Get a better design that doesn’t have the cooktop on the island. Or get a big island hood that can actually do the job.

Ranges on islands are tough - not just for venting but also because hot things in the middle of entertaining space, splashing etc.. are you dead set on this set up?

Thank you everyone. We are at the stage where we can do anything with the shifts. We wanted to make sure we have the "triangle" movement that is most useful. Would we be able to move/redirect the vent to the oven/microwave side? We could put the stove top next to the oven?

Can you post a floor plan and pictures of your existing kitchen? Many people have a cooktop on and island and really enjoy it. It does not look like there is anywhere else to put it ( but need dimensions ) . AT the very least, reconfigure the island - move the seating to one end and the cooking to the other, then use a peninsula hood above the cooktop.

If you can make the island deeper, that will make a big difference as well.

Something like this:

Google up FuturoFuturo exhaust fans

You won't see many cooktops in islands because they are problematic. Venting is important in a kitchen. You may have a kitchen or work in a fashion where the kitchen triangle is not the best solution for your kitchen. Kitchen "zones" is an update on the concept of a triangle.

https://moss-design.com/kitchen-work-triangle/

https://www.realhomes.com/advice/kitchen-work-triangle

https://www.premierkitchens.net.au/sydney-kitchen-design-blog/the-kitchen-work-triangle-and-why-its-out-dated/

I've had an island cooktop in my American kitchens since the mid-90s. Both times there were already in the houses I bought, but if I were designing a kitchen on my own, I would also do an island cooktop.

My cooktops have downdrafts that vent outside the house, through the floor. If I were designing a kitchen, I would get a FuturoFurturo over-the-cooktop installation, to vent outside through a ceiling duct.

If you do this they are not problematic.

Fwiw, I was forced to live in furnished rentals for nearly a year recently due to a relocation, and three of the rentals had cooktops facing the wall with an overhead exhaust that went outside through a ceiling duct. The distance between cooktop location (in an inside wall) and the outside was, in 2 houses, longer than what the duct would have been had the cooktop been in the center island.

So much misinformation on the internet! During my long house hunt I looked at literally hundreds of kitchens in houses for sale, and I saw just as many islands with cooktops as I did with sinks or nothing. They are not rare. They are quite common.

I hope never to have a kitchen where I have to face a wall while I'm cooking, nor clean a wall behind a stovetop every time I cook, I don't disbelieve island cooktops are "problematic" for some people, but obviously thousands and thousands of people use them and have no problem, including no health problems. Fwiw, I have no seating at my island, but I wouldn't even if I had no cooktop there. I just don't like to sit at counters.

We have an induction cooktop in our island. I love it and have no problems with grease or mess. An exhaust fan is not required by code where we are unless the cooktop is gas, so we have no fan and no issues.

ps: my current cooktop is a JennAir downdraft, purchased last year. In a different house I had a Thermador. I doubt they make the model anymore and I didn't care for it.

I would place the dishwasher between the fridge and the sink. Get rid of the wall ovens and put a range in their place. Then you will have a good flow, plenty of prep space, and a usable island...and a way to add ventilation.

Thank you all so very much! I will take some photos of our current kitchen layout with dimensions and see if we can solve this together. I so very much appreciate the input! It is helping us so much!

I agree with Beverly island cooktops are not ideal at all.

Thank you all very much! These suggestions have been so incredible helpful! I will discuss all with my husband and tomorrow will post our current layout galley kitchen and also submit measurements as requested. Thank you again for all the time and input! It has been so appreciated.

With the proper ventilation, like the correctly sized island hood, you will be fine as long as you have the proper distances of countertop to the sides and back of the cooking surface.

Island hoods are not some exotic obscure thing, they are designed to serve that function and they have been around for significantly more than half a century. I have seen kitchens with islands and large range hoods over them from the 1950s.

Many people, in here especially, do not like them. If you want it there, go ahead, just do it with the right clearances and the right hood. It's bigger, it's more expensive, it's more complicated, and it can look kind of "commercial" in that regard, but so what? If you like it you like it. I always liked cooking on an island even though I have never had one myself.

This forum is also Obsessed with range hoods, their size and function. I have a range hood. I like having one and I use it. I have designed multiple kitchens for people over the years (never with an island). I have Never eaten a meal in any of their houses when any of them have even turned the range hood on. I asked one client when she used her range hood and she said "oh. maybe sometime if I am frying something smelly like fish...if I remember. But I like the smell of food, so I usually don't". I think that describes a lot of people who have never heard of the Kithcen forum.

I absolutely agree an island range is workable - but just thinking since it's a complete gut and you can likely put the range other places, is the island the best place?

Ha! thats funny. i had never had a proper hood before reno and i adore it!! i turn it on every time i cook. i am not obsessed, and usually it is on low so maybe 200 cfm (max is 600). but it keeps moisture out and grease off everything around my cooktop. i would not want downdraft but am sure i could live with an island hood if that was best layout.

Oh I am 100% for ventilation. I used to get rather sarcastic about about the difficulty of turning a single knob over the cooktop, when other family members didn't turn it on in my parents' kitchen.

I really don't understand why you wouldn't use it if you have it. I hated not having one during our recent renovation. And I wish they still made the kind that installed over a wall oven, too.

That said, in my first kitchen ( about 40 square feet) I did a OTR microwave hood and although the conventional wisdom in here is that they are useless, it definitely blasted me in the face when I was up on the roof next to the vent it came out of. I don't think it needs to be able to suck a tennis ball through a garden hose to be effective, which seems to be the lower end of the bar set in here.

We have a JennAir gas downdraft in our island. Love cooking with gas, but dislike the ventilation. If you run it high enough to do a good job on vapors, it "pulls" at the gas flames as well. It annoys me, and my husband outright refuses to use the vent. I'd explore other vent options or an induction cooktop.

My parents had a pop-up down draft fan on their island. It was very noisy, compared to an overhead hood.

One more vote for no range in the island. I have never had one myself but have cooked in other homes that have and I don't like how careful I have to be moving around the island when something is cooking. I want an island for big space to spread out on, get messy, throw my laptop and phone to look at recipes, have friends sit around while I'm cooking. Even in a huge island with a range, I prefer to not have to consider a hot surface and pot handles while doing so.

I also don't care for the visual impact of a vent coming down from the ceiling in the middle of an island space. If you are taking down a wall to open up a space, why obscure the new openness with a vent coming down from the ceiling?

There are some genius design pros on here who will give you great feedback based on your forthcoming drawings of the space.

Hello Everyone, I just posted our current kitchen layout. Looks like somethings were done in the 1990's - a bit of a "refacing". The entry way is the front and only door to the condo. Immediately to the right of the entry way is the entrance to the kitchen. The other entry way is at the end of the galley. The stove is on the hallway/entry way wall. We want to take the entire wall out and put the island. That was our initial idea, but we have the vent dilemma. We would like to do as much DIY, but we are stumped for ideas to keep the "triangle" movement at its optimal. We are very very open to ideas. Thank you for all the contributions! They are so very appreciated.

I love my cooktop in the island and replaced the downdraft with a powerful one. I have only one seat at the end of the island. Personally I hate sinks in islands - they look nice in photos because there’s nothing around them. My sink in front of a big window always has dish soap, sponge, etc. whereas the cooktop gets cleaned up after dinner. Plus I always hated cooking looking at a wall.

Aha, so you are in a condo that does not currently have exterior venting (just a recirculating microwave fan?) Where were you planning on venting to? Is there an apartment above you or a roof? Were you going to vent into the floor or ceiling and out the window wall? Will your condo rules allow for exterior venting? I know well the challenges of renovating in an apartment.

What is the measurement from .your window wall to your coat closet doors?

Kendrah,

We are in a condo on the first floor and there is someone above us. Currently the venting is up and across the ceiling near the window and out the window side. We don't know what to do with the venting, thus our dilemma.

The measurement from the window wall to the coat closet doors are 12.8 9/16 (152 INCHES 9/16). We want to utilize that space, even though part of our kitchen entry and entry to our condo will be the same. There is unfortunately no way around it since we live on a golf course and no back entry is accessable to our guests.

This may work. I actually like the idea of the cooktop on the island.

I stayed in and airbnb once and they had the cooktop on an island with a peninsula hood. I have to say , I really like it! It was fun to be chopping and cooking while my friends sat at the end of the island. I would definitely consider it for my house.

Since you are in a condo, there are not going to be as many options to move the vent . There is nothing wrong with your plan. Place the island in a proper position and offset the seating. You should be all set. As long as the countertop can be about 38" deep ( you have 152 - so if you have a 40 " walkway between the sink counter and island counter, that would leave 48" for a hallway.

Not sure why your rendering shows soffits - remove them and do taller cabinets.

Good luck!

Thank you Debbi, We are trying to do less cabinets as you might have noticed on our current kitchen we are cluttered with cabinets. I will measure out your suggestions and keep you posted. I will also add the dimensions as we are very open to changes at this point. We are thinking of taking out the hall closets and utizlining this area as part of the kitchen. It isn't idea as the only entry point would also be at the same area as the closet, so if we took the closet out and increase our kitchen footprint, we still have the front door issue. (see photos)

can you do a range where the mixer is?

youre taking down this wall, yes?

what's going at the far end on the other wall? fridge down there?

Depending on where you live, it is likely that a project relocating a vent hood isnt legally possible as a DIY project due to risk of fire unless one of you is a licensed electrician. In most municipalities with a building code, touching a vent (even to remove) typically requires an electrician working under the license of a master electrician, a city-issued permit/inspection (which itself often requires a blueprint of the proposed wiring plan), and the building code specifies size/height above cooktop, etc.

That's the city. Your building likely requires a licensed professional AND has mandatory construction specifications. From experience. many condo/apartments also require a set amount of liability insurance and dictate hours of construction/noise, disposal of waste.

My former high-rise in Houston required one million dollars in liability insurance coverage for ANY work done in building. Not sure of availability/cost of liability insurance for homeowner doing electrical, plumbing or HVAC in a shared building...too many possible claims if you screw up.

Do yourself a favor: Do the above research into what is required in your location OR hire an architect/designer to do FIRST. Only once you know what DIY and what vent locations are even possible, then start designing.

Otherwise, you run the risk of wasting time on/falling in love with the impossible dream.

Sincerely,

GF of a remodelling contractor

May I suggest if you want less cabinets, that you put in fewer taller cabinets without the soffit rather than putting in a soffit? That will almost certainly reduce your resale value. No home buyer ever said "there's too much storage in the kitchen".

Can you draw up a floor plan of the space? Note every door and window. It is impossible to tell you where to put things when we don't know where everything is. The other thing would be to take a look outside and see if you can tell where the vent from the micro is exiting the house. That may tell you where it is run inside.

Condos do not usually allow you to touch anything outside the house, so moving the vent most likely won't be an option. Have you had someone determine that none of those kitchen walls are load bearing? That is step one.

I would not remove those closets. They aren't really going to help you. IMO

Hi Beth,

The wall with the window in the middle is staying up. The wall where the stove and refrigerator is going down. It is not a load bearing wall. We were thinking of building out the side wall but don't know if re-venting is possible.

Thank you everyone for your insights, experience and guidance. We are slowing down our process to get a handle on what is possible. This forum has helped a lot. We have looked at links and the possibilities you have all shared.

Hi Debbi,

The vent comes out the window side over the ceiling. I will be able to provide a link to the current floor plan by tomorrow. Hopefully this will help.

Be sure to also note on a separate floor plan how the kitchen relates to the rooms surrounding it. Let's get you the best kitchen layout possible for your space. :)