What kind of kitchen ventilation do you like???

[norgeway]

A hood , wall vent, or ceiling ventilator,I like a hood, but was always hitting my head on the corner of it, I put a 1962 NuTone ceiling ventilator in this kitchen and I like it much better than a hood, we had a Bernz Air King wall ventilator, it REALLY worked well, if my stove was on an outside wall I would have one here.

 

[rp2813]

Right now we have none.  My dad installed a false ceiling over the stove back in the early '70s, and the original 1926 passive updraft into the main flue was lost.

 

I have a vintage NIB Air King fan that I want to install and connect up to the flue.  The florescent fixture above the stove is showing signs of failure, so the plan is to remove the false ceiling and replace it, with the Air King incorporated along with a couple of new flush mount LED lights.

 

I have the same issue with hitting my head on a hood, and I know the Air King fan will be much, much quieter than anything a hood would offer, and it's free, too.

 

I''m looking forward to being able to pan sear steaks without smoking up the house and setting off the detector in the nearby family room.

 

[norgeway]

I think..

The fan in the ceiling removes odors and smoke better than anything I ever used.

 

[gansky1]

A few months back, I found a vintage 40" Vent-A-Hood on CL here and snapped it up quick.   It wasn't in bad shape, a good cleaning made it like new again.  Best hood/vent I've ever had.  This baby pulls some serious air and is relatively quiet.  Instantly clears away the rare smoke cloud and even occasional frying odor is nearly undetectable if used through the process.   

 

Growing up, we had a round Nutone kitchen fan in the ceiling above and in front the Universal gas range.  It worked OK but didn't have great airflow.

 

[norgeway]

Dont you think???

Vent a Hood was the very best hood, followed by TradeWinds and NuTone, I have seen many old Stanthony hoods around here too.

 

[washer111]

The type of house we live in does have the facility to vent outdoors... EXCEPT, during the renovation of many in the 1980's this was tiled over and recirculation hoods installed instead...

The actual vent outdoors would only be about 30cm (11.81") above the bench level - so either the old hood had an unusual setup, or they had an alternate kitchen layout in some way (quite difficult with the 2PH electrical conduit emerging from the concrete slab where the stove is now) and had a wall-mounted exhaust fan.

Suffice to say, that setup would be completely and utterly illegal...

The old hood was a RobinHood, 3 speed with lights. Pushbutton controls, although several digital touchpad models are kicking around and working perfectly after 30yrs. Had two stages of very fine-mesh filtration, vented towards the ceiling and was pretty quiet on the LOW and MED settings, despite moving lots of air. The old motor was in excellent condition.
Very easy to maintain and very good performance.

Its replacement was a Westinghouse sliding "THING." The light is on, no matter what, and on every one of the three speeds, its loud and obnoxious. Just a single stage of mesh filters that you can put up to your face and still see the kitchen clearly.
Despite the ridiculous noise level, it still can't draw steam through itself (you can see this when cooking, steam rises and just goes straight past it) and blows right back in your face. Pitiful excuse for a "vent hood."

I'd heartily recommend folks here to go with recirculated - especially for energy conservation during hot summers/cold winters (although the air turnover from fresh-air units isn't a bad thing), but the condition of installation would be what direction the output vents... Towards the ceiling is my preference.
If that isn't possible, get something that vents outdoors and spend the money on something more than a lower-end model (Even though the RobinHood wasn't a TOL model) or maybe go vintage if it can fit the look of your kitchen. Modern things move no more air than a fan on a desktop PC!

 

[norgeway]

A wall vent....illegal!

I never heard of such a thing, Its NOT illegal here!

 

[foraloysius]

Ventless hoods are one of the most useless things. They don't get the humidity level from the cooking down. And they are even worse in combination with gas cooking. They don't remove the gas combustion! I have an el cheapo (€130.-) Bosch DHU672U hood and it gets the job very well done!

 

[arbilab]

Speaking of useless things, ventless fart fans. My last apartment had one. Made a gawdawful noise and that's absolutely all it did. Not worth the hole in the wall it took to install it.

 

[volvoguy87]

Venting.

I am renovating my kitchen.

I found a TOL NuTone 42" stainless vent hood from the 1950s or early 60s. The motor was seized and the blades blew the air straight up, but the exhaust vent was on the back, beside the blades. Talk about inefficient!

I removed the motor and fan and am putting it up that way. As for the actual exhaust fan, that is mounted on the exterior of the wall and connected to the vent hood via duct. The motor, fan, and noise is outside, away from my face. Since the line is under suction and is very powerful to say the least I put in a branch line up to the top of the wall. There is a 2nd intake at ceiling level to get rid of anything the vent hood misses. The fan is variable speed and rather quiet. If I crank it up, curtains start to shimmy all over my apartment.

I think the exterior fan is a good idea,
Dave

 

[mrboilwash]

Whatever happened to simple solutions like an open window ?

 

[countryguy]

An open window is not so great when it is -30 C outside! And if there is no wind/breeze then there is nothing to suck the smoke/smell outside.

 

[gansky1]

I had unvented/recirculating hoods before this in a couple of houses and nothing beats exterior exhausted ventilation for removing smoke and odors from a kitchen or humid air from a bathroom.  Charcoal and metal mesh filters do help to filter some grease and odors from the air but aren't capable of clearing large volumes of air very quickly.  Heat is another matter altogether and while moving air feels cooler, it does zero good to just move hot air around in the heat of August in the Midwest.  Pulling even a large amount of heated or cooled air out of the house is far easier for any forced air cooling system to recover than adding heat in the summer.  The added benefit is that grease and odors are removed from the air and either trapped in filters or exhausted outside rather than being spread through the entire house by a forced-air HVAC system.  

 

A clothes dryer pulls 150-200 cu. ft. of air from a house every minute it's running and most systems have no trouble replacing that conditioned air.  Conversely, ventilating fans typically move far less air and running for shorter periods of time.  

 

John L and I have talked about this subject for years and I'm sure he'll weigh in at some point here, but his recommendation was for an infinite speed squirrel cage fan mounted in the attic (space permitting) and used in combination with a hood/grease filter in the kitchen.  Much more powerful than any hood-mounted fan, and taking the motor and fan out of the room makes it significantly quieter.  This obviously won't be  possible for everyone, just a "better" solution.  

 

Hans, the Vent-A-Hood has no filters or screens, just the two fans that remove grease from the air by centrifugal force.  Essentially the grease is spun out of the air into the fan housing and a tray below the fans.  Periodic cleaning keeps this in check, all the parts fit into most standard dishwashers.  When I brought mine home, I just dropped the fan housing and tray into the KDS-14 and it came out looking like brand new.  Good quality stainless steel helps tremendously of course.  I read in some forums online when I found my hood that Vent-a-hood is still a revered brand but many people really like their Viking and other brands of high-end, high dollar hoods, a couple of which seem to deal with large amounts of grease more efficiently than the VaH now.  

 

[firedome]

We have an old pull chain actuated in-wall round Nutone...

vented thru the wall to the outside in our '55 house, original to the house. Works great, too great almost, as it sucks all the warm air out of our small kitchen in winter!
Exact same Nutone unit is mounted in the ceiling in the bathroom, vented to the gable-vented attic, also works great.

 

[mrboilwash]

Gary, if it`s -30°C outside there`s no need for a breeze or wind to suck the cooking smells outside unless your kitchen is -30°C as well ;-)

Guess I`m just jealous because I can`t have a vented hood in my apartment building.

 

[yogitunes]

was at a friends house, where they had a NuTone thru-the-wall mounted at ceiling level in the bathroom, probably the best choice ever for quickly venting moisture out of a bathroom....

I think most vents should have a timer on them, as most are turned off too soon in cases like a bathroom, especially after a shower....

also prefer venthoods to be mounted higher, and wider than the actual cooktop....

 

[gusherb]

I have an 80 CFM Nutone in my bathroom, one of those "super silent" models, so it's strong and quiet and I do have a timer on it. Perfect setup, no more leaving it on too long or turning it off too soon.

There is no range hood at all here so when anything stinky or smoky is cooked the Windows have to be opened. I really do want a range hood but a bit of remodeling will have to happen as the cabinet over the range is too low, and it's on an inside wall with no attic above so rectangular ductwork run down to the basement and out the side of the house will have to be put in.
I really want one with an exterior fan but not sure I could do that with the smaller rectangular duct, those external fans usually call for 10" duct.

 

[super32]

I have to also vote for outdoor exhaust. I have had a few recirculating hoods which did nothing, a few downdrafts that were so/so. After my first "exhaust" type hood, i would not want anything else. The pictures are not the best and pardon the mess in the second picture, we had just got done painting the kitchen. We currently have an inline 1000CFM blower that is mounted in the attic. Me being on the tall side would bump my head on most hoods. When we had this one put in, we made sure the height cleared my head. It works very well.

 

[rockland1]

Range Hood

From my experience, nothing but nothing beats a Vent-a-Hood. I attended the
factory training at the Vent-A-Hood factory in Texas. They had a working display set up with the most popular brands. Believe me, nothing out preforms a Vent-A-Hood
I saw it with my own eyes! Very nice people too!

 

[washer111]

@norgeway

Whats illegal about our setup is the clearance from the stove. The building code requires a certain amount of space between the stove and vent hood - presumably for fire safety reasons, particularly with gas ranges.

 

[norgeway]

I get it!!

Someone is always thinking up new rules..LOL

 

[gredmondson]

In one house (in a very temperate area of California, I removed the motor from a 48" ceiling vent hood which had been illegally vented to the large attic space. I had a vent run through the roof and had a restaurant size motor and fan installed on the roof. It was not pretty (only visible from the backyard), but it was the best vent I have ever experienced. When it was on high, and the windows in distant bedrooms were open, the drapes would blow into the room because so much air was moving. It really acted like a whole house fan. It was so efficient as an exhaust fan that I could fry bacon, and I would not smell it in the kitchen. Even though the motor was on the roof, it was not silent as I thought it would be.
That house has been sold, but if am ever in charge of a exhaust vent, I would try to get a good one.
Now, I have a friend who cooks a lot and uses the recirculating vent. I changed the filter, but it does just about nothing that I can see. Fortunately, this is also a very temperate area, so the door and window is open most of the time when he is cooking.
My son has a downdraft vent. They are powerful to counteract the heat rises thing, but it is so strong that it distorts the flame on his gas range. I am not a fan of that set up.

 

[dartman]

Our manufactured home has a recirculating fan, so did our old rental, hate them, just sorta loops the air around and house smells like whatever is cooking. Luckily the range is on a outside wall so may do a through the wall setup or one through the roof if I ever get over not wanting to punch holes in the new roof that came with the house.
The hood we have now is a Kenmore Stainless Steel and matches the stove nicely. There is a box in the cabinet above it like it could take a vent hose, and no clue if the hood can be switched to outside vent of some type.
Both bathrooms also have roof vented fans, and there is one extra ceiling to roof vent in the small halway
so don't know why there is none in the kitchen.
Probably just being cheap when it was built I guess.

 

[tolivac]

The exhaust blowers in my old and new GE Advantium ovens do well in exhausting what I need to cook.The vent goes to the outside.The blowers will exhaust anything cooked on the stove.I don't cook liver&onions!!!A babysitter I had as a kid did!!!

 

[philr]

I got this 48" Nutone V-50 vent hood that I have never installed some time ago. I just like it's looks! It has two single speed turbines and the "Blowers" switch selects either one or two turbines. 

 

Here's what it looked like in the kitchen it was removed from.

 

[philr]

To avoid hitting your head, some models have retractable panels, so when they're not in use, they're away and flush with the cabinets. 

 

That one I want to install at home but I haven't done it yet (the tiles on the wall would need to be extended). 

 

 

[brucelucenta]

I have a microwave vent a hood that is ducted outdoors that works reasonably well. I think just making sure it is vented is most of the problem. So many in newer homes are not even vented, which is useless.

 

[philr]

My Flair vent hood, while making it a pain to remove the range from it's location or to service it from the top has the advantage to be out of the way when it's not in use just like the Nutone above. The single speed turbine blower starts when you lift the cover.

 

And I also have two small vent hoods for 24" wall ovens. The one pictured above my 1970 self-cleaning wall oven came from a home that had a huge Nutone hood with the blower motor outside above the cooktop. I got the cooktop as well as the Nutone Food Center but not the vent hood and blower or the Nutone intercom!

 

[kimball455]

The Amana microwave over the stove has an exhaust fan to the outside. Also, the JennAire has the downdraft system. Combined they do an excellent job especially with the grill on the JennAire.

Harry

 

[a440]

Phil,

That Nutone V-50 is awesome looking.  Never seen such a well built Nutone hood.