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Looking for advice on height of island vent hood.

9 years ago

I'm new to these forums and in the middle of a kitchen Reno. The last minute details and decisions are starting to wear on me! :-)

So we will have a gas cooktop in our island. My kitchen hasn't had ventilation before and needs it! I'm trying to understand how high to install the vent hood. Does it make sense that according to manufacturer specs, it would be around eye level? I guess I'm looking for input from someone who cooks in a similar setup. Is it in the way? I assumed it would be over my head (and that's what I get for assuming). I'm 5'8".

Thanks for any advice you can offer. Trying hard not to screw this up near the end!

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Comments (3)

Fori
9 years ago
Hoods are usually about 30" above the cooking surface and yeah, that's in the face of many people. On islands, though, they are sometimes mounted higher (even though they won't work as well) so they don't feel as oppressive.

A hood that's over your head entirely is probably going to be too high for optimal performance. (Over MY head, however, would be within normal range. Teehee!)
basketlacey
Original Author
9 years ago
Thank you fori.

My husband is going to help "mock" this today by having someone hold it on a ladder and setting a base cabinet where the island will be. I'll get a feel for what I'm looking at. Last night I was regretting purchasing the hood. But we need it. It'll be nice not to set off the smoke alarm every time I'm trying to brown something!
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Sue Hawkins related 10Jan2019 and again 19Jan2019: "It is the world's easiest hood to clean as ALL the grease accumulates on the baffles." This cannot be true. There are no commercial baffle filters that collect all of the grease, and I doubt that Tradewinds discovered a secret airfoil shape to achieve it for residential hoods. Grease particulates contained in a cooking plume encompass a range of sizes. The larger are centrifuged out onto the baffle surfaces when moved through them at sufficient velocity. The smaller particles do not and ideally are intended to be blown out of the duct system into the outside air. Generally, some intermediate particles will impinge and stick to duct surfaces, as well as interior hood surfaces. These often (in residential cooking) form a very thin film that doesn't drip or flow. In commercial cooking where the rate of deposition is much higher, the build-up can be significant. This is why commercial cooking exhaust ducts require cleaning and inspection once a year. In the plot below, the range of particle sizes vs. what the baffle collects is shown for a particular baffle at a particular airflow for a particular cooking condition. When stringent particulate emission requirements are imposed on commercial kitchens, a series of filers is used, each type optimized for a particle size range. If grease molecules are to be treated, UV is one solution.
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And a point of emphasis for MUA: No air leaves via the hood that wasn't made up by getting into the kitchen somehow. House leakage should not be anywhere near 800 CFM except when windows are open. Edit: The size of the open area appurtenant to the kitchen is not a determinant of whether MUA is required. Further, the amount that the household air pressure can be allowed to drop without back-drafting combustion appliances depends on the appliance type. For passively vented hot water heaters, even window screens may be too much. Best is to assure that all combustion appliances have their own MUA and are isolated from the kitchen air supply. Then passive MUA (w/o blower) will be sufficient. You will still need heated MUA if winter is more than a season name where you live.
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gabytx12
9 years ago
we doing ours against a wall, but were in the same spot, never had to really deal with this issue before! Kinda scary because those things are expensive and did not want to get it wrong.

After much debate we decided to put ours at max recommended height (I think around 36")...we have low ceilings (old house) If we put it much lower, DH would bump his head on the darn thing..he's 6"4"!

If you stay within the recommended height you should be fine. Over an island I would want to keep it from disrupting view as much as possible. So I would put it up as far up as I could safely.

For us, the chance of having all burners going at full speed ahead is slim to none.

MAke it functional and safe! Good luck!

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