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How many inches between sides of hood and upper cabinets is best?

12 years ago

We are in the process of designing our new construction kitchen with a hood by Francois and Company (the toulouse style) and the cabinet designer says 10" on either side of the range's widest part is ideal, but this seems like way too much to me. Any thoughts? thanks.

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hellonasty

12 years ago

I have a 36" hood over a 30" range, with 1.25 inch of space between the hood and the cabs. I like it a lot. I like the way it looks and it allows me to clean around the hood.

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Comments (11)

blfenton
12 years ago
I suspect that it depends on the type of hood and design of your kitchen. My upper cabinets basically touch the hood and I wish there was about a 3" gap on either side. My hood is just a basic stainless steel vent-a-hood with white shaker cabinets.
breezygirl
12 years ago
I wish I had the space to put 10" on either side of my hood! My new kitchen has windows on either side of the hood. I had planned on 6" with about 3" of that being trim, so only 3" of open wall space. I ended up choosing narrower trim and forgot to calculate the window wrap trim the right way. I ended up with about 5-6" of open wall. I think it'll be a happy mistake once the hood goes in.

It seems to me like if you had 10" of space to each side of the hood, your hood should have a decent presence to it so it doesn't look lost in all that space. Could be wrong.
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Mine is 34" so that's at about 70" or 5'10". This height is probably good for people as tall as 6' or so. I'm 5'10" and my wife is 5'8" so it's about right. Mine is wall mounted 54" (24" depth) "pro" canopy style so it's got good capture volume. I would have mounted it at 38" above countertop if it were 28" depth. A lot depends on the hood in question. More powerful hood with deep capture usually specify higher range vs a flat panel or "stylish" models.
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aj33, I'm sorry for the delay getting back to you. We've been moving in. I don't think I have to bend any more than at my old sink. I think the key is to have the sink the right height for you. When you undermount a sink, it makes the bottom of it lower. I "test drove" many farm house sinks in the show rooms that were so deep that you would end up with an awful back ache at the end of a good wash up. I actually picked up my sink at the scratch and dent section of Ikea. I was considering undermounting their sink and wondered if it was really big enough. This one had the back lip broken off and was $25. I figured it was worth $25 to see if it would fit my cookie sheets, roasting pans and other large items. Then my builder pointed out that if I planned to undermount it, the broken bit on the back wouldn't matter. So, after I determined that it was big enough and deep enough without being too deep, we took a tile saw and sawed off the back.
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If you decide to use them I would make sure you are consistent. If one cabinet has two then for balance sake I think the others should as well on the corresponding cabinet. I personally prefer having only the two on either side of the sink ( that is what I am doing). I think on the range wall the corbels for the hood are enough. Having the brackets in addition is too much IMHO. My eye is bothered by the two under the cabinet on the right of the sink and then only one on the left cabinet. I think on the baking center wall they are balanced but with one of them next to the ovens I think it may go unnoticed. It is really a lovely kitchen and I cannot wait to see it when it is done!
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sayde
12 years ago
If your hood is large and has a sculptural shape, then having the ten inches on either side looks great-- lets the hood "breathe" and opens up the whole wall -- looks spacious and features the hood. If you have a smaller hood or a hood that has straight sides, such as a classic barrel shape, then having the cabinets close to the hood or even right next to the hood might look better.

I have a 40 inch dome shaped hood with about ten inches on each side and backsplash tiled to the ceiling. Having that open space really brought a feeling of lightness and spaciousness to my kitchen (which is on the small side) and is one of the things I like best about the remodel.
cat_mom
12 years ago
Our hood touches (just about) the cabs on either side. We have a 36" range w/ a 36" wide hood. We don't think it looks bad, and we appreciate having those inches of storage space in the upper cabs flanking the hood. In a bigger kitchen, with more available wall (and other) space, a more open look might have worked as well.
brickeyee
12 years ago
I have never had a customer ask to lose cabinet space for clearance to a hood.

It is not required.
chiefneil
12 years ago
I have a 42" hood over a 36" range, and the upper cabs are flush with the sides of the hood.
davidro1
12 years ago
i've often wondered why there is no discussion of the cabinet sides' flammability. Hoods are the same width as the cooktop. Flammable material touching the hood is essentially right above the cooktop. This doesn't make sense to me. For 20 years I used to see my oak veneer on the wall cabinets right above the cooking surface, right next to the hood. Steam from cooking caused the veneer to go ugly on me. Yuk. But, if there had ever been a stovetop fire, this veneer would have either been damaged or worse yet, fed the fire and helped it spread. (!) Anyone? Bueller? Anyone?

i've often wondered why there is no discussion of the fact that hoods are usually not container-shaped. They LOOK very very container-shaped when seen from a distance, but the filter (baffles) are not recessed into an upside down cup that would contain a few gallons of fast-rising smoke. This is not helpful in a real fire, but it IS helpful in everyday operation = and that IS the main goal, to keep greasy smoke inside the canopy and the exhaust system (not allow it to spread throughout the house). Wok and grill cooking produces bursts of smoke. One can always overcompensate by having the blower suck more CFM's but then this forces the house to provide a lot more make-up air, which forces the AC or heating system to work harder... and then this forces people to spend a few thousand more for make-up air compensating systems.... (!) Anyone? Bueller? Anyone?

Hth.
cflaherty
12 years ago
our kitchen is just like catmoms ..when we are finished we will have an 1/8 of an inch on either side..we called the manufacturer of the hood and that is what they said we could do..I hope they are right. b/c we need the xtra inches also.
brickeyee
12 years ago
"i've often wondered why there is no discussion of the cabinet sides' flammability. Hoods are the same width as the cooktop. Flammable material touching the hood is essentially right above the cooktop. "

I have never seen a residential stove that did not have some type of clearance as part of its listing.

The most common one is nothing flammable less than 18 inches above the top of the stove to either side.

If the cabinets touch the sides of a same width hood and are at least 18 inches above the cook-top they meet the clearance.
robbcs3
12 years ago
Most times 3" is sufficient. But it may depend on the look of the hood or kitchen your designer is going for.

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