Cookaholics Bulletin Board

I'm going to need to bite the bullet and buy a new range hood sooner rather than later. My BTUs exceed the capacity of my hood. I'm looking for something in the 1000+ cfm category. Anyone have suggestions?

Amy

We have a Zephyr "Typhoon." I think it maxes out at 850 CFM which is quite good for a 30" under cabinet. Some other models produce at least 1000 CFM.

The only downside for ours is that replacements for the light bulbs are hard to find.

We also have a Zephyr over a 36" Bluestar gas cooktop. I did a lot of research about hoods and thought that I knew what I needed . . . I ordered one with 1200 cfm capacity and dual fans. I even called Zephyr and talked to their customer service techs before placing the order!

I should have learned more about installation - because proper installation is just as important as venting capacity and CFMs.

First mistake: The builder thought it would be OK to put 90 degree turns in the venting between the kitchen and the roof. Um, no, you can't do that or you will DRAMATICALLY decrease the efficiency of the hood. If at all possible, make the vent a "straight run" from the exit on the hood to your roof vent. If not possible, limit turns to 45 degrees, maximum.

Second mistake: The overpriced kitchen designer should have told me that it is crucial that your kitchen hood actually be larger that the cooktop. For example, for my 36" cooktop, I should have ordered a hood at least 6" wider. I guess these overpriced kitchen designers are used to planning kitchens for people who don't actually COOK in their kitchens . . . they just want them to look pretty.

Unfortunately, both of these problems are not easily or inexpensively corrected! Good luck and I hope this info helps.

Thanks for your input! I've been looking at Zephyr, and that's the brand I will likely buy. I don't have to worry about the venting angle. For me it's a very direct 45 degrees. I'm not sure I agree with you about the hood needing to be larger than the range though.

Amy

I found that the width was OK for my cooktop but due to our cabinet design we have a "regular" hood (designed to be installed along a wall) underneath a peninsula cabinet - so it's open where the wall would be. The hood was designed to pull air from the front of the stove up and toward the back but since it's open at the back it doesn't draw as intended, As a result some smoke usually escapes around the front of the hood.

The number and degree of the angles depends on how far of a run you have to vent from your hood to the outside. I have a 90, but my hood is vented directly to an outside wall and my run is about 6 inches. There was a formula in the installation manual for my hood, but it's been about 15 years since I installed my hood, so I don't remember exactly what it is.

I should have mentioned this when I wrote the earlier post (d'oh!). I use the front burners (22k BTUs) on my cooktop for wok cooking. That's why a wider hood was indicated for my installation. With ordinary cooking, the width of the hood is fine. But when I get that screaming hot wok going on one of the front super-burners, the hood is overloaded. After doing a lot of after-the-fact research, I learned that the problem with my hood is width (in addition to the angles in the vent between the hood exhaust and the rooftop).

Oh and another mistake that my builder made (which I was able to correct after we figured it out): The diameter of the cap on the rooftop was 2" smaller than the diameter of the vent!

My only point here is to mention that proper installation is extremely important. I did a lot of research on the hood before I bought it. I should have spent some time figuring out the requirements for proper installation so it could do its job. Silly me. I thought that between the overpriced kitchen designer and the "custom home builder", they would know how to install a vent hood properly.

I think mine is a little wider than the range, not sure exactly by how much, but I can measure it later, if you like. The guy who designed it said that it needed to be that way in technical jargon, so that's the reas0m we did it that way. I still find that sometimes when I put a piece of foil over something that I am grilling(just for more heat faster, the grill sucks up the heat too) the smoke will go up the outer side of the hood and I have to reposition the foil. This might not be an issue if you don't grill inside tho.

C,

I can't go wider than 36" because of the cabinetry. (You likely missed that I got a BlueStar earlier this Spring.) It has an infrared charbroiler in between the four burners. Haven't used it too much yet, mostly because my hood is a little wimpy for it.

Amy

Yes, I'd forgotten about it. I'd just go for a good reviewed brand with high cfm's. Lighting is a big consideration too, I had to make the guy put in halogens on both sides, as he just wanted to put one light. However, when it's over the cooktop, it really hampers visibility when you are cooking. Very happy I went w/2.