Help finding a 30" hood to replace OTR
daisychain01
8 years ago
We are redoing part of our kitchen due to a fire and flood. We have a 30" slide in electric glass top range that I can't afford to replace (would love gas, but we are already over budget).
Our OTR has served us well, but it is almost 10 years old and I know anything I replace it with will not last as long or vent as well.
It is on an outside wall with venting straight to outside. We'd like to keep it under the cabinet, but realize the hood will likely have to be mounted higher and the cabinet will have to be made shorter and we'll lose a bit of storage up there.
Aesthetically, I love the look of this style of hood. I have about $1000 to spend, but would like to keep cost as low as possible since the whole house is being redone unexpectedly and costs are mounting quickly.
Is Bertazonni a good make, is there another similar style that I should look at? Recommendations?
Here is a pic of our range/OTR area just before demo.
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Comments (16)
skidd5
8 years agodaisychain01
8 years agoRelated Discussions
30" Range choices & OTR ventilation issues.
Comments (9)That was a common layout several decades ago. I would be inclined to do do a major re-arrangement, but I would be doing most of the work myself and I would have to consider budget, as well. We work with the budgets and spaces we have. I'll offer some considerations about the existing space and the questions you asked. Is 17.5" too close for an OTR over a gas range? No. People put all kinds of gas ranges beneath OTRs including "pro-style" ranges. There's a photo of one over an NXR in the discussion that I've linked below. Note that the base of this one was only about 4" higher than yours -- maybe 22" above the range. While your OTR could be easily (well, relatively easily) vented to the outside, swapping in a higher powered gas range presents a couple of things to think about. One concern is "coverage." It isn't very good with an OTR. Basically, an OTR is mostly venting just the two back burners. This is not a fire hazard concern but, rather, an annoyance, It means more heat and more goo in the kitchen than with a dedicated vent hood. The other concern with OTRs over gas ranges is a suspicion that waste heat from a gas stove may contribute to eventual failure of the microwave part of the unit. Frankly, though, microwaves are such a commodity product these days and often so cheaply made that it can be hard to determine how much havinga gas range contributed to or accelerated a failure. Also, consider how often you will be using all the gas burners on the range on full power at the same time. Also, you don't avoid waste-heat problems by going with a radiant electric stove. They just make somewhat less waste heat, but not hugely so. IIRC, radiant smoothtops put 50% to 55% of their energy into pans, so roughly half of the energy can go into the room as waste heat. . With gas ranges, the rating is 33% to 40% going to pans. That's about a 20% difference, which is not huge. Coil burners are closer to 70% to 75% of energy going into pans and induction is rated at 85% to 90%. The latter differences are significant and may affect your planning about what to do with your kitchen and range replacement choices. The 30" height-above-the-stove recommendation for hoods is mainly to get them out of the way so cooks don't bang their heads when leaning over to stir or look into a pot. Another consideration that may affect your planning is that In your current kitchen layout, a hood is going to project out at least another 10 to 14 inches fruther from the cabinets. In the present location, that that could crowd (or seem to crowd) into the space expectations of folks using the sink. You can get a relatively shallow venting appliance --- can we really call them hoods if they don't have a canopy? --- which may mitigate the distance from stovetop to hood/vent somewhat. Not ideal, but workable. For example, my old house kitchen layout is such that I went with a 5" tall Zephyr hood. There is another 30" minimum clearance requirement that sometimes gets confused or mixed in to these discussions. That is for when you don't have a hood, and then the unobstructed distance above the range to flammable upper cabinet bases is generally specified as being at least 30 inches. An OTR or range hood are regarded as non-flammable surfaces so they can be closer. If you swap in a hood, what to do about a microwave? Apparently, you use the convection features a fair amount? (Otherwise, I'd suggest a cabinet hung MW unit elsewhere in the kitchen.) Do you have room for a cart someplace to hold that GE convection mw? Is there any kind of a pantry space where you could put it? If not, then maybe you just vent the existing one to the outdoors. Then give your self some time to plan and budget for a more extensive revamp. Here is a link that might be useful: Thread with photo of Nunyabiz's OTR...See MoreHelp replacing OTR Micro w/ vent hood
Comments (1)Removing an OTR microwave is a matter of removing a few screws. Two screws removed from the cabinet above will have the front of the unit falling into your hands. The rear is held by a backing plate. There may or may not be a latching mechanism holding the rear, but usually you just pull the OTR loose from it. Then removed the backing plate from the wall. Usually the hole from the vent, if it actually vents to the outside, is rectangular 3.5x10". You'll need to find a vent that matches. Vents are usually hardwired, microwaves are not. Hence you would need to make a pigtail for the new vent to reuse the recepticle that the microwave was using....See MoreReplacing range hood w/ OTR microwave ?
Comments (16)Jeri, thanks for the encouragement! If I was replacing an OTR w/ another, I would try to do it myself. I just have a regular old standard range hood now, and that's why I posted the original question. If it needs a dedicated circuit (thanks rnmomof2, that's what I was trying to say!), then that's why I guess my co-worker got such a high estimate (the extra electrical work). Buehl, no I have a regular coil electric stove. I'm still not ready to move into the smooth top era - LOL! Re the venting - I have that tiny cabinet over the stove, Open it up, and there's a vent pipe that elbows into the wall. I thought it vented to the roof, is that not right? Does it just vent into the wall? Anyway, I don't fry much at all, so I don't have problems w/ grease or anything. The vent is usually used for steam and smells. If I did go this route, I would save the range hood, so if I sold and the buyers wanted to put it back in, they could. The range hood is actually 9 years old, but it looks brand new (since I dont fry, lol!) Guess I'll just have to break done and call an electrician to find out for sure what has to be done to switch over. Thanks everybody!...See MoreReplacing OTR Microwave, hood questions?
Comments (2)Yes, this should work just fine. This is what we did. I love it and realize I am more comfortable at the stove without the microwave in my face! There are websites where you can narrow down choices with your dimensions very nicely. AJ Madison is the one we used. Ultimately, we didn't buy from them though. Our open space between the two cabinets was 31 inches, but there is a gap on either side of the vent that is at least an inch total. If we only had 30 inches it would have fit cleaner. The height from the counter top to the bottom of the upper cabinet above the vent is 33 1/2 inches. This puts the vent hood we used at 26 1/2 inches from the its bottom to the counter top. The hood you purchase should tell you the correct placement needed for proper operation. Our is a Sharp Insite. I love the lighting on it, its quiet, and can go to pretty powerful levels. Here it is in our kitchen. Ignore the strange green cast on the backsplash.That is not there in real life? Source: Uploaded by user via Marcella on Pinterest Source: Uploaded by user via Marcella on Pinterest...See Morenosoccermom
8 years agodaisychain01
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Debbi Branka
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