Hide my hood and make the cabs look good!

13 years ago

We are *this close* to ordering the cabinets, and I wanted to pose a question about the cabinets over the range. We are thinking of ordering a 36" wide x 24" high x 24" deep cabinet to go over the range that my husband would cut down to 18" deep. The 18" wide cabinets on either side of the range cab are a normal 12" depth. I'm thinking that staggering the depth would keep it interesting. Not doing a fancy wood hood will save us $$, and I like the traditional look of cabinets above the hood anyway. I really want to hide the hood underneath though, so that nothing shows (otherwise I'd just get a regular hood that peeks out from underneath).

Here's a layout (sorry, the OTR cabinets are depicted as 12" deep instead of our preference for 18" deep):

And here's a picture of the actual wall (with recessed shelf):

This brings me to the reason I came here in the first place: I need help fine tuning the exact measurements and making sure everything is in proportion. The wall behind the stove is 8' high, broken down like this:

Countertop = 3' above floor +

Bottom of OTR cabinet = 3' above the range +

Over the Range Cabinet = 2' high

How do you think a 24" tall cabinet would look above the range? Too boxy? Just right? I was toying with the idea of an 18" tall cabinet with a 6" mantle/shelf underneath it (that would sit 36" above the range. From what I understand, the bottom of the hood must be no more than 36" above the range).

Second question: what's a good depth so that I'm not banging my head on the hood/cabinet? Does an 18" deep cabinet that's 6' from the floor allow enough head-room? (I'm 5'4", so seems ok to me...but what about the depth...should we shave off a couple inches?)

I have a certain hood/blower/liner in mind that is made for a shallow depth: http://www.ventingdirect.com/broan-pm250-20-custom-hood-power-module-insert-with-250-cfm-fan-2-speed-rocker-control-and-dual-40-watt-lighting/p637862#reviews (I know it's wimpy, but I've had a heck of a time finding anything as compact as this one).

If you're curious about the recessed shelf, it starts 48" from the floor and is 15" high. So the top edge of the plywood in the picture is 63" from the floor. That leaves 9" from the top edge of the recessed shelf to the bottom of the hood/cabinet.

In case I've lost you in the details, what I really need is feedback about how to affordably hide the hood under cabinets above the stove, and how to make it function well. All along I thought I would have my husband build something custom up there, but at this point ordering a cabinet and making a few tweaks here and there seems to be the better option. (They will be painted white cabinets, so we can make it all blend in together).

Thanks so much!

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Comments (4)

bmorepanic
13 years ago
We did this, my advice is to buy an undercabinet hood. There lots to choose from and an inexpensive telescopic one is linked below. Make the front of it into a mantle shelf looking thing and place a regular wall cabinet above it.

I'm not pushing this particular hood, I know nothing about it - its just the first one that came up for undercabinet, telescopic.

Or get a regular wall mounted hood.

What you're thinking about is a lot of trouble and expense. If you don't make hoods for a living, expect it to take days - even if you know carpentry fairly well. Unfortunately, you don't just attach the liner to the bottom of the cabinet and go. You need to build a surround for the liner and cut it and the cabinet floor above for the insert blower, the wall and the back of the cabinet for the ductwork, all the while working in little tiny spaces with nearly zero tolerance for error.

Really, really, really, just buy a hood. And get one with enough cfms to actually work. Buy a nice hood that you'll enjoy looking at. The extra inches that a normal hood is deep? You don't even see those three days later.

Also below is a picture of our 26.5" deep, 650cfm hood (kitchen ain't done yet) created from a liner and insert. This took about three days - not including finishing - by someone who had extensive carpentry experience. This hood ended up costing more than just about any premade hood I would have selected.

Here is a link that might be useful: Telescopic type
malhgold
13 years ago
Bmore - looks AMAZING!!!! Love the paneling, love the pot racks, love the hood!! Can't wait to see it finished.
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davidro1
13 years ago
peace_rose look at arbordomus kitchen, over in "Finished Kitchens". Their wall layout and hood setup was the same as yours. They put a shallow hood under a cabinet, had it duct the exhaust outdoors, straight through the wall, and used a remote blower to pull the exhaust outdoors. If my memory is correct. There is no room for a silent motor in that little Broan that you bought. Quiet and powerful blowers are not expensive when bought as blowers-only. Any hood as a capture canopy can be combined with any blower.

hth
peace_rose
Original Author
13 years ago
Argh, the thing I hate about hood discussions is that the different terms confuse me so. So maybe I'll re-direct here and use the terms "exhaust system" and "cabinet hood" from now on. I don't think that arbordomus's kitchen exhaust set-up is what we I'm looking for.

"Telescopic" helps me narrow everything. You can hide this under a cabinet without seeing it, que no?

Now back to my original design questions. If we didn't have cabinets flanking the hood, then I would be very likely to just buy one like bmorepanic's. (Nice progress, by the way!) But I don't particularly like how this sort of hood looks with cabinets on either side. (Don't like the empty triangle space on the wall). I actually am thinking of something like the one in this kitchen: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg071937592845.html

We plan on cutting a hole into the wall to direct the exhaust outside. So back to the dimensions - is an 18" depth enough capture space? Is 36" above the range sufficient?