I just tried to email this and didn't think it worked, so I'll post it here and kill 2 birds with 1 stone. :-) The cabinets look weird, because I was in the middle of fixing your cabinets to have the upper display areas.

Thanks, rhome!! That doesn't look crowded at all - at least not from this perspective. This visual will help hubby, too. He's pretty happy with the status quo (he never turns on the vent, nor do m'boys) so the more ammo, er uh, info I have, the better.

There is a pendant (swirly milky glass and ORB) over the table and a ceiling fan with dark wood, white glass and ORB) in the FR but I've seen enough metals mixed that I think we can carry it off. My biggest fears are that it would crowd the space, injure heads (which is why we're pushing it to its max height of 36" off cooktop) and look too modern for our house.

I'll take a stab at posting pics now.

This is the view as you walk into the kitchen from the front door. The bottom of the hood will be about the same level as the bottom of the pendants, perhaps an inch higher. The pendants would go if we installed a hood.

The view from the nook.

Here's a picture from near the sink looking towards the FR so you can see our colors, style and mix of materials. (one of these days, hubby will finally install the doors to cover the stereo cab to the left of the fireplace.)

The white fridge and DW stay. Cooktop is SS, new oven and convection/MW will most likely be SS. We have a white sink with chrome faucet and I'll put my mom's white and chrome KA mixer on the counter next to ovens (just to right of 2nd pic). The backsplash is cream subway tile with 1x1 tile insets of white, pewter, beige and gray blue crackle glass.

If you choose the right hood, I don't think it will look crowded at all. The one you linked to looks good, but you might keep looking just to see what else is out there. I'm getting a wall mount, so I haven't investigated island hoods. I do like those with the curved glass, but I don't know that it would go with your kitchen, nor do I know if owners are happy with them or not. Good Luck!

I think the hood will occupy the same visual space as the pendants (and probably give you better light!), so I don't think it's going to be a huge difference. A slim lined hood, like the one Rhome shows, won't be a big block. I think it looks good in the picture!

Thanks, mamalynn and plllog!

mamalynn, I've looked at those ss and glass hoods, too, but I think they are more modern looking than this one. I will have clear glass in the display cabs but the light fixtures have milky glass. For some reason, mixing glass finishes bothers me more than metal finishes. Go figure.

plllog, I was just coming online to post that I measured and the hood's width is about equal to the space taken up by the pendants. I think the pendants extend an extra inch but that's minor. It will definitely take up more depth front to back of the cooktop. Jenn-Air recommends that it sits flush with the edge of the counter. Not sure yet whether we'll do that or set it back a smidge to make sure we don't get head bonks.

Initially, we were thinking wood hood but they are definitely bulkier and the cost to build a custom wood hood was $3000, not including the liner or anything else. It had curves to minimize its bulk and those are much harder to build.

While figuring out the above, I discovered that my pendants are not lined up equally to the cooktop. The amount they overlap the cooktop is off by 2-3 inches. I've also discovered that my island is 1/2" taller than my perimeter cabs and one bank of upper cabs is 1/2" lower than the others. I know this is all within acceptable variations and obviously it's not a big deal since I never figured this out before. Just found it interesting.

I showed rhome's rendition of our kitchen with hood to hubby tonight. Shocker of shockers, he loves it! There was no "I could live with that, I guess," it was "I really like that! Let's do that!" So he's on board completely. Honestly, I'm still stunned. I really thought it would be more of a tough sell or a complete no-go.

So the next step is to find one in stock to view and then get an HVAC tech out to give us an estimate to run vent piping in the ceiling. We know which way the joists run (from oven wall to back wall), which is the best direction (other way leads to covered deck area) so that's a good thing. It does mean drywall repair but we had already planned on that because we have to move 2 can lights that were installed much too close to the fridge cabinet (they shine down on the top of the cab more than in front of it).

This makes moving the island easier plus I will get really deep cabinets for my pots and pans beneath the cooktop. Wahoo!

Thanks for your help, rhome!! And thanks for feedback, everyone!

rhome, I almost forgot to thank you, also, for showing how the kitchen would look with display cabs over one set of uppers and 42" cabs on the other side of the sink. I'm so glad I went with my gut and said "no" to that idea from our cabinetmaker. I really don't like it at all and I'm glad we're doing display for uppers on both sides of the sink.

I hste to go against the others, and I do agree that in the CAD picture it looks fine, but I have to say I think the hood will take up a lot of room and make it look crowded. To be honest, I see few pics of a center island hood that I like, so it could very well just be me, but I thought I would offer my opinion. Search the FKB and if you like what you see then go for it!

get a glass/stainless combo hood. The glass takes up less visual space. that is what i have and am pretty happy with it.

I'm afraid I am on theanimala's side too. I can't say for sure how it will look, but I know I took down my potrack that was over our island for the remodel, I never realized how much it was blocking the view. I think the pendant lights can't really give you the feel of the hood.

Here are my technical terms--the hood is "thick" visually and the pendants are "thin". I know that is not the right term, but I think you might know what I mean.

Maybe you could borrow from the idea about hanging balloons to determine where to place pendants--and hang something that will be about the same size and "thickness" as the hood. The hood is a very expensive item, plus all the ductwork to run it (and the costs involved in doing so)--so you want to be very sure of your decision.

Good luck, and yes, browse the FKB, and lots of magazines!

Thanks, theanimala, pharaoh and beekeeperswife, for your comments. I appreciate all view points!

I've been pouring over mags and the FKB for some time now, trying to figure out what direction to go. My chair in the family room is surrounded by stacks of mags on the floor and on the side table. Getting in and out of my chair has become quite the challenge! All that input and yet, depending on what day you ask me, my answer changes. ;-)

I realize that island hoods are the exception, not the norm. There's a reason most people install pop-up downdrafts. They disappear when not in use - pretty darn clever. We were entranced when we installed ours 15 years ago and, truth be told, I like to impress guests who've never seen one before (look, I can perform magic! ;-).

I think if it were over an electric or induction cooktop, it would be fine but when our pop-up's on high, it sucks the flame. It's "blown" out burners on low more than a few times. It's only when I smell gas that I realize it's happened again. Some of today's new cooktops re-ignite when this happens, which is a good thing.

However - and this is a big however - we've *never* had issues with smoke or grease on the ceilings, lights or elsewhere in our kitchen, even though we don't use the downdraft as often as we should. That's one reason why we're okay with sticking with a downdraft although we were opting for one with a higher rise, hoping to reduce the gas-flame-sucking action. Honestly, I like that they disappear because I've also seen few island hoods that I could live with. Most are too massive and looming for my taste.

We saw one such massive hood in one of the remodeled homes in a tour we attended in March. See it here: kitchen one. The hood's size worked in that kitchen because it lined up with exposed rafters in the remodel. But it wasn't for us.

Then we saw another in a very sleek kitchen (with stunning cabinets) that made us realize that a hood didn't have to be so imposing. See that kitchen here: kitchen two.

The first hood was 37" inches above the cooktop (very tall homeowner). The 2nd was hung 31" above the cooktop - and yet it seemed much less imposing because its bulk was significantly less. Hubby and I stood in front of it and said, "we could handle this." Our designer said that hood is just a bit too sleek for our house but that there were other possibilities.

As for cost, well, those fancy, higher rise with in-line or remote blowers (to reduce noise) are $2000+! Talk about your sticker shock. The Jenn-Air hood is $200 less than the pop-ups. As for duct work, we already face that cost because we plan to move the island a few inches to gain enough depth in the new cabinet where the island snack bar area is now (never used, never will, want storage). The only expense we wouldn't have with a new pop-up is drywall repair. Cost isn't the determining factor here (for a change).

pharoah, which glass and ss hood do you own? We did consider those but I worried that they are too modern-looking. What style kitchen do you have? Do you have a picture of yours? I've love to see it. Thanks!

Wish I could find ratings about how well the glass and ss hoods worked. CR only tested 3 island hoods. The GE also received good marks (not as good as the Jenn-Air) but it's much more massive looking. The other performed well as a hood but was graded only fair for lighting. If we move to a hood, I want it to work better than a down-draft and provide us with adequate light. The money has to be well spent.

The balloon idea is a great idea, beekeeperswife! I was planning to make up a cardboard mock-up but balloons are quicker.

Pot racks. I'm with you on that one but I think it's more the "messy" factor for me, not the visual. Pot racks are too much clutter hanging down in my field of sight. But I also was never one to hang dried flowers or baskets off the ceiling either.

btw, we toured 9 homes on the remodel tour. Two had island hoods, 4 had pop-up downdrafts (same or slightly higher rise as ours paired with gas rangetops) and the rest had cooktops or ranges against the wall.

Have you read the billions of opinions on the appliance forum about range hoods? It's a little overwhelming with so many "experts". But there is a lot of good advice there.

Also, one thing to keep in mind with glass, is grease. I have only used our wall mounted hood a couple of times so far (and not for anything too exciting--sauteeing some shrimp, boiling water, etc) and I was shocked at the grease already on the baffles. So, just remember the cleaning factor if that bothers you. Our hood is strong enough to suck the dog up and out of the vent so I am not surprise that the 2 tsp of oil I used to cook the shrimp in is on the baffles!

I have, beekeeperswife, and you're right - overwhelming, especially when some of it is contradictory.

LOL about your hood sucking the dog up and out the vent! What imagery! That will keep me giggling throughout the day. Disclaimer: no animals were injured or mistreated in the making of this post. ;-)

Thanks for the reminder about cleaning a hood. It won't be tucked away out of sight like the pop-up. I'll stop by a few appliance stores with showrooms with live appliances and check the hoods for grease. With luck, I'll hit one shortly after a cooking demo.

Glass would never work for me in a hood.

I agree with you, Lisa, that a hood and pot rack aren't the same...Hood is a cleaner look and placed higher.

It will be a different look than you're used to, and might take some time to really embrace. I think that it's sometimes best to go with a chunkier hood and let it have a presence...with no apologies. ;-) I am a person who thinks that good performing appliances are a necessity and a blessing in a kitchen, and should be celebrated.-- Ok, within reason, and maybe that line is the hard one to find. There are so many great hood styles. I think with your kitchen, and knowing you a bit, you'll want something simple, straight-forward, and nicely but cleanly designed. It doesn't have to disappear, but it shouldn't have too much going on of its own that will detract from the rest. I think the JennAir could do that, as well as something a little beefier and more in line with the pro-looking oven you're considering.

Thanks, rhome! I'm grateful for your opinion - which I didn't see before sending you a panicked email. ;-) And your assessment of what I am looking for is spot on.

Anyone have tips about how to search for island hoods in the FKB? There isn't a separate category for these. I could search kitchen by kitchen but oh, wow, how many days will that take?

Maybe just start a thread and ask for hood or island hood photos?

Good idea. Someone did recently ask for that and boxerpups came through as she always does but it won't hurt to try again.

I think if it's the right height and not too massive it would be okay.

I also wonder how much design trends are like fashion trends ( well, duh, of course they are) so that someone eliminates something and now it looks good but hasn't truly been replaced with equal function and all of a sudden the functional design doesn't "look" good, and so on. We get forced into not tolerating things. Of course that's not true in all situations, as in major vision- blocking design that is so off-putting, like the cabinets over peninsulas where you had to duck your head to see under and from the family room you just saw headless people in the kitchen.

So still, it's a matter of degree, and getting the right balance for form and function.

Simulation, to the extent you can achieve it, is a great idea and one I find really helpful when trying to tell whether something will get on my nerves--width of aisle, corner in the way, vision blocking and so on.

Good points, frankie! To tag on to your thoughts, I find it a bit surprising that there aren't more island hoods being shown, given how hoods have become such focal points in kitchens. Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "hood ornaments."

Headless people - another funny, yet slightly disturbing visual! I must be in a Dali frame of mind - dogs being sucked up hoods and headless people walking about. LOL

I'm going to make a mock-up of cardboard later today. I'm out of balloons (all used up for water balloon fights, I suspect) but I've got plenty of cardboard on hand. It's just going to get re-purposed before it's off to the recycling bin with it.

Silly me. I thought making up a cardboard mock-up of a hood would be no big deal. Well, that part wasn't so bad. Hanging it? That's another matter. No matter what I did or how many times I looped the string around the pendant lights, the danged thing swung down, refusing to stay in the right position. I'm sure I was a funny sight! As a last resort, I stood in front of the cooktop holding it but I couldn't hold it level at the right height in the right location. And obviously I wasn't able to step back and check my handiwork so I really couldn't make a judgement call about how I'd feel with an island hood.

I will have to wait until hubby comes home to see if he has any brain storms about "mounting" this thing.

lisa,

Although my kitchen is 3 years old, i guess it is relatively new compared to the one that was there for 40 years. it had the hanging row of peninsula cabs with a hood. i disliked it so we replaced it with an island and the glass/stainless steel combo.

I can say that the island is the best decision we made about the kitchen. cooking facing the world is really wonderful. we entertain a lot. i often cook and serve right off the stove while guests sit at the dining table, at other times we use the island as a buffet table.
the stove+hood makes the island work really well.

Wow, pharoah, your kitchen is amazing! I'm intrigued by the back of your island. Is that a lighted panel? It's very eye-catching.

Thanks for the info about your hood. I noticed you also have pendants on the island. I'm pretty sure we can't do hood and pendants but I am curious to know how you pulled it off so well. How big is your island? how far away are the pendants from your hood? And where are they in relation to the hood? Do they line up or are they stepped back towards the table? Thanks!

btw, I like how your hood's glass echoes your kitchen table top.

Is that a fish tank I spy to the left? Wow!

Here are the ground rules. No poking fun at my craft skills! ;-) This is nowhere near as clever or neat as the Lego model. And please excuse my messy house! I was so excited to get this up and nervous that it might not stay up that I snapped pics before the area was cleaned up.

My "hood" is a bit cock-eyed and not quite in the right place. It sits back a few inches from the countertop edge, isn't quite centered, tilts towards the sink area and is about an inch lower than necessary. Oh, and I didn't quite finish it because I realized that finishing all sides would interfere with hanging it in place. Hubby wanted to wrap it in aluminum foil but I put a stop to that. Anyway, the hope is that it will give us an idea what it would be like to have a hood there and help us make up our minds.

This is the view from the sink:

From the dining room door:

From the hallway door:

From the family room (Zac is trying to figure out what the heck is going on):

I think your craftiness is awesome, lol. I got the hood in the link below. I loved it. (old house. Going to get again) It is a little less $, and a bit stronger than the fan you linked to. It is also slim and doesn't look overpowering at all. I love a cooktop in the island and an island hood. You clean the screens in the dishwasher. So, virtually no maintenance. My family will sit still while I cook for them, but won't sit still while I clean up after, so thus the choice to have cooktop rather than sink in island. Also, in order to be effective, I think your hood will have to be lower.36" is recommended, I think?

Here is a link that might be useful: Futuro Galaxy Island Hood

How many CFMs is that? I love it! I too think it might be too high to actually work, well the real one at least. This might be ok for cardboard so it doesn't catch on fire. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

And as far as my dog being sucked up ours....I think it might be strong enough to pull a human up it too....see what I mean?

{{gwi:1936174}}

Lisa,

The panel is actually a onyx which is glued to frosted glass and then backlit.

The island is about 66"x 42". So it is pretty small. I wish I had a large kitchen..
The stove is 30" bluestar.
The hood is 36" (ebay, made in china).

The pendants are towards the table as you guessed. They must be stepped back from the front edge of the island about 10".

Yes, that is an aquarium which is built into my china cabinet.

lisaslists2000, that is a gorgeous hood! Its curve is an echo in reverse of the shape of the light over my table and the fan light. Thanks for pointing that out to me. (And thanks for not making fun of my craft skills ;-).

lisaslists2000 and beekeeperswife, the range for height above cooktop for the Jenn-Air hood is 28" to 36". One end of my cardboard hood is close to 36", the other end dips to 34" or so. We would hang it at 36" above cooktop.

beekeeperwife, lol, that's one strong hood you got!!

pharoah, thanks for the info. The details you added to your kitchen are incredible! It's a well-thought out space.

Your island and mine are so similar in size (yours is 4" wider). I didn't think I could do pendants and a hood but if you did, maybe I can. The only hitch - and it's not a small one - is that my lights are ORB while yours have a ss finish, making them meld better with the hood. I'm okay with mixing metallic finishes but I'm not sure I can pull off having them that close together.

beekeeperswife, I meant to add that I know from first hand experience that cardboard hoods don't do a good job of removing fumes. My oldest cooked up one of his killer omelets sometime around 2am. The aroma of bacon woke me up. He knows how to use the pop-up downdraft but the danged kid won't ever turn it on. As if 18 year-olds ever listen to their mothers.

I've been pouring over pictures of island hoods and I think I've identified what's been bugging me. It's not whether a hood will crowd our kitchen but whether a hood is proportionate to our island. And I'm not sure it is. pharaoh's island is about the same size as ours but because the hood is glass and SS it fits. That might not be the case with a SS hood over our comparably sized island (we've decided against glass and SS, it's doesn't fit as well with our style).

Does anyone know if there are any design guidelines about matching hood and island sizes? I haven't been able to turn anything up to help with balancing one's mass with the other for a cohesive look.

The guidelines for size are more about relating it to the size of the cooktop.

So, for a 30 " cooktop, you would want a 30" hood at least. 36" would be better so there is a bit more capture area You will also want to position it such that people will not bang their heads on the corners.

I think you did a great mockup, and with the right hood I think it will look fine. Sometimes function has to take precedence over the aesthetic. For unobtrusiveness, I would love it if downdrafts worked or you could mount an exhaust fan at the ceiling that would work. (I've seen this done, but all I can imagine is that it is too far to be really effective, but effective enough that you get a greasy ceiling)

Thanks, palimpsest, for your helpful feedback and praise of my mock-up. It's still up and frankly, I'm amazed that my tie-up job is holding as well as it is.

Positioning the hood to avoid head bumps is good advice. That's one reason why we're leaning towards a hood that can be hung 36" above the cooktop. We both really like the look of the Futuro hood that lisaslists2000 posted but its max height above cooktop is 30". Bummer.

I think we're down to either the 14" pop-up or a 36" hood for our 30" cooktop. This afternoon, we're heading out to 3 appliance stores, all with showrooms, to see what we find. In the meantime, I'm going to keep looking for hood/island pairings. So far the ones I like best are the ones that have more generous islands and there's not much we can do to make our island stretch. Dang it.

If you look at the left side of my hood and island on your other thread and can imagine it that way on both sides, I think that would be about the same as your island and I have a more massive hood than you are thinking of. We have a 42" hood over a 36" cooktop and to the left of the cooktop there is 12" of island.

Lisa, your mock-up is exceedingly clever! I'm glad you're living with it (that it's staying up) because after awhile it'll seem "normal".

Most hoods are supposed to be hung at 30". As for style, stainless with glass is basically functional. There are some that have a particular style, but there are some that just are. No futuristic swooshes or arches or whatever feels "wrong" to you. The bigger problem with glass is keeping the dust off! Check online as well as in the stores. There are some amazing hood designs out there that aren't the ones most likely to be on display.

BTW, my brother has an island cooktop, with a massive hood which is the size of the island rather than the cooktop. The actual works are smaller, but the housing is huge. It looks great! Maybe the answer for your scale issues is to go bigger rather than smaller?

Good luck on your shopping trip!

Thanks, plllog! I totally get the oversize hood to island thing your brother did. That same design idea - large plants and/or large-leaved plants in a small garden - is often done in garden design and often to very good effect.

The appliance salesperson told us the same thing - most hoods are hung about 30" above the cooktop. However, she did say we could put it higher provided we knew it would reduce its effectiveness. We stood at our island and figured out where 30" is - uh, not gonna like that so either we find a hood that's okay at 36" above or we cheat and raise it. Or we go with a downdraft.

Funny thing - she talked us out of the remote blower. Apparently when things go wrong (how often can that be, we've never had a problem in 15 years) getting a tech to work on an in-line or remote blower is difficult, especially if the remote blower is on the roof. Well, okay, I get that but ours will be under our deck with fairly easy access.

She showed us 4 possibilities:
Faber Stilo Isola

Faber Diamante Isola

Faber Dama Isola

Zephyr Roma

Apparently Jenn-Air is redoing their whole line and no one knows exactly when the new models will be out and we might have a hard time finding the Jenn-Air hood I found on line. It will all depend on what stock stores have on hand.

We like the slim profiles of the hoods she showed us. We just can't figure out if they fit our style or if they are too modern. What do you all think? Can we get away with any of them?

It's kind of hard to tell in "beauty shots". to me they all look like the hood is out of proportion with the duct, but the hood shown might not even be the size you're looking at.

The angled ones are less aggressively modern.

One thing you can do is call around to service people and see how they feel about servicing the remote blower where you're thinking of putting it. A lot of salespeople get a standard blather and stick to it without thinking through the individual situation or changing circumstances.

I like the second two Faber hoods. If I had it to do over, I would get a remote blower for quieter operation even if it is harder to repair - that shouldn't be needed very often. We thought about the Diamante but needed something bigger for our situation.

Mounting at 36" might not be ideal, but neither is a downdraft. I think it will be fine.

I know we've discussed this on your other thread, but I really think you will be happy with the downdraft. It works well and is very sleek and unobtrusive. You can have your pendant lights or whatever you like. The Thermador 14 inch downdraft is a very good option for you. Good luck!

plllog, we have a appliance repair company I can call. We haven't had to use them often (thank goodness) but when we have, they've given us good service and (we felt) honest answers. I'll also ask the HVAC tech when he comes to give us a quote on installation of hood and downdraft (we have to tweak downdraft venting by a few inches). I realized last night that installation for a hood just might be spendy enough to make our minds up for us.

I figured the squared hoods were too modern looking - dang it - but I had to ask.

jeanteach, when I walked into the kitchen this morning and saw my cardboard hood hanging there, I thought, "uh, no, not that." So I'm back to leaning towards a downdraft. Both options have their pros and cons and we just need to figure out which cons are easier to live with.

I keep staring at my kitchen, whipping out the tape measure and revisiting how to move the cooktop to the perimeter because that would solve this issue for me. But short of compromising on way too many things - and stickier issues for me than the cooktop ventilation - it can't be done. Not without 2 more feet of wall space in one direction or another. Ah, well, hubby really likes the cooktop in the island. And I honestly don't mind it but I'd be happier with about 8-12" of counter on either side. Oh, there's that danged 2 extra feet again!

Oh, don't mind me. I'm exhausted, it's been a long week and I'm obsessing for no good reason. This isn't an end of the world decision. I need to step back, take a breath, and just pick something! Either option will work just fine.

Lisa,

Keep plugging away at it. At a certain point inspiration hits and you come up with a solution that does it for you. There may be a lot of compromises, but when it's right, you'll know it.

Thanks, plllog, for your words of support. Inspiration hasn't hit yet (dang it) but hopefully it will soon. If not, I'll just do eenie, meenie, minie, moe and pick something. Hey, desperate times call for desperate measures. ;-)

And in the meantime, we're enjoying the baffled looks on the faces of our kids' friends when they walk into our kitchen and see this thing hanging off from the ceiling.