| The kitchen hood: No single appliance causes more angst in its selection. All we knew at the beginning was that lack of adequate ventilation is the single biggest kitchen boo-boo. And we were stuck with a "recirculating" (read, useless for our kind of cooking) 36" OTR over a 36" glass cooktop—definitely not the optimum equipment for Hubbest’s searing and stockmaking.
We’d already settled on a 4-burner BlueStar 30" slide-in rangetop as suiting our—well, his—flamboyant cooking style. Larger would have been nicer, but absent a complete kitchen realignment, existing cabinetry constrained our size choice.
So if you’ve got a lovely 30" BlueStar, you’re going to require a 36" hood with adequate depth and some decent CFMs, right? That much we figured out right away. What was tricky was deciding what to do about the decorative over-the-cabinets soffit that transits the length of our kitchen. (This house has many stunning architectural details, but sometimes it reminds me of a kid’s electronic gimmick where the toy gets to do all the playing.) We had a maximum of only 14" below the soffit, considering that 30" above the cooktop is generally the recommended placement for the bottom of the hood. Furthermore, that soffit absolutely dictated a hood that vents out the back—in our case, straight out through the wall.
Now, Modernaire had a product that cosmetically would have been perfect; besides that, their ability to do custom sizing meant we could have gotten a nontraditional hood height of 14", provided with back venting. But negotiations broke down when we were referred to a distributor who took so long to return our initial call (and never did respond to e-mail inquiries) that we knew this: If they’re not there when you’re handing out the money, what assurance do you have that they’ll be there if anything goes wrong later on?
"Bless those who disappoint you, for they are leading you toward a better path." I live by that creed. And my better path led first to Eurostoves, because of their knowledge, responsiveness, and reputation for excellent customer service. Trevor recommended Prestige, by BlueStar, but it was pricier than Hubbest wanted to go, given that the Modernaire negotiations for my dream hood had fallen through.
Then we flashed on Eurostove’s special on the Cavaliere hoods, whose finish Trevor found quite lovely, and the height was acceptable, so I said, "Send it." THEN I looked at the specs and realized it only vented out the top, a real deal-breaker for our circumstances (because of the infamous soffit, remember?). A quick call to cancel the order, which, fortunately, had not yet shipped, and it was back to the drawing board.
Are we having fun yet? You who have agonized over hood selection know the feeling.
For some time, Broan’s Elite had been on our radar screen, but I was concerned about the loudness (they rate their 600 CFMs at 13.5 sones) and the seams. Still, it’s a stainless baffle, pro-style hood with adequate capture area. And Trevor felt it could be a decent answer, given our parameters. So although it’s 18" tall, we ordered it.
Then began the real headache: what to do about the soffit? One contractor suggested cutting into it. A second said he’d truncate it. A third envisioned rerouting it (up and over the top of the hood), to the tune of $2,700. I just closed my eyes, crossed my fingers, and prayed.
Meanwhile, our BlueStar arrived at the local dealer’s warehouse. "Send it out," said Hubbest with excitement. And for three days we admired it, parked ingloriously on our dining room table, awaiting the installer and the arrival of our Broan Elite hood. Hubbest petted it daily. Then, anticipating its installation, he removed our dainty little glasstop Creda.
Finally, here came the installer and his helper. One look, an "I don’t do tile," and there went the erstwhile installing team, leaving our gaping hole unfilled.
What now?
Remember that old camp skit where the villain is threatening the sweet young thing with eviction and the hero comes charging in, eyes flashing, and declares, "I’LL pay the rent"? That’s my man. (Fortunately, he’s very handy, having been a sailor and a mountain man, and the BlueStar is a simple machine—especially in its rangetop iteration.)
But now what do you do when you’ve got two 22k burners right up front and rarin’ to go, and no hood to vent their fury? You pace the floor. You check your tracking information. You measure and remeasure and fuss and fume and sweat a lot.
And then the hood arrives and you say "Yay! Hooray! (But what about the soffit?)" And THEN you get out the tape measure to check the dimensions of the hood, which is…30" wide? Blink. Gape. Gulp.
Everybody’s paperwork said 36". Mine, Eurostoves, everybody’s. Yet the hood was indisputably, undeniably, unremittingly 30" wide, no more.
But that’s why you go with a company known for their exemplary customer service. Despite all the ordering information to the contrary, the hood had arrived in the wrong width, and Eurostoves made good on it, immediately and forthwith.
Did I mention that Hubbest is also a Harley rider? Do you think, champing at the bit, that he’d wait for a 36" Broan to be shipped from the East Coast? Right you are.
So we called for the 10" tall, 36" wide, back-venting, seamless Kobe within our grasp. The soffit would be inviolate. We could cook again. And we would have ventilation. 800 CFMs on high, with only 4.5 sones. In Quiet mode, at only 1.5 sones, we let her run all the way through dinner, vacuuming the last cooking smells from the air.
Somebody on GW found the Kobe’s halogen lights to be too dim. That’s not our appraisal. And we improved the capture area of our Kobe’s 22" depth by building it 2" out from the wall, thereby achieving the effect of a 24-incher.
I like its sleek, seamless lines, and though I still look wistfully at the photo of that Modernaire hood that grabbed me, I think our Kobe looks just fine. And at less than half the price.
Finally we’re the ones doing the playing.
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