If you can't vent it to the ceiling, I wouldn't put a stove in an island. I have a stove top (range) in my island and I love! love! love! it, but I also have an island range hood with proper ventilation. It's so nice not having to face the wall when I cook, but proper ventilation is a must (especially with gas).

You just described the worst possible solution to your actual needs. Island cooking is more expensive, less effective, and fraught with expensive logistics issues. For 10% of the time you dprmd in your kitchen. 70% is prep. Make a great island devoted to prep.

Island cooktops aren't great IMO, but they're just downright awful if you can't even have a vent. Make your island a prep space, a place for your kids to hang out, do their homework and eat breakfast. Cooking is such a small part of what happens in a kitchen.

If it's a place where your kids hang out, put the cooktop someplace else, for safety's sake.

You need venting ok, if you can't vent up you gotta vent down, plenty of opinions on Houzz about down vents, I have one and it works really well, can't say the same about my previous downdrafts. I really like cooking with the cooktop on the island, others don't, do what you want to do.

Hire a KD. Adding an unsafe attractive nuisance to a house full of kids is cringeworthy.

"that you'll be at your island more often if you reserve it for prep,"

People do realize that people can prep AND cook on a kitchen island, right? I do both prepping and cooking at my island - you don't need just one or the other. OK, I don't do all my prepping at my island. If I am peeling veggies, I do that over the compost bin, which is under the counter against the wall.

IMO a cooktop in an island is always a last choice . They are messy , venting unless straight UP is not usually possible and with kids just too bad of a choice for sure . If you think for one minute that downdraft will be the answer think again. The fact that for a few minutes you have your back to your guests is IMO no reason to do a silly install. I guess from your description your kids are older but the same things apply as to venting and since pasta pots create huge amounts of stem the better the venting needs to be.

#smileythecat. What kind of downdraft do you have?

Someone is always eating in my house. Anyone ever fed teenagers? One of mine called her friends over because I made bread. They ate a pint of freezer jam and 3 loaves. The boy invited 4 of his friends over and they ate 5 homemade pizzas while they played FIFA. The first grader reads to me while I cook dinner. My traveling preschool has become a diner. 8 kids and all their friends. I have seriously looked at professional ovens.

Yikes, maybe you need a food truck parked in front, Kitchenaide,, it rises 16 or18 inches, does a good job.

I have a range in my island and I love it for the exact reasons you describe. I prep next to the range and cook right there, so making a meal is a very social exercise in my house. I can help with homework, chat with friends, serve appetizers to guests, and be a part of the family all while cooking. It is a complete reimagining of how a kitchen functions as part of a house that might not work for everyone, but it is perfect for my family!

I have never felt it to be unsafe, but I have 30” behind the range that allows plenty of room between anyone sitting at the counter and th back of the range.

The ventilation I have is a best cattura pop up downdraft. It’s not very loud and it does a great job when in use, but it is not always needed. Think about your style of cooking and how often you use your overhead hood now.

The biggest issue I see is using a gas cooktop. I would think the downdraft would pull the flame toward the fan and that doesn’t seem like a good idea at all. Gas is also a pain to clean. Are you open to induction?

Yes I am. We love the gas cooktop because I can put a big skillet pan over it for mass producing grilled cheese and cooking tortillas. But I have been researching the induction and they look good. If I could put the pans on that too that would be perfect.

Tricia, I've got old-fashioned Revere Ware with a copper clad bottom, which I love (some of them are from my mom's kitchen and probably bought in the 1950's. I'll have to try the magnet test on those and my fave stock pot, too. I could replace them no problem but the sentimental value is inestimable.

I put an KitchenAide downdraft in our island vented to the outside after we moved into the house a few years ago and before we finished our basement. It works great. A vent hood from the ceiling is just not possible in our situation. The previous gas stove had a center downdraft that vented into the cabinet. We are switching back to a gas from an induction cooktop when we change out the counters. I don't mind the cooktop in the island and I prefer it to the sink in the island that we had in a previous home.

Can anyone recommend good downdraft systems or comment on ones they've enjoyed?

We have a similar setup: open LR & DR that goes out to the ocean-view deck and we have friends and family over for multi-course meals often. We went with a small prep sink on the large island (raised with chairs on one side) and the range top on the outside wall. Commenters are right, much of the time is spent prepping, and with large dinner parties a gallery forms around the bar while I, and whomever I've recruited to help, works away.

With people comes commotion and noise, and add the ventilation, and it starts to get hard to hear your guests. If you situate that ventilation on the island, you've inserted a distinct noise source into the middle of your every day life. So when your kids telling you about their day, the news on TV... whatever - it's all competing with the vent. At least if it's on the wall, it's more on the periphery, and you'll have more options, bigger capture area, better ability to manage that noise.

However, if you are set on the island, an overhead is most effective and there are attractive options even with a high ceiling. Check out the gallery on houzz https://www.houzz.com/photos/island-range-hood-phbr0lbl-bl~l_789

we have a thermador, with the fan in the basement. we have whoosh but not motor noise. i cooked 2 curries for dinner last night and it kept up fine.

on high it does shift the flame back, maybe a half inch..., easily compensated by shifting the pan.

very easy to clean.

Something else to think about... With an island vent, you would need a more powerful blower because it's not against a wall. With a more powerful blower, you're required to add something called "Make-up air" to replace the air that's being vented out of the house. Make sure you consider the additional cost of that, which could involve expensive HVAC work depending on your local codes.

I just learned about this, and it's my new mission to let everyone know about it.

Wow—so many comments expressing safety concerns! My kitchen is in an open floorplan; we call it a greatroom. My cooktop is on my island. I love it! I can cook and chat with whoever is sitting at one of barstools at the island. Or, I can chat with my husband when he cooks. I’ve never once experienced a sense of danger at or near the cooktop with the many children (especially in my famly) we’ve had around, ever. My Zephyr vent hood is powerful enough that it doesn’t feel smoky or hazaardous. Its superfunctional first and foremost and then its nice for being social too. Hoods come with extensions for higher ceilings. if your has vent has nice clean lines or is beautiful it will be a sort of signiture piece, especially with the lighting and dimming capabilities that hoods come with now.