The link doesn't work for me.

Try this.

Here is a link that might be useful: Nyt article

Thanks for posting this article. Good to refer to when people ask "why do I need to vent?"

The new link doesn't work, either...dang.

Nancy

It worked earlier, and I got to work again by deleting the last bit of the URL.

Here is a link that might be useful: article

Very interesting, thanks!

I had an issue because google chrome blocks pop ups. I had to allow the pop up for it to show.

Wow, I never thought about it this way! Makes me feel better about the cost/hassle of finally getting a real hood.

"... cooking is an act of controlled combustion ��" you set oil, fat, and carbohydrates on fire. As a health hazard, incinerating hamburgers and green beans may pale in comparison with lighting wood or coal fires indoors, the leading environmental cause of death and disability around the world. Yet frying, grilling or toasting foods with gas and electric appliances creates particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, and volatile organic compounds."

Note what it says about gas stoves. We raised our children with an antique Wedgewood (ventilation was a fan in the ceiling). At least I was already big on open windows and our California bungalow was hardly sealed at best.

I've read much of this stuff before but, hmmm. Guess maybe I should crank up the hood more often, noisy or not. And obviously people coming here should leave with the idea that good ventilation needs to move well up the priority list. I know I'd use "high" on mine a lot more often if it were quieter.

Thanks for the article, Sharonite.

"Forehead greasers" LOL

Very interesting article - thanks for posting.

Interesting article.
U of Michigan is just starting a study on health hazards using n gas in cooking.
Don't worry, there will be a matching study somewhere looking at induction hazards :-)

Actually, having a vented hood at home, I always considered recirculating ones worthless, but on a recent visit to my mother's house, I discovered that they do provide some benefit. With the fan turned off, after spending some time sauteing nice things like onions, garlic, tomatoes, etc., the clothes and hair of the cook and anyone else in the kitchen at the time, pick up and hold every scent in the mix. With the little worthless noisemaker on, the air still smells of the cooking mix but the smells don't seem to attach themselves to hair and clothes. Maybe the hood's filter is catching the oily aerosol that would otherwise end up on them?

The moral of this story is: a vented hood is best but a recirculating one is better than nothing.

Frazestart

Particularly interesting to post in the NYT when I think Manhattan does not permit active kitchen range hood venting to the exterior, only passive ceiling venting. Or if it IS permitted, it is extremely rare in practice.

Perhaps this stuff will lead to much better recirculating fans. I'm sure they could be greatly improved over what researchers are noting now.

And of course, even a poor one is better than nothing, as Frazestart, notes, at least for clothes. Just pull out the filter to see those particulates their cooks haven't been wearing.

True or not I don't know, but when I was looking at Viking, they said to turn on the range hood before you start frying to start the air circulating in the right direction before the fumes even get started.

Absolutely - turn on the fan before cooking to get the air flowing first!

Would you ever start a fire in your fireplace and then decide to open the flue?

This post was edited by a2gemini on Thu, Jul 25, 13 at 18:59

I googled the name of the lab and found this article with a little more detail about what makes a hood good. You have to pay to read the full study they did.

Here is a link that might be useful: Another article on the subject

I let my fan run after the cooking appears to be done. My cheapo vent even has a timer to run for 5 min. so when we are done cooking we turn on the timer. That way anything that my still be in the air or steam coming off the cooling food is sucked out.