I need some recommendations for a Under Cabinet Range Hood for my kitchen remodel.
Looking at a) mid-line cost $250-$350
b) quiet (are in-line or ceiling blowers the way to go?)
c) are the heat and humidity automatic start stuff worth it?
d) good lighting as well
Anyone got a good choice?
Thanks,
Navion
Replies
I've installed some of these. Nutone Allure. Really quiet; nice little halogen 50s.
http://www.nutone.com/product-detail.asp?ProductID=1106
Forrest
Thanks
McD!
Found a pic -
View Image
Forrest
Edited 6/5/2008 12:58 am ET by McDesign
Thanks, they do show an amazing .9 sones. for sound. Price is in line.
I don't think there is really anything worth being had in that price range unless you shop Ebay for some bargain. I researched the topic quite well a 1 1/2 years ago. And I ended up buying the Nutone Allure III. It styling is nice and I was able to get it in stainless. But other than that it's air handling design is pretty poor. Firstly, the fan coverage extends only half way out. that is you'll more than likely only get draw on the back two burners. Instead of the traditional recess at the front half of the hood that traps the escaping vaporized grease off the front burners and leaves it nowhere to go but into the fan the Allure is shrouded off so that the air in that portion rolls off and over the front of the unit escaping the blower entirely. Secondly, the interior baffles around the squirrel cage are sealed poorly allowing air to escape and mitigate through a series of vent holes at the top of the unit. You'll soon have a sticky greasy layer of crud on top of the hood and on your upper cabinets if you do any normal amount of cooking and don't wipe down after every meal. Thirdly, As stated the fan performs quietly on the first speed and okay on the second but third and boost level are noisy as any other budget model I've ever used. And for all but simmering a pot of water you'll need at least third speed.
Edited 6/5/2008 7:42 am ET by ted
Edited 6/5/2008 7:45 am ET by ted
Again, I appreciate your input. CU does show poor smoke removal for the Allures.
The note about the noise is great. It's hard to get the noise "thing" straight with
some manufactures listing normal speed noise and not high speed noise.ThanksNav
What issue was the CU report for range hoods in?
I'm looking it up now
August 2006. Obviously some models have changed but not much.I'm looking at the Broan Elites $400 or the Fantech inline setup at $1100.The Broan elite does come with an inline fan. I'm just trying to find if the
sound reduction is worth the cost.
Nav
Ted,I also get your point about hood design.. So many of the things have
lights in the shroud up front which is counter productive.Nav
I agree completely Ted. I think most low/medium priced hoods are junk. People buy them because they don't cook alot or very big meals, they don't want to spend much, or they just don't know any better.
Do a search on Bosch Duh30252uc we had 10 installed & used on the last job we finished, nice hood!
If you really want quiet and I mean quiet, an external blower is the way to go. This will raise your cost over the range that you posted. Good luck
yeh I'm heading up in price. who's got a good external setup?Nav
You are just putting this over a standard 30" range or cooktop. When you up grade to one of those 36" high output cookers, you need to match ventilation and it can get expensive fast.
Yeh your right. In Minnesota here anythig over 300cfm requires an intake.My guy locally thinks the vent-a-hood system that does not use screens
or louvres to trap grease is the way to go. Better airflow with less fan (less noise)
You just have to empty the grease cup occasionally. It's the SLH6-K30 which
is best suited for my remod.Nav
Some of these 42 and 48 inch stoves are just commercial units and are required to have commercial hoods. We're talking 100,000 BTU's on some models. You need to move some make up air there. Imagine the cooling bills for the house.
I visited a remodel with my GC boss and the customer was complaining about the hood not doing it's job. It was a huge exhaust fan that wasn't working. I went over and opened the kitchen door to the outside and it changed everything.
No make up air. But it fell on def ears. They both went back to complaining/changing the subject.
I learned about make up air building a pizza restraunt. The pizza oven has to have one and make up air has to be conditioned. It's designed so the cold make up air falls from the ceiling behind the oven operator and moves past them to the oven and hood.
Yea, lots of people don't realize the basic principle of applied energy. You have to replace what you use for maximum efficiency.
Could you imagine how many workers you would need if you didn't have that make up curtain of cool air?
That's a good home remodel unit. SLH series work well on smoke. And run the cup along with the metal filter units through the dishwasher once in a while.
Remote blowers are more quiet and efficient, tho usually more expensive. In standard in-line types, centrifugal blowers are more efficient than the cheapie "propeller" types.
I like variable speed blowers and halogen lights.
Broan, Best by Broan, Vent-a-Hood and Fujioh are good bets. Broan and Vent-a-Hood have models in your price range; others probably a little higher, but worth a look.
Thanks SusieI'm leaning to the Vent-a Hood with the grease cup setup.Navion
I've a friend that just bought a Broan and is wondering about what might be said about recirculation vs true vent to outside?
Do they really work on odors or are they just a grease catcher?
Thanks
For lighter cooking I think they would work. But you have to keep up on the filters. Most people don't and they can be expensive to replace.
It also depends on what you are cooking and if you mind the whole house smelling like it.
Personally, I like to smell what is cooking throughout the house.
But I was raised to not use much oil or grease to cook with.
My recommendation to customers is to vent outside whenever possible. While the filters in recirc hoods can trap grease and some odors, they then turn around and exhaust the steamy air back into the kitchen. I've never come across any that I think do a good job, although I see them often. House designers nowadays can't be bothered to consider a chase for ventilation ducts in the kitchen; they think everyone has a recirculating microwave/hood. I've actually seen a plan with one over a pro-style range!
Having a good hood is a help in keeping things clean in the kitchen. Grease and moisture-filled air from cooking is less likely to get deposited on surfaces if it's completely exhausted from the room.
Also, lots of people find cooking odors objectionable, especially those that linger like fish. I have a pretty small house, and while I find the smell of bacon great in the morning, I'm over it after breakfast. My recirculating hood does nothing to help there.
If you choose the Vent-a-Hood, let me know how you like it. I don't have any direct experience with them, and I'm considering one for my house.
can't be bothered to consider a chase for ventilation ducts in the kitchen;
Well, far too many are barely designing in 2D . . .
they think everyone has a recirculating microwave/hood.
Well, all those folk live in cheap apartments--just like everybody else they know--so it must be true, nu?
I've actually seen a plan with one over a pro-style range!
The number of people who cannot cook who also feel qualified to design spaces for those that do . . .
Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
So.....if you're a real cook and you have a small kitchen and wish to save counter space, it is acceptable to use a microwave/hood combo providing it is vented to the outside?
Just wondering, I'm working up that kitchen that you didn't want to traavel to Kansas for.
So.....if you're a real cook and you have a small kitchen and wish to save counter space, it is acceptable to use a microwave/hood combo providing it is vented to the outside?
Well, my personal bias is to have a wall-mounted MW shelf, so the customer's existing MW can be used (or their multi-function unit). All the better to but a shelf or storage in for popcorn, MW-specific utensils & cookware.
That gets the MW off the counter, and lets the vent hood be a vent hood (and not at all crowd pots on the back of the stove or cooktop--which is all too common with the combo MW/hoods.
Just wondering, I'm working up that kitchen that you didn't want to traavel to Kansas for
Well, it was an easy job when all you needed was a lighting consultant <g>
Guessing, really, that you would not have wanted to pay for all that traavel to KS . . . (and I hate those toll booths on 35 <g>) Mapquest makes it 525 to Wichita, call that 5 tankfulls at $60 each, is only $300 in gas per round trip, not including per diem and expenses . . . Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
Amazing, isn't it, what you see on houseplans these days!
After 20+ years in design, I still see 24" oven cabinets and spaces for refrigerators that are 33" wide and 24" deep.
My builder has elected to do a Sharp micro drawer. Have you used those yet? This will be the first for me.
I still see 24" oven cabinets and spaces for refrigerators that are 33" wide and 24" deep.
I can go one better. Know of a foreign-born fellow who goes about with the family fortune in diamonds in a pilot's case (having a long familial distrust of banks and governments). Dufus can write a check for eleventy million on about eleventy different accounts (before having to dip in the diamond stash). Has a sprawing, awful (semi-self-designed) house. He put an apartment fridge into the 42" wide, 84" tall fridge space . . .
My builder has elected to do a Sharp micro drawer. Have you used those yet? This will be the first for me
I've only seen them in models and parade houses. Most seem to be stuck on a corner of an island. The idea of leaning over to open that MW full of steam is slightly daunting, personally. But, I like that it is a drawer, rather than a door-ed unit.
Now, I've sketched up using one in a coffee bar situation. Which can be ideal for using the MW. Heating milk, reheating coffee, softening the cream cheese on left-over blini, what have you. Shoot, just for a sausage-egg-n-biscuit breakfast . . . <g>Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
I think that Gene has used the Sharp a couple of times..
.
A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
Vent-A-Hood. $359 for your standard in white. They have some pretty interesting features, check out their website.