vent height question--performance, ergonomics, and aesthetics

14 years ago

Hi --

We need to specify the height of the hood for install tomorrow. The hood is a Zephyr Roma 600 CFM 36", and range is Bertazzoni 36".

What we're thinking of doing is putting it 31" above the range top, as shown below.

This would make horizontal uppers on either side roughly bisect the rectangular element of the hood. This is 5'7 off the floor. It sticks out 22" from the wall, and the stove sticks out nearly 24".

Originally I was planning to have the hood 2" lower, at 29", so it would line up with the seem of the bottom and lower uppers on either side. (Aventos HF hardware).

Unfortunately I discovered that the uppers are 3/16" different in elevation on each side. So if we line it up on one side it won't be lined up on the other. Unfortunately since we don't have the lowers / glass doors in yet we don't really know how it will look--if this 3/16" difference will be noticeable. But we need to get the hood in so we can get the stove in.

The most common height I've seen that people recommend is 30" above the surface.

The hood manufacturer recommends a range of 26-33" above the stove. The hood is 600 CFM.

Bert recommends a minimum 400 CFM fan with hood 25 1/2" -- 31 1/2" above the stove.

So I was thinking of setting the hood at 31" above the range, which would put it at 5'7 off the floor. I'm 5'10 and cook a lot but doubt I'll have a head bumping issue--though I am a bit concerned.

Based on performance, I would think 31" above the range would be about as high as I would want to go--maybe another 1/2" max.

Maybe when we actually lift the hood up tomorrow I'll see how it looks and if we should set it a bit lower -- we set a piece of cardboard to get an idea but it's only 2 dimensional.

Any thoughts about this?

Thanks!

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Comments (5)

attofarad
14 years ago
Can you install the hood on a slant, to match the 3/16" offset? Might work, or might drive you crazy. You could mock up something with poster board to see.
chac_mool
14 years ago
Bend a long strip of cardboard, about the thickness of the face of your hood, in a squared-off U shape, to serve as a mock-up of your hood. Then tape it up on the wall 5'7" above the floor, so it sticks out 22". That makes a three dimensional mockup.

You can play around with the height (etc.) as you pretend to cook on the burners below.
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Takkone
14 years ago
I say leave it like you have in the picture. That way you won't notice the 3/16" difference. By the way, what software did you use to make that rendering? It looks great!
chaparral
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks for the comments. We did end up leaving it like in the picture, actually about 1" down due to vent hood cover sizing issues. The amount of space was such that the single cover fit almost perfectly if we dropped it 1" from my rendering. The finished height is just about 30" now.

I'll post a finished photo later.

I'll probably be the only one who will see the 1/4" difference on each side.

An issue we ran into is that the ceiling is not perfectly level. Surprise, surprise. So with the cover secured with all 4 screws the cover just about touches the ceiling in the back and has a noticeable shadow in the front. By only screwing the top 2 screws it was possible to set the cover so it is pretty even with the ceiling. If you look up over to the top of the hood you see the gap there rather than up at the ceiling.

Only thing I could think of other than doing this would be to put some sort of molding at the top where the hood meets the ceiling-- something similar to the stainless schluter edging we used on the tile.

Regarding the software, I use Interior Design 3D for Mac, which is similar to Sketchup but much easier--and lets you change textures, colors, etc. It can import sketchup models.

http://www.belightsoft.com/products/liveinterior/overview.php

Only $40 from the Mac App store.

It's a good way to visualize the overall look, and change perspective, etc., but not a full-featured kitchen design program. It has a limited set of built-in cabinets for instance. I created the uppers by making boxes of diferent textures, assembling them, and then merging into a single object. Then I could duplicate and rescale. Same with the hood-- it's 2 boxes.
eleena
14 years ago
"I'll probably be the only one who will see the 1/4" difference on each side."

No, it makes two of us. My DH always jokes how I can see such things and be bothered by them, LOL.

Good luck with your kitchen and thanks for the software info!