I thought I'd started a thread about this already but can't seem to find it. That old one, as I recall, had a post with photoshopped monkies flying up the vent too ... where'd that go?

So ... I'll start another thread; sorry. There's also this back there but it doesn't seem to have the monkies: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/appl/msg0319520316592.html

Issue: What inadvertent advantages have you stumbled across to having a powerful ventilation system? I ask this as one who wasn't in the slightest convinced that any at all was necessary, much less one that cost as much as an appliance (yes, I know, it *is* an appliance).

Here's what I've found, with the most recent listed first:

(1) Sucks away fruit flies like a charm. Really!

(2) Enables sob-less onion-cutting

(3) Quiets those noisy smoke alarms placed waaaay up high on a cathedral ceiling (what was I thinking) that seem to go off sometimes seemingly of their own fancy.

(4) Doesn't in fact annoy the annoying neighbors, ordinarily annoyed by every little thing -- I was worried the noise would bother them. With an in-line muffler ours, at least, is *far* less noisy than their pool pump! ;) So -- advantage here is it does not tick off the neighbors.

And you? What collateral benefits have you discovered from your kick-ass hood?

Oh, here's:

(5) No mysterious coating of sticky, filthy, smelly grime coating every surface in the kitchen. Who knew?

I post this because periodically others as clueless as I to the evidence of why they would like a good ventilation do post - I thought this might help.

Do you suppose those fruit flies get sucked to the outside unharmed, even? That would be best of all! Not that the world really needs more fruit flies, but who knows?