overage size range? What size hood to fit over (the average) range?

5 years ago

VERY last minute, my husbands dad convinced us to remodel our kitchen. The only thing staying in the exact place is the kitchen sink. The kitchen is a galley kitchen and very small. We’ve seen where others, with the same kitchen footprint, have added a peninsula so we are trying to do that. As well as move the fridge to the complete opposite wall, expand the entry from the dining to the kitchen and whatever else NEEDS to be done. my questions...my husband recently argued that 36” is the STANDARD for a range. I was under the complete different understanding that 30“ is the standard. I understand 36” is better (and I’d love to have that!). But, as I said, it’s a smaller galley kitchen as is and I’m pulling out as much storage and counter space I can get from this small space/kitchen.

Regardless if it’s 30” or 36” inch that is the “average” range size...what size hood should I look at to go over my gas range? Should it match the range size or be 6” inches wider? The ceiling is only 8” and, AGAIN, it is a smaller galley style kitchen. So...I’d love the size of a larger range and a larger hood just for “style”...but I really care more about storage and countertop space right now. I’ve read so many threads and they’re pretty conflicting. Any and all help is so very much appreciated!

Thank you

Featured Answer

wildchild2x2

5 years ago

last modified: 5 years ago

36" hood over a 30" range is only necessary if you have a high btu output gas range and you do a lot of high heat searing and grilling. Even with a gas range in the upper levels of potential output most people will never have the need for an over-sized hood. How often does anyone cook on all four to six burners set on high at once? Unless you are running a Chinese restaurant the answer is you aren't.

36" is not the standard range. It is a popular size here on this forum and where people take their cooking seriously. (or pretend to) But 30" is still the standard size you will find in most American homes. 36" is only better if you will need it or use it. If you do a lot of baking and being able to use commercial sized bake ware is important to you. However if that is your only oven it will be way over-sized for normal day to day cooking.

You are giving up quite a bit of storage if you put a 36" range with a 36" hood. Do the math. Even more if you went with a 42" hood over it.

Forget about what other people are doing and saying. Forget about style and think about function. That is far more important in a smaller kitchen than one that some people here seem to build to roller skate in. Determine how YOU use your kitchen presently and how you would like to use it in the future.

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Comments (8)

Rawketgrl
5 years ago
30" Range, unless you have large kitchen. 30" hood if range is electric, 36" if gas.
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I have a remote, roof mounted blower that's loud but not awful. You only need high speed if you are grilling, and that's a fast enough process that conversation isn't difficult. At low speed [Independents are 3 speeds, not variables] you know it's there, but it doesn't make you raise your voice. A 150 cfm fan 'standard'? Even those horrible little OTR micros blow more than that, and they are completely ineffective. There's formulas for figureing how many CFM you need over on the Appliance and Kitchen forums based on the BTUs your range can throw. Since such formulas assume you are going to be using every burner on full at the same time, they are pretty much overkill, but since I have [and use] the built in grill which flames up from time to time and have a hard to clean beadboard and beam ceiling, I chose to go with the biggest residential hood I could find. At less than maximum speed with 4 steaks on the grill, you can see the smoke swirling inside the hood enclosure, which to my mind means some of it is escaping. At high speed, it's instantly gone. A vent for makeup air directly under the stove creates a column of moving air that also helps contain the smoke.
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Nadine--I think those slide out hoods are going to require a lot of the space in the cabinet above so you're going to lose that space anyway. So you might want to consider a more conventional undercabinet hood, too. Depending on your situation, you may be able to vent directly out the back of hood into your existing vent and not lose any of the cabinet space. It won't be quite as accessible though as you realize. I'm assuming that your rectangular vent is 3.25 x 10" which is roughly equivalent to a six inch round duct. So you need to look at hoods with CFM's sized for that size of duct. Unless you know exactly how your vent is situated, you need to remove the microwave. A lot of hoods will be adaptable to horizontal rectangular, vertical rectangular vent and vertical round exhaust. I know that my Zephyr hood had all three options. Zephyr Typhoon I disagree that you will get 'tremendous' noise. Not going to be whisper quiet but will most likely be substantially less noisy than most micro hoods. Here is a link that might be useful: Slide out range hood
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Do you have the stainless steel work surface in one area? You must with a 5 burner. That would make the burner surface around 42" wide. In general, I don't understand why (except for looks) installing a hood over just the surface that contains burners wouldn't be ok? This range, tho, I'm thinking they spec non-combustible materials for the wall behind it. They are kinda peculiar about installation. So I think I'd call the dealer and ask about that. Plus a fair number of localities ban range installations in front of a window. Here we can call the building inspectors for an opinion in advance - maybe you can too? I'd do it and ask about both things before I got too committed (i.e. fell in love) with the layout.
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"We have 9 foot ceilings, so they didn’t take them to the ceiling because they said it would make them tall and skinny..." Really? I call BS. Here are my cabinets to the ceiling with 9 foot ceilings. I am beyond happy that my cabs go to the ceiling, eliminating the need to dust above them. My kitchen looks larger and brighter without the dark shadows above the cabs, too. My cabs are custom so we were able to spec 46" uppers with 8" crown but you can go with 42" tall uppers and 12" crown. I asked but you didn't answer: is there a reason why you haven't considered moving the fridge to the sink wall? That would give you wider aisles and a larger island, plus more room around your range and a better meal prep flow of fridge to sink to counter to range. I mocked up how that might look. You can use your existing fridge (that saves $$) and pull the base cabs out to create 30" deep counters, which will make your full size fridge look like a counter depth model. I decreased the depth of the cabs on the opposite side of the kitchen to 12" deep for a full run of pantry cabs. You may be able to eliminate more uppers in your kitchen with the additional storage the pantry cabs provide, which means that you could make the window over the sink even wider. Here's how that might look in your kitchen. I didn't draw it up this way but your one window would become either 2 slider windows or 2 single hung windows or, as they did in the above kitchen, 3 single hung windows. I shifted the island away from the sink counter, giving you 45" aisle between counters (42" between fridge door and counter) and 42" aisles between pantry cabs and island (assuming that your kitchen is 13'/156" wide). That also gives you more room around your range so a wider range and hood would look more in scale. That said, I agree with others: an oversized hood isn't the right fit for your kitchen. I also think it's an odd choice to spend so much $$$ on a very detailed, oversized hood over a 30" range. I think it will look like you ran out of money half way through the remodel so all you could afford was a 30" range, not the 36" pro style range you had intended to get. And definitely spend the money to upgrade to drawer bases. That's a splurge that you will never regret. Ever.
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DrB477
5 years ago
30" is the most common size. 36" is a luxury rather than a neccesity for most people. A larger hood will do a better job and a 6" oversized hood is preferable but same sized would not be a disaster. I dont have statistics to verify this but i am pretty sure most people (particulaly at 30") get hoods that are the same size if they get a hood at all.
opaone
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
For a gas range and if you have cabinets on either side of the hood then you want to be at least 6" wider for safety. Otherwise it depends on how you use your kitchen.

More: https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5161173/hood-faq

From an odors/steam/grease standpoint you can only exhaust from the house what you capture in the hood. Keep in mind that higher CFM's will not make a smaller hood perform like a larger one. So, the larger your hood the more stuff it will capture and the less stuff that will permeate throughout your house.
opaone
5 years ago
Other thoughts...

If you cook a lot then a 36" range is much more efficient space wise than a 30". A 30" range is realistically limited to 4 useable burners and nothing else. For the extra 6" a 36" adds two more burners or much better and much more versatile, a 12" thermostatic griddle. The larger oven in a 36" is also very useful - for example, most can fit two half sheets on each rack rather than just one so effectively doubling the useable oven space. Larger ovens are also better for roasting since the heat reflecting sides are farther from the meat. The larger oven does take longer to pre-heat though.

So, if you enjoy cooking or entertaining then I'd definitely get a 36" w/ a 12" thermostatic griddle.

My brother-in-law is a remodeler and has done a lot of kitchens. He's also removed a lot of peninsula's as people dislike having to walk around them. No idea what your layout is but something to consider.
PRO
Jeffrey R. Grenz, General Contractor
5 years ago
Hood size parameters are determined by the range installation instructions. 30" wide hood over 30" range, gas or electric, is usually the minimum spec.

Minimum clearances are also contained in the range spec which often defines a side clearance space minimum of 6" x 18" off top of cooking space.

Make sure upper cabinets are not set too low into this space.

Read the specifications.
kaseki
5 years ago
The OP wrote: "So...I’d love the size of a larger range and a larger hood just for “style”..." Few want a larger hood for style; most resist having a larger hood even though it increases effectiveness at the cost of more required air flow rate and potentially a deliberate means of supplying make-up air.

Cooking plumes expand as they rise, hence the hood capture aperture has to be larger than the area occupied by whatever pans might be used on the cooking surface. Otherwise, the effluent partially spreads into the kitchen allowing grease and moisture to settle on surfaces, and odor to spread and linger. A six-inch wider hood helps achieve this. A large enough front-to-back dimension is also needed. Assume the plumes expand at an angle of about 10 degrees from the vertical.

The hot cooking plumes will have an upward velocity that depends on cooking surface temperatures and presence or not of gas combustion products. When these plumes (to the extent that they are captured by a large enough hood) reach the hood filter, they will bounce off due to conservation of momentum unless the air velocity induced at the filter by the hood blower is high enough. Commercial and residential practice suggest a value of 90 ft/min at the hood entry aperture (not the filter) is sufficient to retain the effluent and achieve containment. 90 ft/min is equivalent to 90 CFM per square foot of hood entry aperture. Use of induction cooking without any searing or wokking or hot frying may allow a lower value, but not below 60 ft/min.

Hood blowers can only meet their specified zero pressure loss flow rate when hanging in free air. All other configurations have pressure loss (air flow resistance) as a function of flow rate, and thus when installed each blower flows less than its rated value. Buying a blower rated around 1.5 times that needed for containment (see above) should overcome the likely pressure losses, assuming there is a make-up air path suitable for the flow rate.
wekick
5 years ago
I had 30" ranges for most of my years cooking and have 36" now. It's nice but if my countertops were restricted, I would go back to 30". You pay a lot more for the extra 2 burners. The 36" oven may not hold two half sheets, especially the electric ovens so if this is important, you want to check. Look at the rack size vs square feet.

There are other ways to get extra burners. You can get a couple of portable induction plates that can be put away, also plug in griddles.

Opaone-" Larger ovens are also better for roasting since the heat reflecting sides are farther from the meat."

Can you explain what you mean and how that impacts roasting.

overage size range? What size hood to fit over (the average) range?

wildchild2x2

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Rawketgrl

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