Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
vvl_gw

Capital Culinarian Owners - please comment on grill and hood

vvl
12 years ago

I have been faithfully following this site for the past year in anticipation of our move. We are finally in the process of entirely remodeling a house we bought on a lake, hopeufully it will be our last move (year round house). I originally had been debating whether to get red or SS - chickened out and decided on SS to be safe and not get tired of it - this is not the issue....

Now I am sitting here typing with earplugs in (and a glass of wine :)! The house we lived in for 25 years and now the one we are temporarily in until our remodel is done - the smoke alarms go off consistently while cooking everyday meals. I do not want this to happen in the new kitchen. I thought I had figured out my dream range: Capital Culinarian 48" 6 burner range with grill (could always put a griddle on the grill, but not visa versa) Well, yesterday while sitting with our kitchen deisgner, he asked if I was real sure that I wanted to get a range with a grill. He has a Viking with a grill and a professional 1200 CFM hood and it readily goes off when he uses the grill. He does not recommend it.

Now I am questioning whether I should be getting the grill (really would like one) or just plan on using outdoor barbque and scrap the whole idea and just get burners :(

I am planning on the Best Pro Insert 1500 CFM wit exterior blower. Do you think this should take care of the smoke, do you recommend another brand instead?

I was planning on putting in a 27"x 54"hood with 10" duct to make it as efficient as possible, but the kitchen guy said that 27" would stick out too far - he is suggesting 24" depth.

I need to order my appliances and cabinets within the next few days. Please let me know of your experiencesw with your CC and cooking with a grill - would you do it again,does your hood adequately vent it, what type of hood did you end up using,etc.

Thanks!

Comments (13)

  • amcook
    12 years ago

    I have the exact configuration you are planning, 48" CC w/ grill and 6 burners. I used the grill quite a bit between Nov and Mar even though I live in California where the weather is never really that bad. I have a 1600CFM external blower and a 54"x24" hood. It keeps up with almost everything I've thrown at it. In addition to the grill I'm also a heavy wok user and have on a couple of occasions, overwhelmed my hood/blower. It's still the best I've had in a residential setting. If I had to do it over, I would have opted for the 27" deep hood and a 2000 cfm blower.

    Frankly, I'm not sure I understand your designer's reasoning. His vent can't keep up with how he uses the indoor grill so you shouldn't get one? What does "professional hood" mean anyways? To me it sounds like your setup will out cook his any day of the week so if you want the grill then get it. Tell your designer to make it work and upsize your hood accordingly. I think you'll find the cost difference is not that much. Now the question of 24" depth vs 27" depth on the hood is a good one. It all depends on how high you want to mount the hood. I like mine mounted above head level so 27" would have worked better for me. If you prefer having the hood mounted at eye level, then go with the 24".

    My final suggestion is not to compromise what you want just because a designer thinks it's not important or not worth it. Have them tell you what is necessary to make your ideas work and you be the judge of what is worth what. I've talked to a number of people through my renovation experience and many of them had designers whereas I did not. Every one of them had some regrets about not doing something because the designer told them it would be too hard or not worth it. Never forget that they work for *you*.

    Good luck and please post pictures when you are done.

  • aliris19
    12 years ago

    Sorry in advance: GW is blocking this post and I'm going to try in stages....

    Hiya -- I have a 27" deep hood over the CC. I was worried it would prevent me cooking or standing up and it has not been a problem at all. I am 5-7 or so (and shrinking) and don't recall the height of the hood but you could probably search this forum -- I know I've measured it for others ... only maybe it was on the kitchen forum -- probably, yes. I mounted my hood according to the specs; it's a Wolf undercabinet.

    Anyway, point is, you don't stand ramrod straight cooking anyway, plus 27" is a tad recessed from the front of the range anyway. I agree with you it's much better to have the larger hood from a ventilating standpoint. And I agree with amcook to be cautious about the KD's cautions. Your setup sounds much more powerful, plus your cooking is not necessarily the same as his. etc. Dunno, my experience with my KD was pretty underwhelming in terms of any real knowledge ... I'd trust amcook faster than any KD I've interacted with!

  • aliris19
    12 years ago

    Here's the second-half:

    For the record I have a 36" CC with a 42"x27" Wolf hood with a remote inline fantech blower. The hood is good, the configuration resulted in a quiet, powerful blower: I am happy and recommend it. I have not, however, grilled any steaks but have had no problem keeping up with hot stir-fry (though I'm still not up to full cooking-speed). Like amcook I am in socal so can't offer btdt zippered-tight cold-weather-house experience (sorry). As for the grill vs griddle, I agree that the regular grates may be more versatile than specifying a griddle (your terminology was a little confusing to me - I presume you mean basically a single flat expanse of metal vs. an open lattice network for setting pots onto). I have a flat castiron griddle to set across the burners if necessary and it works fine for pancakes. But grilling steaks we (a) don't do regularly and (b) have on outdoor grill for on rare occasions. So YMMV, but the choice that's working for us is more rather than less versatility. You sound like grilling steaks is a big part of your desire so I wouldn't let the KD's personal preferences (or mine) eclipse your own. With 48" you have 8 potential burners to play with -- go ahead and make what you want work for you! G'luck. Please feel free to contact me if you can't find my specs or the info from previous threads and it's of interest.

  • billy_g
    12 years ago

    We just installed a 27" hood over a Culinarian and the hood is no problem. In fact I wish we had made it 28" deep because we bumped the cooktop out another inch. Cooking steaks in a cast iron pan last night generated lots of smoke...

    Billy

  • bonesoda
    12 years ago

    @vv1: Yes amcook has giving you better advice than your KD. 27" depth would be a must for the grill culinarian and i would personally look at a 27" installed to see how you like it as you will be standing infront of it.

    I personally have concerns about 27" depth as if i ran into it i would probably run into it so i am going to go and look at a 27" hood installed in a showroom first.

    I have opted to get no grill on my rangetop but am still leaning towards a 27".

  • jscout
    12 years ago

    Don't let bad advice get in your way. The only reason I can think of where a 1200 CFM hood wouldn't take care of the smoke is if there was no make-up air (MUA). This is critical and often overlooked. Without some incoming air to offset the air being vacated, the fan has to work harder to be effective.

    Pretend you're an exhaust fan. Try sucking air out of a small soda bottle. It starts easy but gets tough pretty quickly, until you can suck no more. Now try sucking air through a straw. Even though the straw is a smaller opening, you have much less resistance and you can fill your lungs.

    Definitely do a deeper hood. I'm installing a 24" hood pulled out three inches. You're already planning a wider hood. I went around testing the hood height at various appliance stores. For me, as long as the lower edge was forehead height or higher, it was fine. Ideally, it would be higher, but my ceilings are only 8'. At one point I considered a 36"-48" restaurant canopy mounted to the ceiling. Talk about coverage. I chickened out, because that might have been too much.

  • PRO
    Trevor Lawson (Eurostoves Inc)
    12 years ago

    I recently changed our hood in the cooking school above the 48" Culinarian 4 burner + grill and griddle.

    The hood size is now 54" x 27" with a 1200 cfm internal blower. I uploaded a video to the Culinarian website showing me using a 16" wok on the front left hand burner with a smoke bomb in the base of the wok (LOADS OF SMOKE OMG) not one single drop of smoke missed the hood. In fact you can see on the video the smoke bending into the hood at the front and side due to the lip design and size.

    I set ours at 30" above the grate top, two reasons I set it lower than most people would recommend.

    1) The closer the hood is to the range top the more smoke and grease you catch naturally.

    2) To dispel the theory that a 27" depth hood needs to be 36" above the range top, i am 6'0" and have yet to bang my head, more importantly it's been in place now for 2 weeks and not one report of head banging from our cooking class participants. Customers who have come in to see the Culinarian live have not even noticed the that hood is 27" deep until I tell them, then they are further amazed that it's 30" from the grates.

    As I have posted before from good to excellent

    48" x 24"
    54" x 24"
    48" x 27"
    54" x 27"

    Also the Grill would be center right of the range top so its well covered by the hood.

  • vvl
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Thank you, thank you for all the wonderful feedback. I do want to stick with getting the grill and am going to do so. We probably will be cooking steaks outside most of the year (Jersey Shore), but in the dead of winter (especially like the last one) we would be cooking inside for 3 months or so. I want to grill vegetables, romaine, etc. inside.

    Two of you mention that you have the Wolf hood. Did you entertain the Best one? I have not priced the Wolf, but based on your comments will look into it. I had thought of Modernaire, Best and now Wolf.

    I do think I want to go a bit higher than the 1200cfm just because we have had such problems with setting off alarms. I will definitely try seeing how a 27" looks/feels - my hubby is 6'1" and because of his height we have had to scrap buying cute little converible :( so want to make sure he is okay with the height of the hoodt - he is the steak pro at our house!

    JScout - where do I look up more info regarding make up air. Would it only go on when the fan was on? Where should it be installed, how much, etc....

    We keep finding and adding things in $$$$$! But, this is our dream house and we are so looking to doing it the way we want.

    Again, to all of you who took the time to write in - THANK YOU! Pls let me know any more thought on the air thing and if the brand of the hood makes a difference.

    Will certainly post once we are in. Ordering cabinets and they are beautiful. Now in the midst of all the appliances .

  • jscout
    12 years ago

    I went with the 54" Best K260 and a 1500 CFM external blower. My project isn't done yet and I'm still a few weeks away from firing it all up. but I'm confident everything will be fine.

    There's a lot of info about MUA here in GW. Just do a search. You'll find a lot of technical discussions, especially by Kaseki. To the uninitiated much of it can sound like mumbo-jumbo. But be patient and don't be afraid to ask for clarification. Everyone here is extremely helpful.

  • jscout
    12 years ago

    Oh, I didn't answer your questions. The answer is it all depends. Ideally, yes, the MUA only comes on when the exhaust comes on. But that costs money. Mine is passive which means it's on all the time because there is no fan. It's just hole (from the old exhaust) that's been screened and dampered to keep critters out.

    I suggest you read all about it first and then determine how you want/need to handle it.

  • amcook
    12 years ago

    aliris19, thanks for the vote of confidence. :) Now I'm jealous of all of you with deeper hoods. :( Ah well, I'll live. I wonder if it's too late to... Whack! (that's the sound of my wife's shoe hitting the side of my head).

    A quick search found PA residential building code is primarily governed by International Residential Code 2009 - ch 15 sec 3.4. This basically states that any range ventilation over 400cfm is subject to MUA equal to the displacement rating of the venting system. You need to consult a contractor or HVAC subcontractor to make sure that this applies in your specific location. Also, if you are renovating under permit, this should be spelled out in the plans. My reading indicates that you may need an active system but it doesn't specify a requirement to provide heated MUA. There may be another section that mandates that however.

  • dinoman
    12 years ago

    I will concur with what amcook and Trevor have said. I have a 48" Culinarian with grill in the middle, a Modernaire hood 54"x27" and a roof mounted 1400 cfm blower. I wok several times a week and use the grill regularly.

    The combination absolutely rocks. No smoke alarm problem at all, virtually perfect capture of smoke and grease. And you would be surprised at how much vaporized oil ends up on the hood baffles when you stir fry.

    Just do it. You'll be happy.

  • bonesoda
    12 years ago

    @trevor: "2) To dispel the theory that a 27" depth hood needs to be 36" above the range top, i am 6'0" and have yet to bang my head, more importantly it's been in place now for 2 weeks and not one report of head banging from our cooking class participants. Customers who have come in to see the Culinarian live have not even noticed the that hood is 27" deep until I tell them, then they are further amazed that it's 30" from the grates. "

    Trevor i am happy to hear your comments re: 27" as i had my concerns. Coming from your experience i am satisfied and will do the 27" as you had previously recommended for the culinarian. Mine would be mounted 30" above the CC as well as per vah recommendation.