work - except I had to cut my top drawer short to leave room for the cooktop electrical box.

Numbersjunkie, we have tons of room to vent the downdraft, so it isnt a problem with space for me. It's a problem of knowing how to achieve what I want! Any possibility of seeing a picture? How far from the counter edge is the cooktop...and how much space was needed behind it for the downdraft?

Thanks for everyones input!!