Raising a vent hood--comments?

11 years ago

We bought vacation home in FL this spring where the previous owners had done big kitchen remodel...they opened one wall and have the electric cooktop with SS GE vent hood over it...
the vent hood is very low for us--I hit my head on it almost every time I am cooking and my DIL hit her head really hard at Christmas...
the hood slopes vs going straight out--maybe that is part of the problem...
I think the normal length of the stack to attach to the ceiling was lengthened--at least it looks that way because there are two channels on the section that comes down from the ceiling before the final section...

Our electricians said they could not move it up--but recommend someone they had worked with before that did installs for stuff like that
I called him and texted photos--he said we needed an HVAC guy who worked could work with sheet metal--
So our daughter got the guy they use--who does commercial and residential HVAC--to come out but he said he couldn't do it...

So when I was in FL last week or so I called the company that actually did the remodel to see if THEY could raise the hood...
they were nice--certainly remembered the work they did--took the info for the vent hood since the owner had purchased that on his own...
and were supposed to call me back...haven't heard anything in a week so going to call them back today...

How difficult is it to raise a vent hood that is IMO too low--
I know there are specs for how far above the cooktop one should be to perform at max efficiency--
I am willing to give up some efficiency to avoid poking my eye out or getting a scalp wound...

IF these remodel guys aren't going to be willing to do the work--any suggestions about who to call next???

Featured Answer

loves2read
Original Author

11 years ago

I did post on Appliances
The info for the vent hood is at the FL house--I am back in DFW currently...
All I remember from the info is that it is a GE vent hood
I have photos of it--but find this site is impossible for posting photos (IMO) so Googled and found this on appliance site --
looks very similar if not the exact model--
has the sloping sides and if you look closely you can see the channel on the side of the mounting shaft...
the one at our FL house has those channels on the top section--
the section from the vent hood to the top section is about 13 inches tall...
it looks like it could just slide up the top portion via those channels and be raised a few inches w/o a problem...

Supposedly it is hung at the "correct" height over the cooktop which is on an island and open to the combined living-dining area after the remodeling job...

which I think is one reason it is hovering over the cooktop--they wanted to capture as much vapor as possible...

Here is a link that might be useful: Similar vent hood

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (6)

williamsem
11 years ago
I love to read too! Though lately I've read so much on kitchen stuff that anything else is on the back burner.

I don't have an answer for you, but I do have two suggestions to get your answer. First, cross post on Appliances, they have some great advice on hoods there. Second, can you add some details? Venting is all about numbers. How wide and deep is the hood? How high is it currently mounted? How wide and what type of cooktop? Do you know the model so they can check specs? Do you know the CFM rating? Are there cabinets on each side?
Related Professionals
Federal Heights Kitchen & Bathroom Designers · Four Corners Kitchen & Bathroom Designers · Highland Park Kitchen & Bathroom Designers · Oneida Kitchen & Bathroom Designers · San Jacinto Kitchen & Bathroom Designers · Town 'n' Country Kitchen & Bathroom Designers · Bensenville Kitchen & Bathroom Designers · Charlottesville Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Deerfield Beach Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Glen Carbon Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · South Park Township Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Eufaula Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Homer Glen Cabinets & Cabinetry · Indian Creek Cabinets & Cabinetry · Jeffersontown Cabinets & Cabinetry
loves2read
Original Author
11 years ago
This is more the way my hood is hung--dropped from the ceiling over the island cooktop
and I promise you--
my vent hood is hung low enough that it is at my forehead level--and I am 5'5"
this one looks to be hung a good few inches higher from the cooktop...

Here is a link that might be useful: another view
snoonyb
11 years ago
Have you found the PDF for the installation of your hood.

It sounds as if no one wants the responsibility for doing a rebuild.
karen_belle
11 years ago
We had trouble getting our GC to shorten the sheet metal chimney of our hood before the installation. It's not a job that is easy to do well - snipping sheet metal can really bend it and it would look awful if done poorly - so our GC just refused to do it. My husband went to a kitchen retailer and asked around if anyone had recommendations for a sheet-metal shop. Someone did, and he visited that guy's shop. In a very short time we had a shortened chimney and it looks great. My GC grumbled about it, but he was just a nasty sourpuss. My DH is 6'2" and I'm 5'8" and we did not want to bang our foreheads every time we cooked. The vent is hung at the upper limit recommended by the manufacturer (we have 8' ceilings which is why the chimney had to be cut down).
Cloud Swift
11 years ago
When we had a problem with the way our hood was installed (and our GC didn't agree that it was a problem and wouldn't change it), we went to an appliance store (the one where we had purchased the hood) and they gave us a card from an "Appliance Installer".

Ours is an island hood so the duct cover (i.e. the piece between the ceiling and the hood) is structural and supports the hood. The appliance installer offered to have a local sheet metal place make the replacement duct cover, but we were already talking with the hood manufacturer (who also does custom hoods) and they made a custom hood for us. The other alternative probably would have been fine too.

Our problem was that we needed the duct cover to slant because there was a ceiling joist where the duct cover would meet the ceiling if the hood was positioned over the burners and the duct cover went straight up. We needed a new duct cover to be fabricated with a side like a parallelogram instead of a rectangle.

Then the appliance installer did the install.

I sometimes wish we had had it made a bit shorter and more slanted to put the hood slightly higher. It is fine for me and most of the family but my daughter-in-law sometimes has hit her head on the corner.