Stick with your Modernaire for your awesome application. Don't waste your time with the VAH. Not that it's bad. But what you have is better. I went with a Best by Broan with baffles and I really like it. But I was trying to save money so it's very good for the budget. If I had some extra money I might have gone Modernaire or Prestige.

Don't even think about mesh. Mesh will trap oil and drip back over your cooking area. The baffles will at least channel the oil to the bottom edge away from your cooking surface. In both cases you can just stick the filter in the DW.

jscout,

Thanks again...ur a wealth of information.

One of the kitchen inspiration photos (dark contempo cabs, white stone and 60" range and that gorgeous hood):

It will have to be custom...Trevor has already worked the quote and I am happy but want to do a bit more due diligence.

So, I just pop the baffles out and throw them in the DW? That sounds super easy.

Cheers,

M

Super easy! Well, you do have to remember to wipe down the part of the hood where the grease catches too. But if you do it every couple of months, it should be easy with a moist sponge. If you wait too long, the grease may thicken and become sticky. Then the sponge won't pick it up as well and you may need some elbow grease. That's when it becomes a pain no matter what kind of hood or filter you have.

Concur with jscout on the Modern Aire vs VAH - have worked on and sold both and MAV hoods are well made and perform very well - have a look on the MAV site to see some video of how well they draw - MAV has a lot of really nice features on their range hood such as true variable speed and dimmable halogen lighting. Baffle filters are far superior in terms of grease capture and lower noise levels and will last forever - they are made from 300 series stainless steel and are a whole lot easier to clean than the VAH magic lung system.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen Range Hoods

We have both a Modern Aire hood liner, baffled, with a remote inline blower, and a Vent a Hood. The MA is infinitely superior in every way: performance, noise, ease of maintenance, appearance, and was totally comparable in cost.

It astounds me that VAH remains so successful, though I too drank the Kool Aid back before I had found GW and actually learned something about ventilation. Once you do, you begin to realize the scam that is "Magic Lung."

At 1200 CFM either one is going to work, provided your HVAC person can assure you will have 1200 CFM exiting the house. 1200 CFM will completely change the air in a 11' x 11' x 10' cube every minute. Unless you're going to be searing steaks on all the burners at the same time for an extended period of time your range won't over whelm the hood.

Here is my guess about VAH and their "magic lung" cfm rating. But first, some effusive background.

All fans/blowers have a performance curve that relates the flow rate achieved (cfm) to the pressure difference across the fan. Most fans/blowers sold separately and used for kitchen ventilation specify the zero static pressure cfm. This is never achieved in practice.

In practice, the baffles, hood shape transitions, duct walls and bends all conspire to cause a pressure drop. Further, without a perfect make-up air (MUA) system, the house itself will restrict the amount of air that can flow for a given negative house pressure. So, in practice, there is a pressure drop, and the fan/blower will flow a lower cfm than its rated zero static pressure cfm.

How much lower? This is a big analysis problem, but one might want to guess two-thirds of the rating is achieved as a conservative value to assure that the desired flow is achieved.

So this gets us to the point. It is possible (I have no actual insider view into VAH) that VAH determined that their fan/hood combination flows 600 cfm, and for a roof or in-line fan to do the same its zero static pressure rating would have to be 900 cfm.

Of course, once the VAH is installed with any significant ducting, its presumed 600 cfm capability will be reduced by the pressure drop in the ducting and roof or wall exit device.

kas

Thanks all! MA seems to be well liked so I am comfortable with the decision and from what I have seen (online), they make beautiful custom hoods.