Vintage 1950's Vent A Hood

[hydralique]

1956 St. Anthony hood . . .

My parents just bought a house here in SoCal, and will be moving from Texas in a few months. The house was built in '56, and has a huge hood from St. Anthony (who I've never heard of before) over a gas six burner Jenn-Air cooktop. The hood is a coppery brown color, but not what I'd call Coppertone, and has that scalloped lower edge so typical of the '50s. It is unusual in that the actual ventilator unit is offset so as to be centered over the cooktop. The cooktop itself is not centered in the cabinets.

The cooktop has obviously been replaced, as has one of the electric ovens. Both ovens are from Chambers. The cooktop and hood work well, but we've not tried the ovens yet. The original oven (the lower one) has a fascinating brushed copper finish. I think both ovens will be replaced with one new one and a built in microwave in the near future.

Apologies for the cellphone photos!

 

[hydralique]

The ovens . . .

The top oven is self cleaning, I'd suspect from the late '60s or early '70s. The bottom one is certainly original, both are Chambers as noted above. The previous owner was quite elderly and he seemed to have given up cleaning after his wife died several years ago, hence the dirty front on the lower oven. We're now in the process of cleaning the house and planning some updates while it is empty. I find the location of the controls on the lower oven very peculiar , certainly not a convenient layout!

 

[austinado16]

Here's a good one.....

...Guess what I pulled out of an old home today? A 36" Vent-A-Hood in silver grey. Dual blowers...ooh.....aaaah.

Really enjoyed looking at the photos of your fridges and the small appliances!! That fridge restoration sure brought back the memories. That's exactly what I did to our, along with reversing the latch mechanism and relocating the handle to the other side, along with the hinges.

I see those Kenmore rotisseries at the swap meet fairly often. They must have been very popular back in the day. If I had the counter space, I'd probably have one too.

 

[mattl]

hydralique, that appears to the the 6 burner version of my most hated cooktop, had it for 3 month and pulled it out. Got to get around to listing it on CL someday...

Perhaps your folks won't mind it so much with the 6 burner configuration, the 4 was impossible for me to use, but then it might just be me...

BTW, that is one massive hood!

 

[a440]

You guys keep the pictures coming!!!!

I went, I saw, I bought! I am so excited Y'all. It fit like a glove. Like it was always meant to be!

The wonderful gentleman that had it for sale has a soft spot for vintage appliances. He let me look through his stuff, but besides the hood nothing really look vintage to me.

Anyway. Brought the hood home. Cleaned it up a little and fit it into it's place. Fit like a glove! It did not need much cleaning. No scratches. It is a model F-150. I will write to find out what age it is. It is very strong as far as air space suctions goes. Not very loud. Mostly what you hear is wind. The motor was clean as a whistle, and had two ports for oil. Of course oiled. I was amazed how everything could be taken out and washed in the dishwasher!

I was too tired to cook, but I was burning things and running outside to smell. Crazy right? Yep you know the type!

Here are a few pictures. The cook top range is the next to go. I am looking for a vintage gas range. The yellow "stuff" is also next. Trying to figure out what to replace it with.

Forgive the pictures. They look horrible and dirty. I swear that I am clean. Until I started burning stuff......

Thanks for all of your input and your amazing pictures. Keep them coming. I love the vintage kitchen stuff!

Have a great week.

Off to cook grilled cheese something or another. Something that will burn and smoke!

Brent

 

[a440]

Another View

Under Hood.
I was amazed how clean it was.

 

[a440]

Another Version....

Frontal.
Can you say Yellow?
Brent

 

[westingman123]

gentlemen

It never fails to amaze me the very topic I'm considering pops up here, almost every time! I've been on the search for a range hood to complement my Westy 40" range; I'd never heard of vent-a-hood! Thanks for giving me a defined goal.

Keith

 

[a440]

Vent A Hood

Fun. It is cleaner than it looks.
Digital for ya!

 

[a440]

Keith,
Do the craigslist thing.
They do pop up. Hopefully they will not know what they have.
Brent

 

[a440]

Todd

You sounds like you found an amazing find as far as hoods go.

This is wild.

Please post pictures when you get a chance.

You sound excited! Fun!

Brent

 

[danemodsandy]

Word to the Wise:

For anyone who wants a Vent-A-Hood brand vintage hood, there is something you should know. They are absolutely excellent hoods, capable of clearing the smokiest kitchen in nothing flat. But their unique styling can be a problem for guys.

Basically, you have to be careful of the front corners when you're bending to look at something cooking on the stove. I've attached a reduced copy of Brent's pic to show you what I mean. The corners are not a problem for most women, since they're not tall enough for their heads to be that close to the corners. But I'm six-four, and the Vent-A-Hood I had in my St. Charles kitchen in Morningside got me more than once.

Most range hoods have angled corners (see inset pic) to take care of this problem. I once talked with the Vent-A-Hood rep in Atlanta about the situation, and he told me it was just getting to get their attention, since men were only recently (this was the '80s) starting to cook for themselves in any real numbers.

Again - absolutely fantastic hood, of the highest quality, very quiet, easy to clean and service. Just watch yaselfs, please!

 

[a440]

Oh my Gosh!

Thanks Sandy for the Heads Up! (couldn't resist)

I just went and looked at the corners! These edges are so sharp! I am not tall enough. I did notice that it could be just as bad if you came upward on a corner also.

Thanks again!
I must not cook drunk!
Brent

 

[austinado16]

The 36" Vent-A-Hood that I picked up looks just like yours Brent, except mine's painted a silver grey to look like stainless. In fact, it had a stainless back splash that had been added during the original install.....but was not part of the actual hood...and you almost couldn't tell them apart, color-wise.

My hood has 3 metal push buttons on the front, below the Vent-A-Hood script. The center one operates the single fluorescent light. The buttons to the left and right operate the left and right fan motors individually. It's probably from about 1969 or 1970. Still works perfectly.

My intent is to sell it, so if anyone's interested, get ahold of me. You can have it as-is and do the clean-up/restoration yourself, or I can do it. The hood is perfect and needs nothing, but the blower motor box and curved air shield will need cleaning and the shield may need to be repainted. Perfect time for a color change to white, via powder coating, or just repaint it yourself as I did with my big one.

Regarding the sharp corners. It's funny that Vent-A-Hood went to that design. If you take a look a my big white hood, it has large nickel plated corners that completely cover the hood's corners.

 

[danemodsandy]

Brent:

Glad you see the potential for the problem. And yes, some of my accidents with my Vent-A-Hood were due to the wine flowing a little too freely while I was cooking!

There's a reason I don't drink anymore, LOL.

 

[austinado16]

Here's what I found...

36" wide, 24" out from the wall, 14" tall, 12" deep where it goes under the upper cabinets, if installed like that. It's in perfect condition...

The "Debonaire" Model DA-200

The removable blower housing cover is not cleaning up, so I'm taking it and the air shield over to the powdercoaters in a few minutes.

It was installed in a "Rumpus Room" over a period Char-Broil Indoor gas grill, which I also saved (we had one!). The linoleum in the room was gold, like a gold tarazo floor, with shiny gold flecks like you'd find in a bowling ball from the 60's. Wild!!

Nice to keep these 2 from going into the land fill.

 

[a440]

Todd your find is a beauty! I love the shape!
Great find.
Show off your Char-Broil gas grill if you get a chance. I have not seen one of those in years.
Brent

 

[a440]

History of Vent-A-Hood

Very interesting short video.
Looks like a great USA company to work for.
Brent

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[austinado16]

Okay, I'll take a check.......

Looks like they followed through with my idea about doing a vintage line after all!! That's just amazing. I fully thought they were just blowing me off and I finally stopped calling. I think I was talking to Skip, who's in that video.

Saw a brochure for our own hood, and for this hood that I just brought home.

Very cool!

 

[austinado16]

Oh, the Char Broil is taken apart. It's the only way I could lift it out of the counter top. It must weight 200lbs when fully assembled.