Hey buehl, so sorry to hear this is such a problem for you. What range or cooktop are you using? That might make a big difference.

I know everyone here is very enthusiastic about exterior venting, but I have to tell you that I never had a need for it. Ever. In every home I've ever lived in, we've had an OTR MW and that was always sufficient. Granted, I did occasionally need to wipe down the wall behind the cooktop, but that's it. Of course, we don't do indoor grilling (originally from AZ, now living in CA, so indoor grilling is kinda silly for me). BUT we do a lot of stir fry. My last house had a bosch cooktop with high BTU burners, and I still used an ORT MW. It was a GE profile 36" inch MW with charcoal filters. We used it for 4 years and never had a problem. HTH.

I think Prestige is the brand that gets the best marks for recirculating hoods. They're not cheap but a lot less than what you're talking about for venting.

We have a 36" electric cooktop (may convert to induction in a few years). We're looking for a 42" recirculating hood.

We do not fry, use a wok, and only occasionally brown meat.

Most of our cooktop cooking is making pasta, veggies, potatoes, soups/chili, eggs (scrambled), pancakes, hot chocolate (the real stuff), boiling water for tea, etc.

Grilling is done outside, including in the winter even though we're in MD.

Weissman, I had read that some others also "think" the Prestige is the best, but no one seemed to know for certain...they just said, as you did, that they "thought" they were better. At least one person thought the only reason people thought this was b/c of looks, not functionality.

My personal opinion: the only times that I particularly miss having good ventilation is when I'm searing or deep frying. It sounds like neither of those are in your general routine, so I'd question the need to go super high end. Any mesh or baffle will remove a certain amount of grease, and that's your biggest enemy. And be honest - are you really going to replace those charcoal filters after the newness of your kitchen has worn off? Given your cooking style I'd also question the need to go with 42" - I wouldn't jump through hoops for that if I were you. Recirc isn't going to be perfect no matter how much you spend, so why spend a lot.

Who is the quote from? A plumber? An HVAC guy? I would pursue innovative solutions. You don't provide a floor layout, but, for example, you might be able to do a horizontal run to the left/right of the range on top of cabinets and then go up or out. Or do some other type of "dropped" vent.

We had a tortuous time figuring out how to get the exhaust duct out--the kitchen has no exterior walls, two floors of rooms above centered over it, and steel beams in three directions. Fortunately, we were able to use the fourth direction inside the joists to get the exhaust to an exterior, with an elbow to take it up through a low roof. I spent a number of hours with our contractor figuring this out (and ruling outother possibilities).

In the end, it may not be worth it, but having had inadequate ventilation I refrain from cooking a lot of things I'd like to because it will stink up/grease up the house.

I believe a number of people in NYC condos use Prestige hoods and have commented on them in this forum in the past. I believe the issue was performance, not appearance. That's where I got my information. You could do a search to see if those threads are still around.

I was in your shoes just a couple months ago! Forced into recirculating, frustrated by that, and not able to find any info. In hind sight, it all worked out just fine - I wouldn't even spend a $1,000 to be get venting to the outside knowing what I know now.

Here's my setup:
30" GE induction cooktop (love it, love it, love it)
Faber Inca HC SS Insert (we did a wood decorative hood).

The Faber Inca HC has 540 CFM blower and comes in 30 or 36" size installations. We have been very pleased with the amount of suction it has.

To recirculate the air, we took venting up through the decorative hood, did a 90 degree turn between floor joists, went above & over to the end of the cabinets (only about 2' for us) and then vented out into a round ceiling heat register for the air vent. It looks fine and works fine, despite all my worrying about it's looks and effectiveness.

I'll try attaching a photo that will just show the corner of the hood, but will clearly show the vent in the ceiling.
Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Shutterfly Photo

I cook alot, including lots of searing and browning. I've only ever had a recirculating hood and its been fine. I do live in a mild climate and can open doors and windows if it seems necessary. Most of the time I don't even use the hood.

I wanted to add to my previous post - I had a gas stove and am upgrading to induction in this remodel. I have never cooked on induction so I hope the recirculating fan works as well for it as it did for gas.

The really important consideration is removing the large amount of moisture generated by kitchen activities. Recirculation doesn't deal with that problem. If the result is mold, there will be a health hazard present.

I wouldn't worry about it. As a matter of fact I'd go with an OTR MW.

Though I love my Zephyr hood, EVERYONE else in my entire family (all 4) have OTR MW and never even use the fans.

Hundreds of thousands of people live in condos with no outside ventilation and they still manage to cook just fine.

buehl

I've been following this and recall that going through the roof seems that it would work to you (going up through MBR closet, through attic and roof) but that your GC shot it down because he doesn't like possibly causing a leak in a roof.

Well, I installed a vent fan over my new induction cooktop, which required a vent pipe and the only option was to go through the roof. The process was easy and straightforward and there are no leaks.

Before committing to a recirculating vent, or an $4800 fee to move plumbing, I'd revisit the though-the-roof option at least once more.

Good luck

Buehl, if I recall your plan, you have nice windows planned, right? I just don't think your risking mold going with recirculating. I have never had a mold problem in a kitchen caused by cooking. In fact, I'm fairly certain the only kitchen mold problem we've ever had lived in a tupperware container in the back of our cavernous refrigerator for a few months...

Thanks everyone!

Fenworth...thanks...I'll probably still try for a 42" though, as our design has that size and I think a smaller one would look lost...there's already 6" on either side of the hood before the upper cabinets start.

Heimert...the quote came from the Contractor who is subcontracting the plumbing. He says he has to take a wall out in our upstairs bathroom and then will have to patch it, etc. and leave it paint-ready. We have a plumber coming out tomorrow...we'll see what he says. I have a possible lead on an HVAC guy who I'm going to call tomorrow as well.

Weissman...I did search, I'm in the process of wading through them, but time is of the essence right now as my KD wants a decision tomorrow (or Friday AM at the latest). So far I haven't found one that comes right out and says "XXX is one of the best around" (Other than jim1936 who appears to have spammed us w/his "Berbel" extractor hood!)

Dlspellman...the photo is very small (tiny even!) so I cannot see much of the picture.

Livvysmom...thanks for the recommendation, but I don't like OTR MWs, so if I'm forced to, I'll go with a recirculating vent. My MW is a Sharp MW drawer (the 25MS).

Bob...When my DH measured for the vent going up through the roof, he forgot to account for the 2' our MBR extends beyond the downstairs. So, when he re-measured, it turns out the vent would have to go up the middle or our closet, right in front of the door! So, no go on that after all.

Yes Sarah, we have a lot of windows on that wall...the 7' bay window, 2-30" in the DR (left of the kitchen) and 9' of windows & sliding door in the FR (right of the kitchen). The other thing is that our house is dry most of the year since we it's so hot in the summer the A/C is running and then in the winter the oil heat (& occasional fire). A little moisture probably will be beneficial!

BTW...Is recirculating better than ductless? The Faber site says:

...ductless meaning absolutely no ductwork is required, recirculating meaning ductwork must be installed, but it does not have to go outside of the house.

Beuhl -
Sorry about the photo, I'll try again. I'm not very photo savvy I'm afraid and any hints on how to just include them in the post would be greatly appreciated.

As for the Faber brochure info, I saw that same clause when I was buying and hoped at install time I could just do the ductless (deadend it up in the decorative hood). I had a heck of a time getting anyone to tell me how to do that. They all insisted I needed to do the ductwork to exhaust out the moisture and recirculated air. I kept pointing out that same sentence, and everyone would just shrug their shoulders.... I didn't go as far as calling Faber, but the appliance salespeople, installers, and my GC were of no help on clarifying that topic. Hope you have better luck!

bob cville, do you have an island or wall mount hood? Our 36" GE induction cooktop must be on an island. The nearest exterior wall is 22' away and could be reached through the floor joists. Going up through the roof will mean 16' and through a linen closet and attic. I was hoping a 42x27 island hood with a 600 cfm remote blower would work for either side wall or roof venting. Could you give me any insight?

buehl, in my current kitchen with only a ductless microhood I need to wash down not just my cabinets but the walls, door and window trim and sometimes the ceiling near the cooktop at least once a year. Orangey gunk builds up and it sounds like your cooking style is similar to mine. I don't know if a recirculating system would just spread this type of problem further away or would collect it in washable filters but the ductless has been totally ineffective for me.

flseadog,

I have a wall mount hood as pictured below. The duct exits the fan unit at a size of 3 1/4" x 14", goes a couple of inches straight back into the wall (which was newly built as a part of the remodel) and up inside the wall between two studs.
Inside the small soffit behind the support beam pictured in the second image, the duct transitions from 3 1/4" x 14" to 8" circular, and goes through two 8" elbows to skirt around a ceiling joist and to change the angle to correspond to the slope of the roof.

{{gwi:1385660}}

If I were in your situation I'd consider installing the remote blower in the linen closet behind some removable panel, and vent up through the roof.

Buehl, is a downdraft a possibility or are you on a slab foundation?

We have a full basement, but my counters are only 25" deep so I don't think I could fit a downdraft behind my cooktop w/o major redesign & new cabinets...good idea though...thanks!

We had another plumber out and he thinks it'll be easy to reroute the waste pipe, but we are waiting for his estimate...Monday, he said.

That sounds promising! I'm out getting new estimates on my water heater situation, too.

Got the second estimate...$550! What a difference from $4,800!!!

So, moving the drain pipe is back on! Now, we need to move around the main waste pipe w/the ductwork...but my KD knew about that one and she still originally planned for the externally vented VAH, so everything should be fine now...but w/the obstacles the contractor is putting in our way, I'm not assuming anything!!!!