i have a slide in range in my pennisula..

my issue was venting and cost.. plus convenience..

i didn't want a vent hood above the pennisula so a downdraft was my only option..

if i go with a cooktop with an oven below I need to fork out the extra cash for one of the pop up downdraft vets.. so i have to pick out 3 appliances basically..

instead of doing all that.. i can buy a single downdraft slide in range.. pretty simple solution.. plus the slide in range oven controls are also easier to read as they are higher up and facing up towards you a bit more.. and the cook surface on this model is gas on glass so its a nice flat surface that mimics some of these cooktops out there..

and i was able to mount the actual vent blower in the crawlspace which cuts down the fan noise a ton.. its really quiet.. im happy with it..

here is a pic..

here is another angle for ya

and its fairly hidden by the bar from this angle..

Here is a picture of my peninsula with a slide in range. The peninsula divides the kitchen from the dining room. We tried the design with an island hood there, but from the dining room side it looked strange. We decided to go with a mantel hood look on both the dining room and kitchen side with the glass peninsula cabinets to allow light to flow through.
I will tell you that we had problems with the original Electrolux slide in range we had ordered because it didn't fit in the peninsula. There wasn't enough room to run the wire and gas line through the cabinets to the range and it stuck out too far into the room. We returned it and ordered a GE Cafe which fits much better.
Make sure you pay attention to the location of the gas/electrical connections on the range when designing the peninsula to make sure you don't have the same problem. Ideally there would have been a couple inches of space behind the cabinets next to the range to allow space for these things, but we realized that too late.

Do you really need a range in your peninsula? Definitely not the ideal spot.... Is there no other option (even a sink would be better)? This arrangement is usually a last resort type of arrangement...

Why not?

• Safety (grease splattering, scalding steam drifting, flames)

• Destroying the "single large expanse" of counter that is so useful for large projects

• Either none/inadequate venting OR a rangehood hanging down from the ceiling (ask about venting on the Appliances Forum!)

i tend to disagree with all of those reasons and find them to be a stretch..

i very much enjoy the ability to cook and also look my guests in the eye when i talk to them while they are sitting at the bar vs them having to talk to the back of my head..

but for those that prefer to socialize with and stare at their kitchen walls vs. their guests.. i imagine a range on a pennisula would seem odd to them..

and it also allowed me to have that much more wall space for cabinets vs. a noisy vent hood..

but to each his own..

Thank you ALL so very much for your valuable input, and the photos were VERY helpful! (Beautiful kitchens, BTW!)

Hmmm, so much to think about...

Sorry, but I respectfully disagree.

I spend much, much more time prepping than I do cooking. My time is spent 90% prepping, 1% cooking, and 9% cleaning up. When using the cooktop, I put the pan on (30 seconds?), go do something else, come back add something (maybe 90 seconds?), go do something else, etc., take it off the burner when done, put it down (another 30 seconds?), go do something else. It's rare that I spend more than a minute or two in front of the cooktop and when I do, I need to focus on what I'm doing, not socialize! (And socializing while steam or grease is all around me is not my idea of comfort!)

Have you ever been splattered by grease? I have...and not always while standing right in front of the cooktop either. I've been off to the side (a foot or 2, maybe) and still been splattered...still hurts!

I would not want my children sitting so close to a hot burner/pot/pan or flame trying to do homework or other projects involving paper. And no matter what you tell them, they WILL reach across the cooktop to show you something or to catch something that's falling off b/c the raised counter is higher than the rest of the counter and relatively shallow (if it's at least 24" it might not be quite so bad...but I still wouldn't do it).

Actually, our KD proposed a cooktop on our peninsula in one design...but we vetoed it b/c of safety as well aesthetics (to us...blocking the space w/a rangehood defeated the purpose of opening the room up and a downdraft was not an option). She admitted we were right but that the design worked so much better aesthetically w/it in the peninsula. Nope! Didn't buy that. There's almost always a way...and we found it...it just takes time sometimes...time KDs often don't want to spend.

Downdrafts don't work nearly as well as overhead hoods, especially for front burners or taller pans anywhere. In addition, when a cooktop is against a wall (w/overhead rangehood), there isn't as much room for steam/grease/smoke/etc. to go other than up...the wall stops it and, along w/the air flow from the vent, directs it upward.

If you like/want a cooktop in a peninsula or island, fine, it's your kitchen...but it should be an informed decision, weighing the pros/cons. Don't down play the negatives to others. Informed decisions are always best. Know going forward that you need to mitigate the safety and ventilation issues as much as possible...not ignore them.

OK, I'm off my soapbox now, but I take some things seriously and can't let them be dismissed as if they don't exist.

here is a quote from someone with actual experience.. which might be helpful vs. just negative opinions about something they have never had in their home..

Posted by callieandkarin (My Page) on Fri, Sep 12, 08 at 7:57

Never had a smoke alarm go off. Never had a child injured. Never had to repaint the ceiling. No grease on the ceiling. Just for fun, I checked the glass on the can light above the cooktop-- not even a hint of grease.
That's after almost 2.5 year's worth of bacon, stir-frys, sautees, stews, beef cooked on a grill pan, etc. On a high BTU Wolf cooktop with a Thermador downdraft on an island.

For over 25 yrs I had my slide in range on my Island and loved it. I did prep beside it after washing veggies.
My present kit is to small for an island I miss it. No one ever got burned.

IMHO I have to agree with Buehl. My new kitchen has a peninsula and I would not have put my stove there. I also wouldn't have made it two levels; I just don't think two levels are as functional as one. I don't have any kiddies that might get burned, just me and DH. My biggest issue was having that large expansive peninsula to: put buffets on, put a bar setup there for entertaining, and sitting there with my cup of coffee in the morning, preping, etc.

I've learned a lot on this forum, much from Buehl. If you haven't already, take the time to read her kitchen progress post. She went through a lot of bumps in the road, and learned a lot.

It's good that everyone here can post their opinions and information that they have learned to share with others. Some things I agree with, some not. But, that's OK!

Tiskers, good luck with your kitchen. Looking forward to seeing your progress!

Barb

We didn't really have a choice of another location to put our range. We removed the wall between our dining room and kitchen and replaced it with the peninsula which we moved closer to the dining room. On the other side of the room we took down the top half of the wall between our living room and the kitchen--basically creating an 11 foot second peninsula. The only other wall we have was taken up by a window and the only logical location for the refrigerator.
Given that layout I guess putting the cooktop in one of the peninsulas was a last resort for us, because that was our only option. Maybe we chose to do it because it is basically where our cooktop was in the old kitchen and we were not being very imaginative at the time. I was aiming to get one large prep area--which I now have with the 11 foot peninsula on the half wall. Next to the cooktop I have 2 small counter areas which are plenty big for moving pots and cookie sheets around. I chose to go with the bi-level peninsula for the range to tie in with the multiple height look of the half wall on the other side of the room and to hide view of the range and cooking process (I tend to be a messy cook) from people in the dining room. We didn't feel the need for another place to eat so we didn't bother making the raised bar a counter for eating, it is a narrow bar to use for serving in the dining room.

I recognize my kitchen is strange. I have a 40+ year old house and there weren't many options for making our kitchen bigger and we didn't want to change the character of the house by moving exterior walls to create a grand modern kitchen. We all have to work our design ideas into the space we have available. I did my best. I know I really hated the idea of closing my kitchen in again with the range hood and peninsula cabinets above the range, but ultimately it is the most unusual and distinctive element in my kitchen. We spent weeks on the kitchen design, mostly working on making that range hood look right. Sure its not ideal and if I was designing my dream kitchen I certainly would not have created the limited and difficult space that I have now. If we had a huge room with lots of walls and floor space I wouldn't have done it this way and I would have a massive island, a walk in pantry, a prep sink, a cooktop against the wall with a huge hood and 2 wall ovens. As it is I have 2 peninsulas, an 18 inch pantry, a pot filler and a range in the small peninsula. Given what we had to work with I am happy and its considerably better than where we started with a room we had to hide from everyone who came into our house. No matter what anyone says here, just find the design that works best for your space and go with it. Yes, you will be terrified and maybe some people won't like it, but ultimately your feelings about it are all that really matters. Good luck.

I don't have a range in a peninsula and I don't have strong feelings about it one way or another. Both examples provided here look good but I do remember a poster who had put their's in a peninsula and had a very open concept area where the introduction of the hood appeared (in pictures) to obstruct the nice sight lines of their space. Won't be an issue in a lot of spaces and I think what paigeysmom has done really deals with this nicely but depending on your space it certainly something to think about.

I have attached a link to the thread, the poster ended up being quite happy after some initial shock so it isn't an argument for or against just something to keep in mind.

Best threads are the ones where you get both sides. Having gotten a little crabby in another post about OTR micro\fans just recently I'm a little sympathetic to favabeans5, sometimes information gets relayed in a way that suggests "because I could never be happy with this neither could you" which isn't always true. And to be fair I am sure there are more examples of me doing just that than I would care to admit to so I'm not making any judgements.

Here is a link that might be useful: range hood over peninsula

I really appreciate all your thoughtful replies! THANK YOU!

I also love hearing everyone's frank and honest opinions. It helps me to think of things I may not have otherwise thought of, and in the process, I can come to decide whether or not a certain aspect is important to me or not. So, ALL opinions and advice are welcome and appreciated.

BTW, can anyone point me to a link of Buehl's kitchen remodel? I would love to read her story.

THANK YOU ALL AGAIN FOR EVERYTHING!

For a "regular" kitchen, without a pro style range or range top, locating it in an island or peninsula with a downdraft can be doable if you don't mind a bit substandard ventilation. THe laws of physics dictate the behavior of heated gasses, and you're not going to contravene the laws of physics without a lot of power, which translates to a high CFM vent fan. High CFM vent fans need big ducts, and are not that quiet, even with remote blowers. It's just the nature of moving air to make noise. If you go with a lower CFM vent fan like JennAir did forever, then you don't even manage to remove the steam from a low wattage electric element very well. If you have a gas cooktop, think of how a campfire behaves on a windy night. THe moving air pulls the flame and creates a "hotspot" directly opposite the direction of the wind, and on the side next to the wind you can stand right next to it and not feel very much heat at all. You can have similar behavior with a gas cooktop and a downdraft vent.

The laws of physics, besides stating that heated gasses rise, also says they expand as they rise. That's why you usually see overhead island ventilation hoods be larger and deeper than the cooktop they're venting below. That can work---IF the ventilation is overhead. You really can't increase the capture area when using a downdraft vent. Yes, you can use a 36" pop up vent for a 30" cooktop, and the extra 6" will help, but it still won't really be able to capture much from the front burners. And, if you'll look at most cooktops, the high BTU burners are usually on the front and are very rarely changeable in location.

I am in the camp that tends to agree that most kitchens have inadequate and improper ventilation, especially newer homes that are very "tight". That's MY bias. ;) But, I understand that many people don't consider ventilation that important. For multiple reason, many health and safety related, I don't agree with that viewpoint, and I will try to inform and persuade. But, in the end, YOU live in YOUR kitchen, and with YOUR decisions. I just would like people considering island or peninsula locations for cooking to fully understand the drawbacks associated with that choice. Including the fact that it is a LOT more expensive a choice than is a wall cooktop location.

LiveWireOak,

Thank you for your thoughtful post; I appreciate your taking the time to give me your thoughts on adequate ventilation above the cooking area.

My kitchen is apparently quite a space challenge, and to do a range against-a-wall would be very difficult once I remove the wall between my kitchen and dining room (which is where the range is now).

One of my kitchen designers is ASSURING ME that no ventilation is needed above the cooktop. I WANT to believe that (because it makes like much easier!!!)

I am getting very frustrated and stressed out by all of this, and by the contradictory opinions between designers!

We have a range on a peninsula and it was, realistically, our best option. We have a hood, and I refused to do without one. We do a lot of cooking, and the amount of grease that collects on the hood scares me sometimes. We don't get a ton of splatter behind the range (though we definitely get some).

This is definitely a very personal decision - the range now is where it was pre-remodel (we knocked down the wall) and I enjoy being able to prep and stand by the range while looking out at the DR/LR. However, in our next house, I will most likely place the range on the wall with island/prep space behind it.

For what it's worth, the hood doesn't block my view at all (I'm 5-4).

lnersesian,

Thanks for the photos. GORGEOUS kitchen! I LOVE it!

I am 5'4" too, and I would be totally comfortable with a hood like that... (although 6'2" hubby feels somewhat differently!)... but it would be major, MAJOR work to do that and vent it outside (and we are doing that work ourselves) -- so if we don't reeeeeeally neeeeeeeeeed to... well, I'd rather not, of course.

Oh, I am getting paralysis analysis over this project!!!

Lynn B?

I am approaching my answer from the other side...I had originally wanted a slide-in in my island, for the same reasons most people do. I thought I would be cooking, facing my guests, having a convivial social experience. Due to the inability to relocate the electric and run a new gas line in the slab, I redesigned the kitchen to have a large (4ftx5ft) single-level island and placed the range on the perimeter. I also got a good hood to go above it.

The decision to relocate the range out of the island was a great one; even though it wasn't really going to give me what I intended to have, the convivial social gathering works BETTER because the range is not in the island. We find that people literally gather around the entire island, and the dynamic would be completely different if the range was there. It would force people to gather around the opposite side of the island primarily, whereas having the entire surface uniform encourages people to arrange themselves in a circular fashion...much better than all on one side!

In retrospect, having the single level large slab with circulation space around the whole island is a much better option for the way we really live and entertain. And it's perfect for all sorts of large projects, lots of people helping with a meal or a task, for layout for parties, etc. I often have most of the cooking done for a party before my guests arrive, and the stove is not in use while I am entertaining. For family dinners, I tend to use the cooktop for simmering sauces and the oven for the main dish, so I'm not using the stove actively a whole lot when people are around, etierh.

I wouldn't trade it for a range-in-island configuration even if someone offered the range and the island hood for free!

Everyone makes such GOOD points, thank you all for your frank input! So much to consider... oy!!!

Just bumping for more opinions... photos... anything!
Thank you very much.

Thanks to everyone posting pictures! It was SO helpful to see these as I am planning for a slide-in range in my peninsula during a major remodel. Seeing it in real kitchens is completely different than a line drawing from your architect :)

Lil,
Our kitchen is finished... below is a link to the thread. The slide-in range is in the peninsula and we LOVE it.
(BTW, sorry if this message posted twice -- computer gremlins!!!) ;o)

Here is a link that might be useful: Our finished kitchen