I'm still keeping my hopes up that the Cirrus by Best ceiling mount fan might work, but I'd like to see more real world reviews before sinking $$ into an unknown.

Plan B is to find a non-offensive something that would not interfere with the opening more than it had to. I would consider getting a bigger blower (probably external) if that meant I could keep it up higher. It would be visible from the porch side so that factors in to the small footprint or invisible (ceiling mount) wish.

Plan C is no range hood. Imagine that's not the best idea in the world.

Mama_goose (thank you!) linked to this image which is pretty much exactly what I had in mind, except more rustic (and smaller). So gorgeous. Almost makes me want to have white inset cabs with wood counters. Kinda swoon-y IMO.

No range hood visible there and I love that.

So. Does anyone have any great ideas? Or pics of range hoods visible through a pass through that would make me not hate the idea so much? Or both?

As an aside: currently searching for a low backsplash (as the one shown in the pic) for my Chambers to swap out with my high one. That would solve the back splash problem of needing to be 16" tall to cover the unfinished back. Bellsmom had the idea of keeping the counter back splash lower and putting something on the ledge behind the stove backsplash to cover it and that's one good idea, but I think I'd rather lose the high BS altogether.

Anyway, here is the rendering of my space. Let 'er rip:

I would not use black or stainless. Copper or copper-colored, bronze, or wood boxed would be my choices.

A vent on an island, which this essentially is, needs to be more powerful than a vent on a wall, as you know. So spend the necessary bucks here.

My grandmother had a gas stove with no vent at all, and countertop on only one side, and she cooked in that kitchen for 50 years. The stove sat right beside the back door, and when the kitchen became too smoky, we'd open the door and fan it a few times! No one here would consider her kitchen terribly functional, but she cranked out some wonderful dishes, canned goods, and advice.

The ceiling mount fan in your link looks good, but I noticed that Amazon has no reviews either, and lists the fan as currently unavailable. I hope some of the KDs here can weigh in with their experiences.

Is that a 40" range?

However, I have to give them credit for some lovely copy:

Cirrus lives above, gently touching the ceiling as clouds touch the sky. (sigh...)

Steph: boxing it with wood is a possibility. Could use the same wood that will box in the beam or have the cab people build a box out of the same wood/stain as the cabs. That idea is on the list.

Bellsmom: that doesn't look terrible. I think your point about not using stainless bears thinking about. A copper something would probably be out of the budget but maybe a wood/copper trimmed box?

Mama_goose: yeah, my Mom had a round fan in the ceiling and it always had an area of grease on the ceiling around it. And it was cold in the winter, so my Dad would cram plastic bags in it and then we'd be opening the door to fan out the kitchen. And we all lived to talk about it, lol.

I found one review just posted a couple days ago and the woman that posted it gave it a positive. She even posted a pic of it in her real life kitchen. I'm still crossing my fingers that I can make that bugger work. And on the website, you can get different blowers than the 600cfm. It think 900 and up to 1500.

Cottagewithroses: the problem with vintage style hoods is they are all (or the ones I've seen) wall mount which would bring the passthrough down to 36" high. Not wanting to do that.

Nosocceromom: that's nice. Definitely some kind of box that pulls from the walls/beam is on the short list.

palimpsest: the 17 is an interesting design. Thank you for that suggestion.

localeater: I'm going to start reading about these things. This might be an excellent answer. I mostly do some pan frying as far as grease type cooking. Deep frying is outside (or it will be, lol). Make lots of soup and then oven use. We grill outside. Hmmm, your idea about having this in the wall and pop up is verrrryy interesting. I'll check this out. Thank you.

Building the top of the pass- through down is a definite possibility. What helps that is the porch ceiling on the other side of the pass-through will be about 8' sloping down to 7'+ inches on the window wall vs. the kitchen ceiling at 9'.

The stove is 38" wide, fwiw.

Probably a pistachio green (going off your sketch) barrel hood would be just lovely from all sides. Remember the other nice thing about a real hood: lights!

Now, on the subject of budget busters, I could almost picture a hood-like thing over the entire peninsula, from one end to another, as sort a canopy over the whole deal. Suctiony bits just in the middle. Possibly hanging stuff on the sides (you said you wanted it open--what's more open than pots? Okay. Don't hang stuff.). I think I just described a hot dog cart. So never mind.

If you could put really short cabinets in front of that beam, ridiculously high useless cabinets (glass fronts?) then a plain rectangular wood hood could maybe hide.

I looked at all the hood options for a similar setup because I have a range on a peninsula behind a header like you do kinda. I'm putting the wall back. The options stink. :)

Deedles- Maybe you should give me your vintage range and look for a downdraft? I'm just thinking of you... :)

What do you mean on either side... like to the left and right cabinet side? I'm not picturing what you mean...

Lav: good to know I have another option... I'll put it at the bottom of the short list :)

Actually, I'm liking this downdraft idea. This is not a high BTU stove and I don't do flaming whatever very often.

OT: I love these lights. Metro lighting.

Love the pendants!

*Edited to add pic.

Same model on eBay

Would it be possible to integrate it into the window ledge, so that when it's down, it's not apparent?

But if you can stick it into the stubby wall behind the range I think that'll be good enough.

Oy is THAT ever a beautiful stove. I really love these old things.

When we remodeled, I put in a 1200 cfm Modernaire hood and vent. It cost a lot. I didn't care. I don't fry very often at all--can't remember the last time I did. I do occasionally cook meats on a high-heat griddle, as I did last night.

AND I brown roasts at high temp, roast meats and veggies, and prepare soups that simmer and bubble. There are only DH and I at home now, so meals are often just heated up leftovers--I cannot get the hang of cooking for only two, So not a lot of cooking.

And the baffles on the vent are covered in grease after 2 or 3 weeks at the most. No problem--they just go in the DW.

Without a good vent, that greasy mess would be all over my new kitchen--as it was pre-remodel in the old kitchen.

I used to HATE trying to wash the upper cab fronts, which I did four times a year since the recirculating vent over the stove did nothing. The combination of grease and cat and dog fur 8 feet up was horrible.

Now, after a whole year, there is NO grease on the cabinet fronts. I just checked. :-)

The moral of this over long tale: Your beautiful kitchen (and the rest of the house) and you, the dutiful cook and house cleaner deserve an efficient and powerful (whether beautiful or not) vent and fan. Beautiful is nice, efficient and powerful are essential.

IMNSHO

I know you're really struggling with this, but the function of the hood decision needs to be taken into account. Wall-less range/cooktops are a bugger to vent because no one wants to block their view. I do love the range though!

IC: BUT I DON'T WAAANNNT TO BLOCK THE OPENING WITH A VENT HOOOOODDDD!

IA: I don't want to be cleaning a film of grease off everything including the porch windows.

IC: WAAAAAA!

IA: Knock it off. It's not like it's a cinder block wall up there or something.

IC: BUT I LOVE THAT PICTURE AND THAT'S WHAT I WAANNNTT. (bottom lip touching chin)

IA: Let's start another thread asking if anyone has put their range hood up higher than recommended and if they like it. Maybe that would work...okay?

IC: sniffling-- okay...

Can mount at 36 inches, pretty small profile. They don't sell on their site, so not sure how much, sorry!

It has several range hood options that have that clean, beam-like line options that I think you are looking for here.

In any case, it's pretty eye candy! Hope it helps!

I like the idea of incorporating a shelf into a hood box and in all the same wood.

Fori: I read in that old thread that you put your hood higher then usual? How high is that anyway?

Steph2000--I missed that thread. Really enjoyed it.

You mentioned above that having the hood at a lower (improved function) height would lower the bottom edge of the adjacent sections of the pass through.

Not necessarily. You could have them higher but have a section (the part behind the hood and maybe a wee bit more, if necessary) extend down below the bottom of the pass through upper curtain wall. The lower projecting section would essentially just be hanging (securely fastened from above!) from the bottom beam of the curtain wall. This would narrow the open part behind the range, but only behind it, the leaving the other sections at whatever height you choose. Properly proportioned and nicely trimmed out I think it would look fine, as well as preserving the maximum openness above the counter on either side of the stove. The hood could be mounted against this surface as if it was against a wall. It wouldn't necessarily have to be one the the pricier island hood designs.

(Note: all island hood situations have a technical limitation in that the HOGS spread upwards in an expanding conical fashion and without a wall behind to capture and redirect them, some will escape unless the blowers are fiercely powerful . This is a relative functional deficit in any plan with a stove free from a wall. But for many designs and kitchen visions this problem is less important for the owner than the benefits gained by the island placement. But do plan on getting a beefier than your range would naturally need CFM-capability in order to somewhat compensate for this.)

The lowered above-range section and obviously more visual mass would make the focal point of the chambers; sort of a legless proscenium opening framing the main stage.

I wouldn't worry about the higher riser on the stove - it might turn out to be functionally very useful in limiting the openescape area behind the stove before the HOGS hit the bottom of the fan.

HTH
L.

No really, what is HOGS? Heated____ gas___?

Well, what CFM would you think I'd need for this stove? The burners are 9,000BTU and the run would be no more than 6 feet with one elbow, so maybe 11 feet in the aggregate.

Anyway liriodendron, I think you are correct. My inner adult measured my current range hood at home, and I think if I could get something about 36...maybe 33" above the cooktop it would be fine. I threatened my inner child with the task of scrubbing dog hair grease off any and all surfaces and she's now thinking that maybe a lower range hood wouldn't be all bad. Maybe a box for it out of the beam wood?
Also, interested in fori's slide out hood.
I'm sure there is a good compromise between function and design.
Thanks for weighing in, I appreciate it. And if you have any thoughts about CFM's I also appreciate knowing that.

As for the back of the stove. It's a painted black sheet metal panel back there. Not so cute from the porch side.

But...currently I have a range in a peninsula sort of like you're putting in (but not as well thought-out and kinda ugly) and it has a downdraft. I do not use the downdraft because it's not vented properly and for some reason the inner me would rather have cooking gunk in my living room than my crawl space. Two years now (?!! ACK!!) and we're terrible housekeepers. It's a little gunky behind the stove (can't reach it to clean easily so I don't) but it is NOT THAT BAD.

I always used my hood. Always. Now I don't. I miss it when I cook smelly things. Or when I burn things. Or when I cook habanero jelly which gives my baby asthma (I use the downdraft for that now). But grease has NOT been a problem. I'm not finding it more than a foot away from the cooktop. This stove is in the middle of my house, in the middle of my STUFF. Less than 10 feet away from my TV (dusty, but not sticky), my sofa (dusty, not sticky), etc. I'm not a super greasy chef...but my range and surroundings are completely flat. You will do better with your backthingy.

I think you might be okay. From my personal experience.

Look: that black bleb on the counter (not the black bag): that's my stove. Photo taken from the rest of the house. HOGS isn't a big problem. (If HOGS is what I think HOGS is.) I do want a hood though, and you should too. I'm just saying it doesn't have to be an gardenweb UBERhood.

Can your peninsula be extra deep so you can put a popup downdraft on a ledge (but not the main stubby divider) behind the stove? The ledge can be the height of the backthing on the range with the popup in the ledge behind the range and continue along the rest of the counter as cubbies, maybe with sliding doors. I love sliding doors. I know they're usually silly.

Ok, this is an attempt at visualizing the following:
1. taking the wall out as high as possible, preferably all the way up to the beam.
2. hanging a hood 36'' above the countertop.
I may be off a bit in the height, but I think I'm close.

And here, with apologies to your beautiful kitchen-to-be, is an attempt to visualize what that setup would look like from the sunroom.

I am sure the hood will appear darker in silhouette than I showed it.
Of course I can't remember where cabs will be, and I don't know wall and ceiling colors.

But, hey, this doesn't look TOO bad.

Suggestion: mock up a hood silhouette and tape it in place. So you can actually see just how obtrusive it will be.

I was envisioning something like ModernAire PSI 16 or PMI 16. Both can be had with around 1200cfm, which I think you would want. I think the wide hood part in both is about 6'' thick. My drawing makes it look a bit thinner than that, I think.

DH and I have beat this to death today and this is our compromise: Make the doorway to the porch narrower at 48". give the rest to the stove wall which lengthens it by about 20". The compromise part is a 40" wall behind the stove with 36" wide full height to the beam openings on either side ala Shanghaimom's stove wall setup.

The bad part: losing the full opening.
The good parts: Range hood got easier (and cheaper), base cabs got bigger AND the stove moves to the left enough that I can return the sink wall back to its symmetrical 36's flanking each side of the window with no functional loss of counter space between the sink and stove.

The other good part is DH's blood pressure can go back to normal as that is a load bearing wall and he was starting to freak a bit about how to shore the whole thing up for reasons that I zone out on when he starts telling me. Something to do with no attic clearance, blahdeblah.

I hope everyone doesn't want to strangle me for this roller coaster ride. I guess it's a process and you all helped my inner child grow up a bit and find the balance between the picture in my head and the reality of the space.

I think it's a pretty good trade, all in all, though.

also, downdraft would be a no go apart from the sketchiness of it's function as the venting is impossible. Stone wall on the right, basement junk to the left and concrete slab floor in the front. DH nixed that one.

Also, it gives you a usable piece of wall on the sun porch.

Funny how sometimes it just takes time before the best solution just kind of floats to the surface of your consciousness.

Maybe you'll be able to fit in one of these somewhere :)

Ginny: It do seem to work out if you let it.

mama: HA! DH thinks that's the best idea yet.

Okay, Chief...I'm on it!

Shanghaimom's kitchen is incredibly beautiful. And to think she did it all from over in Japan!