Placement of floor vents?

18 years ago

The HVAC guy convinced me that these vents should be in the floor vs. in the toe kick b/c in the toe kick the air would just blow across the floor vs. up into the room. The holes are cut in the floor at each end of the island and I'm not sure I like what it will do to the look of the room. One will be very visible at the main entrance into the kitchen from the rest of the house. The other is just put in the wrong spot -- out in the middle of what will be an overhang, stools would have to move right on top of it, not a good plan in my mind.

Our current kitchen has them in the toe kick area and I like that we do not walk on them or see them, but our kitchen is not the coolest in the summer. I have always attributed it to the old not so efficient appliances that we have as the heat that comes off the frig. and freezer is pretty hot. Would love some feedback here as I may have to ask him to move these in the morning.

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Comments (5)

claybabe
18 years ago
I'm a little cranky today, so this may not be the best time to answer this question. I'm also not in the mood to let that stop me. So. I think the guy probably doesn't want to move what's been done and is willing to say what ever it takes to avoid that. Air doesn't actually stay to itself once it's allowed to contact other air. It will mingle. And warm air rises, so in the winter, especially, it will fill the room. Even in the summer, with cool air, there is constant circulation and your thermostat should be midway up the wall, so even if the air were to "just blow across the room" the ac should keep up the effort until the room is cool. Yeah, probably depends on where the stat is.

That said, if the vents go out through a hole that is smaller (toe kick vents are usually less than 4" across, but my floor vents are 4x10, and my toe kicks are 3.5x12, so they are actually bigger) or if the vent isn't hooked up to the exit from the floor (just allowed to circulate under the cab), you may be less efficient at cooling and heating. If it isn't adequate now, consider putting more vents in.

FWIW, my toe kick vent kicks out a fair amount of air and cools that end of the kitchen better than the floor vents on the other end. However, there are doors to the outside and an open stair down on the floor vent side that impact the temp.

If there is some other reason to put the vents at the ends of your island in the floor, and you are doing wood floor, you can have built-in, wood vents installed to make them less obtrusive.

good luck. get what you want.
chris_in_15
18 years ago
I also think you should get what you want. At each end of the island, will people be standing on them? Even if that's not the case, I think the toekicks would be nice. imho.
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maydl
18 years ago
Get what you want! We put all our registers in toe-kicks. If there's a choice, I wouldn't want to make any holes in my nice new floor.
alice462
Original Author
18 years ago
Thanks everyone -- there will be a change today. Vents are going in the toe kicks and I am going to have him add one in the toe kick of the cabinet that is across from the cooktop.

As I did a bit more research on this topic, another reason toe kick vents were preferable to floor vents -- crumbs/food (and in our case, probably Legos) dropping into the vents.....Thanks again!
Circus Peanut
18 years ago
Wise decision! I have an older house with floor vents, and while the antique grates are lovely, they are a pain for that exact reason -- things always dropping into/getting swept into them. Even worse in the kitchen with food and feet, I'd imagine.