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mtnrdredux_gw

The truth about Range Hoods

mtnrdredux_gw
10 years ago

In my primary home, I have a large LaCanche and it has a range hood over it; i think it was both recommended by the mfr and by the bldg inspector, IIRC. I didn't particularly want one so I made it in a very simple box that we plastered over.

In my last house, I had a 6 burner Viking and I had a custom hood over it --- the hood was a very big design element for me, I have no idea if it was reqd.

In my lakehouse, we have an ordinary 6 burner gas GE profile stove from the PO (ie not a "professional range" whatever that is). It has a hood but I don't think it vents outside.

So, in our latest project, which will also be a vacation home and not a primary residence, we are considering a few different range options. A leading contender right now is a restored Chambers.

I would rather not have a hood. I am checking with the GC and he does not think one would be required. I have been reading about how, without them, you will get smells and grease all through your home.

But, it occurred to me, in all cases with these various ranges, I have only ever turned the hood on for one reason --- when something burns. That's it. And how often does that happen?

It makes me wonder ... how do other people use their hood? The sound of the fan would greatly annoy me if I had it on regularly.

Here are the reasons I don't think I need a hood

1. This home will be occupied less than 3 months a year
2. The prime season will be summer; and in summer we are most likely to grill outside
3. There will be 7 operable windows, including two flanking the stove.
4. The kitchen is closed off from both the DR and LR by doors.
5. I am more likely to eat out in this locale than I am to eat out at home.
6. I have never once deep fried anything in my home, and I don't do wok-cooking either.
7. Our messiest cooking is probably broiling meat, which, if not grilled, would take place in a closed broiler compartment (part of the Chambers design)

So, two questions.

HOW OFTEN do you use your range hood?
IF you have a Chambers, what did you use?

Thanks in advance

Comments (72)

  • peony4
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I'm the cook in my family, and I don't like my bed linens to smell of what I cooked earlier in the evening. Yuck. I use my hood.

    And a hood is not just a fried-foods necessity. Steaming vegetables like brussel sprouts, which I adore, can produce an unpleasant, lingering odor. I saute fish about once a week, and the hood fan is always on.

    Personally, I think a range looks naked without a hood. I would add one for aesthetics, even if I didn't use it.

  • dljmth
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Something to consider. I never really paid attention as we have lots of windows we open, but I am the one usually standing over the gas range, so I almost always turn in on about 10 minutes before I start cooking.

    Here is a link that might be useful: NPR Article on Range Hoods

  • sochi
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I'm sympathetic, I've grown to really dislike them. I do use mine regularly at home (I hate the noise too), but I often wonder how much it helps. We don't fry virtually at all (some stir-frying), nor do we cook meat or much fish. We are really just dealing with steam for the most part.

    I accept that a kitchen is probably better off with one, however, so I conform. I'm opting for the minimal route at the cottage, we will have a $600 fagor slide out hood with a panel so it is essentially invisible within the upper cabinet.
    Like you, any serious cooking at our cottage will be done outside on the grill.

    Pal's suggestion is a good one, but I get that spending good money on something you rarely use rankles. I still have a hard time recommending that you go without altogether though, despite the fact that I think you're probably bang on re: how often the average cook uses them.

    This post was edited by sochi on Sun, Nov 24, 13 at 11:35

  • Buehl
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I use mine every time I use my cooktop. I don't like the "gook" that gathers on cabinets, ceilings, walls, etc. over time when you don't use the hood. I also don't particularly like the odor of stale food - the odor from food that was cooked hours ago. Fresh food isn't too bad, but as time passes, the odors become old or stale and are no longer pleasant.

    My mother has never had a hood over her range and it shows. The cabinets above and next to the range (under the cabinets, on the sides, and the doors), the ceiling above the range, and the walls behind and next to the range all have a layer of gunk - the stuff that develops over time from the grease and/or moisture from cooking that dust, pet hair, dirt, etc. adhere to and shortly become a sticky residue that's very difficult to remove. No matter how diligent you are about wiping down walls, cabinets, and the ceiling, gunk still develops. I suppose if you wiped everything down every day you might be able to stay ahead of it, but most of us don't have the time (or the inclination) to be doing all that cleaning on a daily basis.

  • deeageaux
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Some people insist 1950's cars were perfectly fine without airbags,crumple zones and other modern safety equipment because they raised 4 children without child car seats without a single fatality.

    Some people get used to the grease in the kitchen and home. You can't tell a wall changes color over the years until you really put in effort to clean it or paint over it.

    Like a worker in the sanitation department, some people get used to the smell of a dirty house and don't know what a clean house smells like.

    Unless you cook with non-stick pans 99% of the time and eat a very low fat diet you need a range hood. If the steam does not bother you and it is not really necessary to remove. Sometimes it is hard to tell when an older gas cooktop or range is not burning correctly and producing combustion byproduct other than carbon dioxide and steam.

    Here is a link that might be useful: NY Times Article on Range Hoods

  • rosie
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Grease and walls -- for me a really big reason to have a hood AND the biggest reason Mtnrdredux could do without one. Someone else can scrub the walls, and with her cooking style really not that often.

    Huge, though: as Pal, and LauraT, points out so importantly, this IS a very unsealed old house; and as M indicates, she opens windows. There is just a tremendous difference between that and a typical sealed home with windows seldom or never open, HVAC running one way or the other all the time.

    Also to be considered is how open a kitchen is to the rest of the house? A discrete room like this one or the one-room living so many modern homes provide? VERY different conditions.

    The grease-dust residue is real, of course. My elderly bungalow kitchen was like Buehl's mom's at times. I painted that kitchen 3 times while we lived there, cabinets, walls, ceilings, and each time I first had to scrub every upper surface with a degreaser (i.e., any surface that didn't get "touched" and thus washed as a matter of course). It was also in Southern California, though, and not only were the windows usually open, but the door to the patio since flying insects were so few that if a fly came in we just shooed it back out. There may have been residual cooking odors built up with it, but with plenty of fresh air...big deal.

    BTW, we put an inexpensive hood in this house (a just-say-no to scrubbing ceilings as I'm my own housekeeper) and inadvertently "tested" it early on when an emergency resulted in my leaving cooking food to char. It worked unbelievably well. Running up the hill to the black smoke, we thought the kitchen might be on fire, then burst through the door into the kitchen and instantly not a whiff. But, we installed that low-end fan to specifications. I notice that many are not. M would of course purchase a very good one that could be mounted higher if she put one in, but hood shape is always going to be a factor.

    To recreate an authentic look, though, M, and pull out odors in bad weather, how about compromising with something like the little round fan with ball-chain pull set in the ceiling of our old bungalow? :)

  • mermanmike
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hey mtnrdredux--again, I have thought a lot about this since we have similar tastes it seems. In my current kitchen that I finished about a year ago or so, there is no range hood. I have a Chambers by the way (I love it and would consider one in a future house; the oven annoys me sometimes because its designed to bake on retained heat and never holds a consistent temperature, so you need to get used to a different way of baking. The oven is great for anything you would naturally slow cook but tough for cakes and things that need a steady temperature--but the thermowell can do quite well with those, so if you get good at using the appliance, there's no real disadvantage to it, just a learning curve.).

    But back to the range hood, I decided to not have a hood for similar reasons--I never used one much before; I rarely fry; I don't like the look in general of most hoods. And honestly I don't mind lingering smells of food I have made.

    Cost was a consideration in my reno, but if it wasn't, I may have done something like this and maybe hidden a hood up in a mantle type surround. I think this look is especially pretty with an unfitted kitchen.


    I currently don't have anything over my range, just a pot rack next to it. It's the one place in my kitchen that feels unfinished to me. My partner/carpenter is currently making me a long mantle type shelf that will stretch from the range across a cabinet next to it. It will have one deep shelf and a sturdy bar beneath for hanging pots.

  • ILoveRed
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I use mine about half the time.

    I would use it more if it were more convenient to turn on. Reaching up into the device is a pain. When we built this house 8 yrs ago, several posters used switches in the backsplash to turn on their vent. Genius!

    In a vacation home I might skip the hood but I doubt it. When you need it, you need it.

    Even using mine about half the time my light fixtures, stove knobs and other areas get greasy. And the dust sticks to that residue.

  • chris11895
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    If you can go without one, I would. At our Summer house we had the same habits - grill all of the time, eat out, and never turned the hood on once.

  • mtnrdredux_gw
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    So last night I made dinner and I turned on the range hood. For about 5 seconds. It is a Rangecraft (no idea if that is good or bad) and I had it on the lowest setting. I am hypersensitive to noise, I think. I detest bathroom fans. I complain that my thermostat makes a little click from time to time, and when I was little I used to get up in the middle of the night to go downstairs and stop the grandfather clock.

    As I said, I almost never feel the need to turn on the range hood (except for light, yes!, always). And yet I don't recall feeling unhappy about any of the various maladies that are supposed to befall me for not using a rangehood.

    One of the reasons may simply be time. Some posters have described their Mom's kitchens and the build up they saw there. I am guessing their Mom's kitchen surfaces might be 20+ years old. My current kitchen is 3 years old. We lived in our first home for about 10 years, and we redid the kitchen while we were there. So maybe we really haven't seen the impact because our spaces have always been too new?

    Another issue might be the size of the space and the openness. Certainly it would be more of an issue in say, a small apartment then a larger area. Our kitchen in our last house had a door to the DR and a door to the hall, so it was pretty closed off. Our new beachhouse will be similarly closed off by doors.

    BUT, our primary house is not closed off. Our range wall has 5' wide openings on either side, into the family room. And my family room has white slipcovered sofas! That hasn't been an issue yet, but it is only 3 years. Maybe I should play music to drown out the fan!

    Also, if I read correctly above, the age of our homes (100+) makes them less airtight, disbursing fumes more quickly?

    As far as grease on surfaces, we do have a lot of household help and they do clean these surfaces several times a week. Nothing in my kitchen feels greasy to the touch.

    Lastly, we don't cook much that I find to be malodorous or lingering. We eat cabbage, but raw, not boiled. We don't make any seafood because my husband and I are both allergic. Brussells sprouts and cauliflower are malodorous boiled, but not roasted, as we prefer them. We grill meats outside year round, otherwise meats are roasted or stewed, not fried. I think of bacon as a treat, and its pretty much something we only order out, or if I use it as a garnish I just m/w a few strips. We don't deep fry or stirfry. (My kids are willing to eat a greater variety of veggies raw then cooked, and two of them don't like Asian flavors ... it sounds like a lot of people like to strirfy, though!) We do cook Indian, Thai and Mexican. But I like those smells while cooking and I don't really notice them afterward. Like the poster above, I like a lot of cooking smells. Sauteeing onions, mulling cider, baking bread, yum!

    When we first walk in the door from outside, I smell a faint paint odor (3yr old renovations). Nothing else. In our last house, I smelled Murphys Oil Soap.

    I think I will make a conscience effort to use the rangehood fan more here in my CT home. I am worrying about those white sofas! But I don't think I will put one in my Maine house. Especially given how rarely it will be used, it just isn't necessary. I do love those old pull chain fans, but they may, IIRC be against code. I vaguely recollect someone saying that design was uniquely prone to fires.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Similar post fyi

  • palimpsest
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    You will be able to open a window easily, too.

    It's interesting, I am sensitive to noise and have severe tinnitus but I use white noise machines to drown out other noises and the noise in my ears, so for me a fan, especially on low, is not noise, it's sometimes a relief.

  • mrspete
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I use my hood all the time.

    For example, I tend to cook lots of soups, stews, and pastas -- what I'm saying is that I have lots of large pots of water. When the pot's boiling, I turn on the low-vent to draw the steam into the hood. If I don't, the hood gets covered with condensation. If I didn't have the hood, that condensation would collect on the expensive wooden cabinets, and they'd fall apart fairly quickly.

    Yes, I definitely turn it on if something's burning . . . which isn't often, but when it does happen, it's unexpected, and I wouldn't necessarily have time to open a window or turn on a fan.

    No, I wouldn't do without a hood. You can choose a model with a low sound.

  • Fori
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    When I have a hood I always use it.

    I don't have one now and I miss it, especially when a certain house guest makes breakfast and I walk out into the living room and gag at the odor--not that he would use it because he's one of those who never turns it on!

    I like the lights and I like being able to chop onions and chilies under a hood so my eyes don't get irritated.

    For that kitchen, I'd get an extra wide, well-lit barrel style, painted to match the range, centered between windows and not centered over the stove. I'd hang stuff from it. So it would be a very expensive light fixture/pot/utensil rack.

  • autumn.4
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I think it really depends on how/what you cook.

    We are in a rental with no fan. What I notice most is the lack of light (it's terrible) for cooking. Just yesterday though I decided to make BLT wraps for lunch. I baked bacon in the oven and immediately remembered that we didn't have a fan! There have been very few times since we have been here that I have missed the fan. But I wish we had one anytime I've cooked sausage or bacon. We are STILL smelling bacon when we walk in from outside. Besides that, the smoke detector went off and no I didn't burn it and it wasn't really smokey in the house. Argh!

    So even if I only used it on occasion I think I'd still want one. I am sensitive to sound also. In our last home we had a OTR MW and that fan drove me crazy and didn't seem to do much to clear the air. I couldn't stand how loud it was and used it as a last resort for the shortest time possible.

    New build we are going with a range hood and I hope it's a softer fan.

    Good luck with what you decide. If it weren't freezing here already I'd have opened the window for sure!

  • westsider40
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Here's another voice or the same old. I never deep fry and saute very infrequently. I never used the old, functioning, hooked up thru the roof vent and we stuffed it with plastic grocery bags as it leaked cold air. No bacon or fat cookery.

    I had a clean house. There was no grease on my white, painted cabinets.

    Built the new kitchen and put in an otr and use it a few times a year. Had hvac people hook it up again through the roof. It makes an annoying noise but I drank the GW koolaid and think I am preserving the cleanliness of my new kitchen.

    Diego, some households just don't need it. I dont make bacon every weekend or fry fish.

    What makes sense to me is if they manufactured a vent for the broiler that is part of my double oven, but they dont. That could use venting, so I rarely use that broiler anymore.

    Yeah, crusade for a vent for a broiler--that needs it sometimes. Boiling water, steaming, a quick saute, nah.

  • julieste
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    We have a leaky, 100-year-old house and just installed a hood over our 30" AG Wolf. The Wolf was installed 9 months ago and replaced a Jennair with downdraft. We did without a hood these past 9 months, so I am able to compare having this range both with and without a hood.

    We lived just fine without the hood with one exception that might give you pause to re-think. We quit using the Wolf oven during the summer months and used our electric wall oven instead because the gas oven put so much heat into the kitchen. (I am assuming the Chambers would do the same.) Opening the windows just couldn't remove the extra heat the stove put out, and it added to the heat in the room quite a bit. So, the main thing that we are thinking the range hood will help with is taking the oven heat out of the kitchen in the hotter months.

  • palimpsest
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    One of the things about the Chambers is that you can cook with it turned off using the well and the oven, so I don't thing they throw out near the heat a modern Wolf does.

  • mtnrdredux_gw
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Needinfo,
    My DH was reading over my shoulder and quipped, "for that to be an issue, the oven would actually need to be on." I believe he was referring to the low incidence of my cooking in a vacation home. : )

    Part of the restoration is all new insulation, so that should help, too.

    Pal,
    That is my understanding, too.

    BTW someone above said that their Chambers oven temp was variable. There was a very involved post from a stove repair person on Chowhound.com about why Chambers ovens varied far less then new ones (ie a few degrees all day versus a good 10% swing built in to the new thermostats)

  • northcarolina
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I cooked for many years without a functioning range hood (it was an old recirculating one that blew the fumes back in my face). Then I got a range hood that was vented outside and I have never looked back. I use it every time I cook and I don't like cooking in vacation rentals that don't have a decent vented hood. I don't use the hood for some theoretical reason like possible grease buildup, though that does cross my mind. It's just a lot more comfortable for me to cook without steam getting in my face. It's not as hot, I can see better, and... well, it's just better all round. If I had a gas stove I would definitely, definitely use a vented hood because of combustion byproducts. But I have a setup that many people might think doesn't really need a hood: 30" induction stove, no frying (though I occasionally saute), leaky old-ish house -- and I use my hood all the time because it's more convenient and comfortable for me to do so.

    Mine was not expensive at all; it was from the big box store, an undercabinet model; granted one of the better ones they carry but it's not very high-powered compared to some of the ones people post about here. It's nearly inaudible at the lowest setting, but I usually use it on the highest, which is pretty loud.

  • deedles
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I don't find my chambers to be variable at all. I use a thermometer in there and it reaches and holds well at the set temp. Maybe whomever posted that needs to check their thermostat thingee?

    And yes, there is hardly any heat transferred to the room since they are so very well insulated. I only notice it if I've been cooking for a long time. The chrome top gets a bit hot around the burner that is in use, though.

    It's hard to find a hood that does justice to a chambers (or any groovy vintage stove), IMO. Circuspeanut did a great job and there is always the vent-a-hood vintage look hood, but again IMO, that takes the whole thing to a definite 40's/50's look that maybe isn't desired.

    Would love to see a chrome wall fan behind there, though. I think that would look awesome with what you have going. Or, how about a wall fan with a round cast iron grate over it? Code-schmode.

    If you use the broiler, you will get a nice big puff of steam when you open the thing, that's for sure.

  • mtnrdredux_gw
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Deedles,

    I was actually looking for a wall fan like that on line but I can't find one. I find plenty of standing and table retro fans, and even ceiling hung version. I can't find an in-wall retro one.

  • barthelemy
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I am in the minority but I never put hoods in my own kitchens.

    Never used them in the other kitchens where I happened to cook.

    I cook daily but never deep fry though, most of my greasy cooking happens in the oven.

    In my opinion hoods are just very pricey lighting (I have downlights right above my cooktop for that).

    Regarding cleanliness, in my current condo, the kitchen has a gas boiler connected to a vented exhaust fan. This also vents all the air from the kitchen. The serviceman who does the yearly maintenance of the boiler has to clean the inner parts. He once told me that he is used to see very greasy boilers in kitchens but that mine was really clean. I think it all depends on your cooking style.

    As a side note on general house safety and up-to-dateness , vented hoods are now PROHIBITED by code in my area for new build because they have a negative effect on energy efficiency. All exhaust systems must be recirculating.

    This post was edited by barthelemy on Sun, Nov 24, 13 at 22:34

  • cookncarpenter
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Here's the1956 wall vent that works perfectly in our tiny vacation galley... bacon, sausage, onions, garlic, etc. all out that little fan, with the pull of a chain :)

    This post was edited by ctycdm on Mon, Nov 25, 13 at 9:35

  • deedles
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Okay, how's about this idea: this fan sent in to be chrome or nickel plated? It's a steel grille so that could be plated and it pulls 280 cfm. Someone might be able to figure out how to attach an external blower to it. Noise reduction and all that.

    Here is a link that might be useful: wall fan

  • mtnrdredux_gw
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks, everyone, for your comments.

    It turns out this is pretty well worn territory on the forum. Sorry for dredging it up again, but I never asked before because either the range mfr required it, or I wanted one anyway.

    The most thought provoking thing out of this hasn't really been about what I will do in our new vacation home, but about whether I should get into the habit of using the range hood (s) we have. I'm intrigued by how many people turn them on as a matter of course!

  • Buehl
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    "...As a side note on general house safety and up-to-dateness , vented hoods are now PROHIBITED by code in my area for new build because they have a negative effect on energy efficiency. All exhaust systems must be recirculating..."

    Wow! So energy efficiency is more important than health and safety??? I'm glad I don't live in France, then! Interior air quality in general has become a topic of much discussion and concern of late b/c of "air tight" homes. Interior air quality is often worse than outside air today and sometimes has unhealthy levels of pollutants that would be illegal outside. The prohibition of externally vented rangehoods will make interior air quality even worse!

    What's next - prohibiting windows that open or even windows at all? They're just as bad if not worse in some cases!

  • mtnrdredux_gw
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Buehl,
    Perhaps the data are not so clear about the dangers. Or perhaps they were judged to be fairly miniscule versus the energy efficiency question.

    Thanks, Bart, for that interesting insight.

  • palimpsest
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I don't think that you can actively vent a range hood or a bath fan in the borough of Manhattan either. But kitchens and baths in Manhattan have always open passive vents with roof fans that pull air from the kitchens and baths if I understand correctly how they work.

    The emphasis of air tightness and energy efficiency has contributed a lot to sick building syndrome in the commercial setting, but that has a lot to do with off gassing of the contents and the relative increase of carbon dioxide from all the people exhaling and inadequate oxygen replenishment. I worked in such an environment where they ended up testing the facility and found that there literally wasn't enough oxygen getting in. Before they tested and proved it, we already knew people would feel better if we opened one of the egress door that we weren't supposed to to let air in.

    A well sealed house, (coming from someone who has probably never lived in one--and defiintely hasn't for the last 20 years)--I don't think they are all they are cracked up to be.

    But this is also why I am usually skeptical about the need for these gigantic super high CFM range hoods. In a sealed house they suck combustion gases right back down the chimney and I think have even been shown to suck residual exhaust fumes in from attached garages. That's why you need make-up air coming in, to get rid of the vacuum effect (I am probably oversimplifying this a lot). Anyway give me a lower powered range hood that gets things out and a slightly leaky house and I think I am good.

  • eaga
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I've been following this thread as a matter of interest - didn't think I had enough data to provide a helpful reference, until yesterday.

    As background, I'm now happily living in my first new kitchen. All previous kitchens were either in rentals or inherited from PO's. So now I have a brand spanking new gas range and blower, both which I have been using regularly since September. I use the blower every time I turn on the stove or the oven. Yesterday I decided to clean the blower, and there was, even after just two months, a significant amount of grease. I'm glad the grease was in the blower and not settled all over my kitchen.

  • mtnrdredux_gw
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Cercis,

    It may indeed come down to a cooking style and frequency, or maybe my cleaning people are working harder then I know.

    Last night I cooked with my range hood fan on (not happy) and while i was hanging around I was curious. The closest cabinets are over 5' away on either side so no surprise they are pretty pristine. The raw stone b/s wasn't greasy, and the outside plaster box that houses the range hood wasn't greasy, and even the framed art I have over the stainless less section of the stove was not greasy. The interior of the hood itself was greasy, though not horribly so. I guess we have been using the kitchen for about 2.5 years now if I am to be precise. I doubt if anyone has cleaned the range hood innards; it's on my to do list now as I imagine once every 3 years is a long time!

  • schoolhouse_gw
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I've posted either on this or the other thread about not having hood above my old gas stove, and not really bothered by it. BUT - the one thing that does freak me out since I remodeled my kitchen is using the deep fryer. It's just a small one you sit on the counter and put away later, but I hate watching that steam billow out through the filter ontop and what I suppose is towards my blue beadboard ceiling. Last night I held a towel above it.

    And - to those of you who complain about the smells and I said that really never bothered me either? Well, this morning I still smell fryer grease - even in the bedroom. :( What do you do about using a deep fryer? Is it a part of your stove top or do you set the fryer on your stove and turn on the fan?

  • Fori
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Schoolhouse, I don't have a deep fryer but I would always use my crockpot on the stovetop under the hood so I wouldn't be hungry all day smelling the pot o' crock. (It's much easier with a smooth electric or induction cooktop than a gas one of course!)

    It's just a generic fume hood to me.

    My current setup has a range in the middle of a peninsula with no upper cabinets nearby. Grease settles about 18" away from the cooktop . It's on the slag glass lamp I have hanging 3 feet above the stove but not too bad. I don't think the grease goes much further. The smells, though, they travel. Gack.

    My house is not tight.

  • lala girl
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    just to add my two cents, I only occasionally use the hood in our house (it's not often, but when I need to I am happy have it!) The lake house we rent has a vintage kitchen off the back that does not have a hood. With all the windows open and the very common use of the outdoor grill - I have never wanted or needed a hood there. I can't imagine you'd need one often at all, unless you will find yourself there in the winter. I think less is (usually) more! :)

  • iroll_gw
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    For anyone looking for a new version of the traditional pull-chain fan, here's a discussion about them from Retro Renovation, complete with part numbers for real metal replacement grilles (the current fans come with a plastic grille).

    Here is a link that might be useful: Nutone chrome exhaust fan cover ��

  • juddgirl2
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    My under cabinet exhaust fan hasn't been working for a few years so it's just been used as a task light, but I can't wait to get a new working hood. I don't fry but do use a lot of onion and garlic when cooking pasta sauces and I also like to broil fish and veggies several times a week. I try to open up the windows to air everything out but my house smells like cooking for days after and it really bothers me.

  • vedazu
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I also have a Lacanche in my residence. After a reno, I have a more expansive space in the kitchen, open to a family room. My old, underpowered stove was electric. Took forever/was impossible to sear meat, boiling water took 20 minutes. My mother had an electric stove, and I grew up without knowing how to use a gas range and I am still terrified to have one, despite the fact that I love it. I love cooking on it, and as I plan a renovation in my mother's old house, I am doing gas again. I turn on the range hood every time I use the range because of the gas issue, as much as for the steam and the cooking smells. That being said, I also teach the piano in an adjacent studio, and if my children are cooking and don't use the blower, I know about it in the next room. It is a Vent-a-Hood--can't recall how many cfm's, but a lot more than 300, that's for sure. The new renovation is in the state of Minnesota, which also has the restrictive rules about make up air. Houses are tight there, for obvious reasons. Makes perfect sense. I'm not a nut about following every regulation known to man, but in this case, I'm on board with it.

  • ellabee_2016
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    This kitchen has had a vent hood/fan that vents outside since my mother's big reno in 1963. It's always been a low-end, low-powered one, and always louder than I'd like, but it makes a huge difference.

    The ceiling in the kitchen is unusually low, just above 7 ft. If you boil anything and don't turn on the fan, steam puddles on the ceiling near the stove. If you brown meat for a braise, the puddling is of oily steam. Blech! We've always had gas, and though I'm not an alarmist about the health effects, venting is a Good Thing.

    The stove is a small, four-burner gas cooktop that is tucked into a corner formed by the wall oven, which helps the wimpy Braun pull steam and cooking vapors much more efficiently than it would from a more out-in-the-open location. It needs to be on high to do its work, though, and it's irritatingly loud.

    I'd love to have a vent hood/fan that was more powerful, something in the 600-700 cfm range, and quieter (almost anything would be). There's no concern about make-up air because the house is 200 years old and not at all tightly sealed. Without upping the power and size of the cooktop mightily (not going to happen in my lifetime), there's no need for a really powerful 900+cfm extractor.

    For a vacation house with plenty of natural air circulation, do what appeals to you. A range hood is a huge plus for small spaces and large stoves; it isn't a necessity for every situation.

  • mtnrdredux_gw
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks for your input, Ellabee. I think your last sentence sums it up pretty well.

    I'm still not sure what I am going to do.

  • NWRain-Gal
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi mtnrdredux,

    We are close to the end of our complete kitchen remodel. Our old existing kitchen did not have a venting range hood. In the old kitchen, that was remodeled by PO in the 1950's, we did have a through the wall fan that vented to the outside, but it was very noisy and most of the time we just opened a window. In the new kitchen we wanted a real venting over-the-range-hood. We couldn't go straight up because there is a bedroom directly above the kitchen, and the stove is not on an outside wall. Our HVAC guy ran a round duct up into a joist, turned 90 degrees into an attic space and then another 90 degrees and out the roof. We were also changing to a dual fuel range from electric and by code needed it vented. We went with a Broan 350CFM. It is fine on low and tolerable on medium, a bit noisy on high but I don't use it on high at all. I seem to use it on low every time I cook. I absolutely love having decent lighting finally above my range, I couldn't live without that! :)

    It takes some getting used to cooking on a gas cooktop and using the range hood. So far I don't seem to use the burners past 5 to 8 much and mostly on low to 3. Gas seems to cook much hotter than my old electric range did.

    If I had a range on an exterior wall I might have considered a wall fan similar to my old one. I stumbled upon this company while doing some research. (see link below) they make some beautiful ones that are pretty, like little works of art. They would go beautifully with a vintage range.

    Hope this helps,

    NWRain-Gal


    Here is a link that might be useful: Laurelhurst Fan Company

  • rococogurl
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I lived in 2 NYC apartments while I was writing the last cookbook. Tiny kitchens, old fashioned gas ranges and ovens. No hoods. I always felt sorry for the neighbors because anything cooked in any apartment could be smelled in the hallway. And one of my next door neighbors was the wife of a Pakistani banker. I always knew when she was cooking dinner.

    Years ago, friends of ours lived in the suburbs in a huge old house with a Chambers. It was blue. We spent a lot of weekends there and I got to cook on that range. In the 60s and 70s Chambers made the best ranges on the market. There wasn't a hood over that range and it was fine but it wasn't my house.

    I can tell you from having gas ranges and no hood for most of my life that I never used the broiler. I rarely sauteed. And still the walls above it got sticky and gunky.

    I tend to be practical. I set up electric appliances under my hood so the whole house doesn't smell like whatever I just cooked. Kitchens in homes with forensic restorations have vent hoods which can be made to work aesthetically.

    My suggestion is to have an adventure. Go to vrbo and rent a NYC apartment for a week, one without a range hood. Do some cooking in that kitchen. Open a window when it's 98 degrees or 27 degrees outside because you need the ventilation. Then you can make an informed choice over one you're making just because you feel like it.

  • mtnrdredux_gw
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I totally get your point Rococo, and at first I almost reflexively sought out a range hood when I went range shopping. But then it dawned on me that I actually never use mine unless something burns. (and frankly, the few times something has burned, I opened windows, too). So I don't really need to do an experiment; I've been doing one for the last decade.

    I hear you on apartment cooking. I never used to like curry because I'd only ever smelled it in apartment hallways.

    I still haven't decided yeah or nay.

  • rococogurl
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    If you say you don't use the one you have then it doesn't sound like you really want/think it's necessary.

    The curry next door never bothered me. Broiled meat OTOH was dreadful. Love korean bbq but same deal.

    Hope you'll enjoy your Chambers. Those daisy burners and the ovens that lock down take me back to some really fun weekends.

  • mtnrdredux_gw
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Alas, Rococo, I am not getting a Chambers. First, the blue one I wanted was gone. Second, it is going to take so long to restore one, and the person I trust to work on it is very far away from the house it will go into. The combination put me over the edge and I am going with a new range.

    It's funny, since this thread, every time I cook I think about using the range hood. In most cases I still decide I don't need it/want it. But I have used it a few times now!

    Can you tell us anything about your cookbook(s). I'm very curious!

  • derrickthecrane
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Not 1 or 2, but 10 good reasons to have a hood: http://www.futurofuturo.com/rangehood-FAQ-10-reasons-to-have-a-range-hood.php

    Sure, it's a bit more expensive and there's an additional installation cost, but it's well worth it in the long run.

    Here is a link that might be useful: 10 reasons to have a range hood

  • zagyzebra
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I HATE range hoods and have comfortably lived without in many places. I am under construction right now. Here's our solution: solar powered skylight! Smoke rises, and out it goes! Otherwise we have huge picture windows and French doors for more than adequate cross ventilation.

  • wakefield52
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Reading the comments about range hoods I do not know which brand to buy. Looked at a Jenn Air but then I see the beautiful fancy ones. I guess I want a fancy one that does the job but doesn't cost a fortune.

  • tbo123
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    The biggest issue for me with range hoods is cutting a hole in a perfectly good roof. In my mind, that hole will fail eventually unless done at the same time as a new roof.
    (Newton's law)

  • ILoveCookie
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I always turn the ventilation on. Maybe I have a sensitive nose, but I cannot bear residual smells from cooking activities.

    That's the main reason we are doing a major remodel in the kitchen -- to significantly improve the ventilation (and the cooking power as well).

    This post was edited by ILoveCookie on Tue, Sep 9, 14 at 15:21

  • nosoccermom
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    To share a story: DS just moved into his student apartment and sent pictures of something he'd never seen, an "unidentifiable yellow, sticky mass that covered every single surface." Turns out that it's comingled grease and dust. No hood in the place but apparently some heavy-duty stir frying by prior inhabitants.

  • lascatx
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I felt the same way you did when we started planning our new kitchen. I started reconsidering when I started reading and thought about my grandmother's house and that haze of grease and dust on the seldom used things and nooks and crannies. I was reminded of a couple of times when I've smelled my food after the meal was over -- on my clothes or in my hair later in the day or even a day or two later. I love to cook and think the sense of smell is important to both cooking and enjoying food, but the next day or two or three -- those smells are like a house guest that stayed too long.

    I became resigned to the fact that I was going to spend as much on an appliance I didn't really want as the ones I did so I could get one I could be happy with. I got a fairly powerful fan, an exterior blower that we run on low most of the time, and halogen lights that I've laughed and said we could perform surgery under.

    I been sold that it was the right decision. The first time was when I had the task of making 100 bags of popcorn for a group of students. I had the microwave going and two or three stockpots on the stove. I was sure smelling popcorn -- like the afternoon munchies hit for everyone in the office at the same time! I delivered the popcorn to the school and came home expecting to get hit by the smell of popcorn and wondered how long it would linger. I could not smell the popcorn when I walked in the house. SOLD!

    I'm in Texas and my house was built for a hotter, more humid climate with air conditioning (which probably spread those smells). I have one small window in my kitchen and it is closed most of the year. I run the vent on low for anything more than a gentle heating, as much for venting steam and humidity as odors. On low, you will hear it when you stand right under it and turn it on, but we've walked away and left it running without noticing it several times. I didn't have the ability to add an in line silencer or muffler. They can be quieter.

    You like Indian, Thai and Mexican foods -- the peppers and spices, especially but not limited to curry, can produce potent odors that lodge themselves in the fibers and paint throughout your home. Every realtor I know will tell you that a homes where curry is cooked often is one of the hardest to sell because the odors permeate the house and there is no way to get rid of them without a lot of cleaning, repainting and replacing carpets and any other porous surface. I'd rather spend my money on a hood, making it as good and as quiet as possible and give it a good look, then use it as often or seldom as I want.

    I love to smell my food when I am cooking it and eating it. A good hood doesn't take that away. I don't want to spend the rest of the day with my clothing smelling or walk in the house and smell it two or three days later, and the vent makes that possible.

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