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Do you think you installed the right range hood?

LoPay
10 years ago

Looking for real life experience.

If your range hood is adequate, what is your cooktop/range hood configuration? Do you cook frequently?

If you chose the wrong thing, what is your issue?

Sorry for not posting in Appliances, but the posts I found on a search were what one should do, not what people's actual experiences were. Looking through pics 80% show a range hood that is as wide as the cooktop.

Comments (17)

  • mountaineer2
    10 years ago

    We have a 30" induction range, a 36" z line "pro series" hood with baffle filters and feel it is very much appropriate. Have had excellent experience with it. Kitchen has been done for 3 weeks and we use the cooktop and hood daily.

  • Buehl
    10 years ago

    I have a 42"W x 24"D hood over a 36" electric cooktop. I wouldn't want it any narrower - it does a good job of catching steam, smoke, grease, etc. from the outside burners...and you can see the steam, etc. expanding out as it rises. I definitely recommend a hood 6" wider than the cooking surface.

    If you have upper cabinets on each side of the hood that meet the hood (so no gaps b/w hood and cabinets), same-width would probably be OK, but you may find grease, etc. on the bottoms of the cabinets adjacent to the hood...

    We usually use the cooktop when making dinner and, occasionally, breakfast on the weekends.

    Note that venting requirements are not dependent on the "fuel" you use (gas vs induction vs std electric), it's dependent on the type of cooking you do: High Heat, Frying/Stir-Frying/Browning, Grilling, High Steam (e.g., cooking pasta), etc.

    [Edited to add depth of hood.]

    This post was edited by buehl on Wed, May 29, 13 at 23:08

  • deeageaux
    10 years ago

    Yes,

    I have a 42" hood with 1400 cfm over a 36" Culinarian.

    The amount of burners, their power, and what you cook is more important than the fuel but the fuel is not irrelevant.

    Again and again induction fans say that induction is more mechanically efficient. This is true. Where does this inefficient wasted energy go? It goes as wasted heat above your cooktop. If you want to get 1 gallon of water to 200 degrees you will have more waste heat above your range in a gas vs induction cooktop.

  • chinchette
    10 years ago

    I have 36" hood over 36" induction. I mainly cook in the center. I would prefer more than a 36" hood but haven't had problems. Anything greasy is done in the center of the hob.

  • jakuvall
    10 years ago

    Have a 36" x 24 x 18 h -600 cfm pro style Vent-A-Hood over a 30" Wolf DF. Cabinets to the side are 15" deep, cook a lot. Overall ok. Eventually get grease on the front of hood. Thinl it has to do with the deeper cabinets.
    If doing it again would get a 27" deep and get a Wolf.

  • fouramblues
    10 years ago

    I have a 36" wide by 24" deep, 1000cfm hood over a 36" high-btu range. I wish the hood could have been 6" wider, but those extra inches would have been hanging in mid-air! A no-go. So far it's been fine, but I use the higher settings more to be sure everything goes up. I'm with jakuvall about depth: what I would have liked even more is a 27" deep hood. The front burners don't get enough coverage as it is.

  • ginny20
    10 years ago

    I have 36" Kobe, 720 CFM, over 30" induction. I cook daily. I saute and boil, but don't deep fry often. The vent run is long and has turns, so the max capacity is not actually 720, yet I rarely need to run the hood on high. Usually I use the second-lowest setting. It works fine. I suspect that 600CFM would have been adequate for the cooktop, but having the extra power helps when I broil in the nearby wall oven.

  • trailrunner
    10 years ago

    Our set up is 7 years old and is unique to the forum. We have a 1400 cfm 54 " wide Tradewind liner over a cooking area of 54". This includes a 12" wide Miele built in deep fat fryer and a 36" Caldera gas cooktop. Our hood has baffles/inline silencer/remote blower on roof and is mounted in a custom wood mantle style surround 33" above cook surface.

    We have never wiped any grease off of any surface since day one. I have lots of pics of our wok in action and the deep fat fryer as well. All HOGS go up and out. We turn on our Tradewind hood 10 min before we start cooking..usually on med. and let it cont to run at least 10 min after cooking is complete. We are very very satisfied with the performance. It is of course not a silent hood but I can listen to NPR while it is on med so that is quiet enough. Considering our cooking style and the frequency of use and the years of use this hood is fantastic.

    We remove the baffles and clean them once a week. It is readily apparent why there is no grease in our kitchen! The baffles are a mess :) Just what you want .

    Here are 2 pics and there are many more in the albums if you click on the pic. ( we have tools hanging now on the wall ) Hope this helps. c

  • breezygirl
    10 years ago

    I installed a 42" wide and 24" deep Rangecraft hood with 600 cfms over a gas 36" CC rangetop with 6 burners.

    My criteria when choosing a hood were:
    -42" wide
    -24" deep at least
    -baffles instead of mesh filters
    -600 cfm minimum
    -quiet
    -attractive shape

    I cook almost every meal from scratch every day, and, as a SAHM, I cook a lot. We also entertain a lot, which to me means that I cook for everyone. I don't do potlucks in my house...ever. I saute, steam, stir fry, simmer, and boil regularly. I haven't deep fried in the new kitchen, but will tomorrow when I fry Arancini di Riso for a dinner party.

    Aesthetically, I love the hood. I wanted an uber expensive Modernaire barrel hood, which was way out of my budget, but was lucky enough to find my RC on their clearance page for a decent price. Functionally, it's a bit too loud for me to use every time I cook. Like TR, I try to turn it on 5-10 minutes before cooking if I'm doing something really messy or stinky. Then, I let it run for at least 5 minutes afterwards. For just a grilled cheese, for example, I don't turn it on to save my ears and my mental sanity. I'd like to investigate putting a silencer in the duct run in a couple of years if that's possible.

    I throw my baffles in the DW about once a week or two. It's nice to see the grease on them instead of my kitchen. It's so easy to throw the baffles in the DW, and they come out perfectly clean every time.

    As far as the cfms go, I had planned on a 1000cfm Kobe until I found my RC hood. The hood already had a 600cfm fan installed, and, since it was clearance, it was as-is. I gambled that the wider hood would help make up for the less than recommended cfms. I find that on high, my hood does an adequate job of sucking HOGS for almost all my high-heat cooking. I seared some steaks once last winter in a very hot pan and found a little smoke and odor escaping. BUT I do all my messiest and stinkiest high-heat cooking on the rear center burner so the HOGS have the best chance of being captured by the hood. I do occasionally wish I had more cfms, if only for the noise factor. (A hood with 1000 cfms will be quieter at 400cfms than will a hood that maxes out at 400cmfs.) An in-line silencer would help mitigate my sound issues.

    As mentioned above, I think the depth of your hood is an important criteria often overlooked when shopping. Mine is 24" deep, but it just barely covers the front edge of my rangetop burners. 27" deep hoods aren't common, but I often wish mine was that deep. I sometimes see a little steam escaping out the front edge of the hood when I have the hood on the low setting.

    All in all (after all that rambling ;) ) and knowing what I know now, I would make the same hood choice again.

  • bostonpam
    10 years ago

    Since 2010 I have a Prestige 1600 cfm 54" x 27" hood with baffles over a 48" bluestar range. We stir fry at least once a week (wok), I'll use 4+ burners at once at least 5 times a week, dinner parties for 12 - 20 once or twice a week and I cook for 40+ normally once a month. This fan is quieter than our old horrible recirculating fan. Love it!

    We don't have make up air but we live in an 1830's home with 100+ year old windows. During an energy audit they had every vent in the home on high and only a very slight drop in pressure. All our gas systems (boiler, furnace, hot water heater, fireplace) are closed systems except for the range.

  • cookncarpenter
    10 years ago

    I have a 36" wide x 27" deep Prizer over a 36" Bluestar with griddle. 1000 cfm remote roof blower on 8" duct. It is sufficient for most everything but the smokiest cooking, which I usually try and reserve for outdoor bbqing anyway. Sure, 42" wide would have provided more capture area, but as in fouramblues case, it would be hanging out in mid air.

  • KBH
    10 years ago

    I have a 48" GE Monogram 1400cfm hood over a 48" Monogram gas range - 6 burners. It sucks up everything and the baffles are easily removable and clean up perfectly. It sits between cabinets, so while I get why it's better to get a wider hood, it would look quite strange with my setup.

  • hlove
    10 years ago

    Ours does a fine job of taking things out of the air. It's 600cfm, 36" wide x 27" deep...I was looking for a deep one to cover all of the burners...we have just a basic 30" electric range. Although, the mesh doesn't cover the whole underside of the hood...there's a few inches around the perimeter of the underside that is just stainless steel or lights, plus a bar splitting between the two mesh vents (if that makes sense).

    Anyway, it fit in our budget (think we paid high $800s/low $900s), it was what I was looking for style-wise, and it was deep enough. We did end up raising it above the specified height (it's at 40") because DH is 6'2" and was bumping his head. However, still works fine...much better than the OTR microhood that we had before.

    My biggest beef is the noise. I think it was listed as a 7 on that noise scale, but man is it loud...especially on the highest setting, which I do use. If money were no object, I'd replace it in a heartbeat with something quiet. But it was/is, so I'm happy with it.

  • LoPay
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thanks everybody for your input and keep it coming.

    Trailrunner and HLove I like your kitchens - that is the sort of vibe I am going for. Open, simple, and very functional.

    I want to do a 30 inch counter depth with a 36 inch five burner cooktop centered from front to back. The highest burner is 16K BTU. I am worried that a standard 20 inch deep hood might not capture the front burners. Sounds like if I go with the same width as the cook top I will be OK, but I definitely should get something deeper than 20 inches. I might grill a steak on my Lodge grill a few times a month, and when I do stir fry I do more of stir saute.

    I'm sort of a compulsive wiper downer, so not worried about grease getting all over the kitchen. It doesn't get greasy now with my ancient Kenmore Solid State range hood.

    Any reason a person couldn't install an island hood against a wall?

  • hlove
    10 years ago

    I don't know if you can tell from the photo, but my hood is an island hood. It butts up against the window molding (not the window, which is recessed). It's not how I originally intended it to come out, but how it ended up due a variety of factors. It works fine.

  • LoPay
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Good to know HLove. Your hood fits right in. I prefer the flat profile to the funnel profile.

  • LoPay
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Good to know HLove. Your hood fits right in. I prefer the flat profile to the funnel profile.

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