Dilemma w/ hood installation
So, I’m at the point of the renovation where I need to buy all my kitchen appliances, and I’m in the process of picking out the vent hood. Yesterday I spent about an hour at Futuro Futuro’s showroom looking for a suitable hood. I found the “Concorde†design which I’m in love with (link below),…
So, I’m at the point of the renovation where I need to buy all my kitchen appliances, and I’m in the process of picking out the vent hood. Yesterday I spent about an hour at Futuro Futuro’s showroom looking for a suitable hood. I found the “Concorde†design which I’m in love with (link below), but I have a dilemma.
My problem is that the company recommended that you install the hood about 26â€-30†above the cook top, but I’m 5′ 11†so I imagine it being very uncomfortable to cook with a hood in your line of sight. I asked if I could have the hood at 34†– 36†above the counter, but the hood guys said that it will make a big difference in suction.
How should I approach this problem? Should I disregard the recommendations by the manufacturer and install it 34â€-36†above the stove (and risk losing suction), or should I lift part of the counter with the cooktop by a few inches? I also have the option of going with a larger hood to compensate on the height (they make a 48†wide version), but the bigger hood will cost more.
Need some advice maybe from contractors, installers or just anyone who understand my concern and can share their opinions.
Concorde Hood: http://www.futurofuturo.com/wall-range-hood-WL36CONCORDE.php
Thanks in advance.
-Margo
My husband is 6’5″ and we went around and around in this discussion. We ended up installing our hood about 36″ above the cooktop, and it has much less CFM than the model you’re looking at (maybe 700? I can’t remember). It still does it’s job — maybe it would be more efficient if it were lower, but when it’s on it clears any vapors, smoke and odors pretty well.
Maybe my bar is “low” because I’ve never had a hood before, so in my opinion the something that we have now is better than the nothing we had before?
The line of sight may be the cook looking at the people on the other side of the island. Current clients decided to go with an island sink instead of range because they did not want to look at an exhaust hood. It is a fairly common concern.
As far as code, residential kitchen exhausts are basically not required. Being able to reach the control switches is certainly a consideration, and manufacturer guidelines definitely need to be taken seriously. We just put in a Broan that allowed for 36″ maximum install above the range, and even though the client requested it go higher, we pointed out that it was not a good idea.
I think you’re making something out of nothing. I am almost 6’3″ and installed the hood at 30″ over the cooktop. It does not affect my ‘line of sight’ at all, I am able to see all six burners normally.
I just checked the distance from floor to hood, that comes out to 6’7″ (I have a Viking range).
Also, I don’t know this for a fact, but somewhere there’s probably a code for this, no point in breaking it if you don’t have to.
You can find me thru my profile if you want to come over and check it out.
We take client height into consideration during install. We adjusted an island exhaust up for a tall client, and there was no notable difference in its performance.
940 CFM is moving a lot of air quickly.