Do you plan to actually cook much on your new range? If so, what's your normal cooking style?

We cook a lot (4-5 nights a week, and eggs every morning), all kinds of styles. Lots of sauteeing and searing. Some wok, some frying.

Then no downdraft is going to combat that style of cooking especially if you go with BS or Wolf. It's time to get real comfortable with island hoods... ;)

I knew you were going to say that... :(

Gaggenau AT 400 fixed downdraft with lighting and shelf. Not any less obtrusive than an island hood, but not overhead:

Gaggenau AL 400 retractable: these are tall enough that they are sort of not down drafting but lateral drafting. Expensive and better than nothing?

Dwndrafts physically do not work with ranges. Period. Cooktops only. And they really don't work with cooktops either, IYKIM, but at least there is the physical room under them to house the downdraft mechanicals. There is no room uder a range to house those mechanicals.

There is no design that has gone so far down the darkside of island cooking that cannot be ressurected with a more functional and less expensive perimeter placement. Turn away from the dark side!

I have had a downdraft design for the last 20 years, all JennAir. The first was by default when we bought our house. I had never had one before but I loved it. I am almost 6 feet tall and feel like I'm always stooping if I have to cook with a vent hood. My next house we bought also happened to have a JennAir convection range in the island. I redesigned my kitchen 3 years ago and took the cooking out of my island to give me more workspace to a new JennAir gas cooktop on an adjacent countertop. The downdraft ductwork had to be rerouted but it was no big deal. I cook all the time. All kinds of food for a family of 6 and entertain a lot. I have never had negative issues with my downdraft. It sucks stuff down instead of up and does a fine job. I don't find it lacking in power, it can help take care of smoke from my oven if something cooks over. I have smaller high cabinets directly over my cooktop and they have never suffered in anyway for lack of proper ventilation below, no moisture issues or grease buildup. . When my sister replaced her cooktop, she got one that has the rising downdraft vent. I would have loved to have done that, but my space was limited. So here is a voice for a downdraft. I love mine and probably will never want to go any other way.

Some people just don't have the discernment to tell you anything real about vents except knee jerk defensiveness justifing what they chose. Maybe it's because they've never actually experienced good overhead ventilation. Or good ventilation isn't important to them enough that they've ever really paid attention. Some didn't even pay attention that the post is about a pro grade range and a downdraft, not some wimpy consumer level electric cooktop with room underneah for all of the ducting in the world.

Downdrafts can work OK in a couple of instances. Instances that do not apply to the OP's situation. A telecoping downdraft s a huge magnitude of improvement over the counter mounted hole where the laws of physics are NOT contravened. The cooking byproducts captured might be 5%, and only if it's in a low sided pan, with an electric element. Move to gas, and any fan that sucks hard enough to pull down steam will also pull down the oxygen that the gas is using for combustion, resulting in it being ''pulled'' to one side, along with a good deal of heat that you intended to go into the pan going with it.

A telecoping vent is an improvement. But, physics still apply. Heat, steam, grease, smoke, and odors still rise from the cooking surface in a cone shaped fashion, spreading upwards and outwards. Only an overhead vent has a prayer of truly capturing those cooking byproducts.

So, is the kitchen for looking at, or cooking in.

Ummm Sophie Wheeler. As a cook of 40 years and countless kitchen situations I DID tell my real experience with a down draft ventilation system. Do you put people down like this all the time ? God forbid I didn't express my opinion about a high end range and separate down draft system. I can't afford that. But I've been happy with the downdraft systems I have had the past 20 years. Are you better than everybody? Do you know more than everybody ?. She wanted an opinion. I gave my opinion based on experience. I'm happy with what I have and my choices. And I'm a damn good cook who could probably beat you anyday no matter how much better your hooded vent system works better than mine. It doesn't make your opinion or your choices any better than mine. It is the original posters decision as to what is best for her based upon what has been expressed here and her personal reviews. Grow up and don't be so condescending. It won't get you far in life.

Sophie has a lot of good experience and advice. Most will also agree with her regarding downdrafts. She's right that if you've never had true venting then you don't really know what's good, what's marginal, or what's useless.

I've used downdrafts with ranges - they're useless. I have very good venting in my kitchen so I am able to compare how effective each one truly is. If I had not had the experience of what good venting really is, I might have thought the downdraft was OK - very noisy, but OK.

The Laws of Physics don't change just b/c someone wants them to. The bottom line is that a downdraft only works if (1) it's a telescoping/raised downdraft, (2) the pot or pan is right next to it, (3) the pot or pan is shorter than it (by at least 2 or 3 inches), and (4) the fan is strong enough. Period.

Regarding the question about the OP's kitchen - it's a valid question. Is it a show kitchen or a working kitchen. It's OK to have a show kitchen if that's what you want and what works for you, but we need to know whether function is important. The vast majority of us on Kitchens are Function First. It is very easy to make a functional kitchen look nice; it's very difficult to make a dysfunctional but nice looking kitchen work without major changes.

To Millie T - do you have a layout? Have you tried to put the range on the perimeter? With a pro-style range, it's far more appropriate on the perimeter than in an island.

You may be thinking, "but I like to look out at visitors (or a view) while I'm cooking". In reality, you only spend 10% of your time actually cooking. 70% or more of your time is spent prepping - so put your Prep Zone in the island, not your range. Then, you will be spending most of your time facing visitors (or the view). Also, keep in mind that if you have seating in the island, you will need at least 24" behind the range as a safety zone. I assume you have at least 24" on each side of that island range as well...

Thanks, all, for the passionate comments.

As I mentioned in the original post, I think we are already too far down the road of "range goes in island" as the room is still down to studs, but electrical and plumbing are in and we're poised to begin drywalling in the next 2 weeks. However, our plan is below in case anyone has ideas... this is becoming my biggest regret already!

Note that we are planning a range (not a cooktop) in the island and an oven + micro in the wall (not double ovens). We arrived at this because we dislike under-the-counter micros and don't have a ton of upper space in this kitchen.

There is no view, but the island overlooks a big open floorplan sitting area and dining room, which opens to backyard with french doors. The window over the sink overlooks a sunny front yard.

It is not a "show kitchen" as we are regular and adventurous cooks. But... I would caveat to say that we intend to sell the place within 3-5 years so want to make sure we don't make poor choices for resale. It is not intended to be a "forever home".

Plan

(That's a desk in the lower-right corner)

Note massive pantry bank in lower right of this view is now a short run of uppers and lowers.

Do you have an upstairs over this or attic space?

Upstairs.

There is this (and there are other makers of similar), it mounts in the ceiling

You would have to drop the ceiling over the island to make this work but it would be a relatively shallow projection down rather than a large hood. They probably are not the most efficient for capture. They are large: 60" wide by 40" deep x 7"thick

http://www.ajmadison.com/cgi-bin/ajmadison/SUT950.html

The ceiling mount would be installed something like this:

Not that you need another comment, but... I have had a Jenn Air with down draft for the last 20 years, and it's one of the biggest reasons I am changing the location of the range. It's barely better than no ventilation at all. I really don't like the way it pulls the flame. Maybe the lateral Gaggenau would work for your needs. Ideally you would want to find someone who has one and see how it works. But an overhead hood would be a safe bet, and ultimately probably better for resale as well.

Palimpsest's hood has real possibility, though pretty spendy. It covers such a large area that it may be efficient even though it would be further away from the range top than standard hoods. Maybe kaseki will weigh in on that. It also could be boxed somewhat lower. It could be made to look like an intentional statement of a lowered ceiling in lieu of more typical lighting over the island (and could have recessed lights). Documentation is almost non-existent, but I think the drawing indicates that the vent pipe can run from either the long side or short side (through a chase to the outside) as well as straight up.

Call your contractor before you assume it's too late to really move things around. We're at the end of a remodel, and I've actually been surprised at how easy _some_ things are to change. Cabinet orders already placed, that's tough because it could really change your timeline. But adding a new plumbing line/electrical line/vent in a room that's already got a lot of work happening may only be a couple hundred bucks and be reasonably fast. It's not going to be zero, but it may (or may not...) be inexpensive.

@User You just have the BEST comments around this forum. I've learned so much from reading your comments, you're everywhere!

OP - What did you decide? I may need to replace my current downdraft rather than get a hood because a hood will open a rabbit hole with permitting.