Kitchen-Ventilation Solutions

Having kitchen-ventilation problems? Perhaps you can learn from my story...
In my home, the kitchen is definitely the most popular room. Everyone loves to gather there to talk about the days events, do homework or sit down with the laptop computer and surf the Internet. I also love to entertain and the kitchen is eventually where everyone gathers - which is why I decided to enlarge my kitchen when it came time to remodel. After the remodel here's what I experienced... Imagine you've just fired up your new 46 inch cook-top grill, tossed on a couple of succulent marinated chicken breast and your home fills up with smoke! I was seriously lacking adequate kitchen-ventilation.

When I remodeled my kitchen and placed my new 46 inch gas cook-top on my new kitchen island, I learned that the down draft fan just didn't have enough pull for proper kitchen-ventilation. If I used the built in grill, I'd pollute the entire kitchen and the adjacent family room with smoke. I've since learned that the kitchen is the main source of pollutants in a home. I know... Uh Duh right? Ok... it didn't take me long to figure that one out, but think about all the grease, smoke or gas cooking by-products and the moisture generated by the process of cooking. All that stuff gets on your walls, ceilings, carpeting, furniture and drapes... which in turn requires cleaning and we all LOVE to clean.

Even though I installed a new range that had a downdraft ventilation fan... it just didn't have enough pull to draw out the unwanted smoke or other pollutants. The fan vented through long duct work into the crawl-space of my home and even when I changed the size of the duct work it still fell short. I was beginning to think I should have put on a range hood exhaust-er which traps the smoke as it rises and then a fan draws it out for proper kitchen-ventilation. The bottom line is you want an exhaust fan to keep you and your family comfortable and the air fresh by expelling the heat, smoke, moisture and the odors that are created.

Tons of products are available to help with kitchen-ventilation. Unlike a down draft ventilator, a kitchen range hood is not only useful but attractive as well. Kitchen range hoods come in a variety of styles, colors or metal finishes. The also shed a bright light on your cook-top or a subtle night light to help you find your way to a midnight snack. Kitchen-ventilation range hoods work best if you ask me because they install directly over the stove and capture the heat, smoke and odor as it rises. It needs to be the same width as the stove, mounted directly above the stove top at a height of 18 to 30 inches above the burners.

Here's a list of other ventilating options...

• Your basic wall-mounted unit is the least expensive and comes equipped with many options such as multiple lights and timers while another style combines a microwave oven and vent hood in one that's installed over the range. If your home doesn't have duct work you'll have to cut holes in the cabinets above the stove and into your attic to route the duct work out the roof or sofit. New units come with directions and a cut template for the task. Basic units start at around $50 and the more features you need the more expensive the unit becomes. One with a microwave, light, vent combo will cost as much as $400. You can find them at several price points in-between.

• Kitchen-ventilation by Downdraft systems offer a somewhat invisible option. I like the "pop-up" models which incorporate the fan into the range... remaining even with the cook-top until needed. When in operation they... "pop-up" 8 to 10 inches above the cook-top. Other models, like the one I installed in my kitchen, have vents located on the surface of the range near the burners or grill.

• Getting back to my kitchen-ventilation problem. A downdraft unit must work harder to remove the unwanted pollutants from the kitchen's air and are most ineffective on the burners farthest away from steam and odors from say a tall cooking pot. I actually had to install an in line duct fan near the exit of the duct work to help draw out the unwanted stuff. My duct work runs in my homes crawl space but some are run beneath the floor or along cabinet kick spaces. I may have saved money on purchasing a unit with the fan built into the cook-top but if you're not installing the duct work yourself the cost may be more than a kitchen range hood when it's all said and done. Obviously every situation is different but it is part of your planning considerations.

• The reason I chose a downdraft model for kitchen-ventilation in the first place was because I was installing a island. I could either install the stove in the island or the sink. Since I didn't want to move the plumbing for the sink (which I thought would be more of a hassle) I figured I'd put a stove-top unit with a downdraft fan. An overhead range hood just didn't seem practical and would detract from the openness of the space, which was the reason for the island in the first place. I didn't install the "pop-up" model cause they were much more expensive (starting at around $900) but in retrospect... It may have worked better.

  A friend suggested to me later that a range hood could have been the center stage of the kitchen. You can purchase some really nice ones with tile, wood panels or stainless steel making it the focal point of the kitchen. It's not that I didn't think about it but budget was always a concern. These custom kitchen-ventilation hoods run from $800 to $2000 or more depending on the materials it's made from and the power of the exhaust system.

Vent Hoods To Avoid... You should consider replacing a vent hood that simply recirculates the air it pulls in. If you think about it, these units aren't really kitchen-ventilation systems at all. They're cheap at around $50 and they require no duct work, but all they do is pull the pollutants through a filter and send it back into the room doing nothing to remove the moisture.

If I had known how the fan within the unit worked, I would have chosen one with a strong centrifugal fan. Kitchen-ventilation systems can use either a axial fan that looks like a ceiling fan or a centrifugal fan that resembles a squirrel cage and it's called a squirrel cage exhaust fan. These centrifugal fans move more air and are better suited to long duct runs and are going to be more expensive than the axial ones.

How Do I Choose The Right Fan?

Get ready for some calculations to figure the correct kitchen-ventilation. The Home Ventilating Institute says you need a fan that can move a minimum of 40 cubic feet per minute (CFM) per linear foot of duct work. So, if your average duct run is 3 feet... you'll need a fan that can push 120 CFM. Since we've been talking about my downdraft situation, here's what I had to take into consideration. A downdraft unit will require a minimum of 50 CFM per linear foot. I have a duct run that was longer than normal so I figured I needed a fan with 350 CFM - 400 CFM. My solution was to install an in line duct fan with and extra 160 CFM. Combine this with the fan on the stove-top and the CFM adds up and works much better. I looked into industrial applications but it was much more than what I needed and so far... it's working well.

Commercial ranges with high Btu's per burner that throw out tremendous amounts of heat and gas by-products will require stronger kitchen-ventilation systems. I suggest that you start looking for that turbo-charged hood. All the units come with filters that filter out grease and other particles before entering the duct work creating a fire hazard. A quality system will come equipped with a sturdy filter that fits snugly and removes easily for cleaning. Newer kitchen-ventilation systems are also much quieter so if your system is an old noisy one... consider an upgrade.

I've talked a lot about the problems with my system's duct work degrading the performance of the fan due to it's length. I've come to know that a shorter duct run is better. Also, vent to the outside of your home. Older homes may have duct-work that terminates in the basement or attic which defeats the purpose of removing the moisture and cooking pollutants from your home. Other factors that degrade fan performance are bends or reduction in the size of the duct-work especially in the middle of the run providing a place for grease or other contaminates to collect.

Follow the manufactures recommendations for the size of the duct-work. Make sure to seal the joints with professional duct tape to keep air from leaking out of the duct. You can find professional duct tape where you find the vent duct at you local home center. Whatever you do, don't use the cloth backed duct tape. Kitchen-ventilation systems are a key component so make sure you do your homework to end up with the right one. Choose a range hood that is large enough to handle the size of your stove top and attractive enough to complement the rest of your kitchen design.