I would really really not want an island range. Venting them is difficult and they can pose safety concerns as well. The wonderful people here will be happy to help you with layout options if you post a layout for them to work with. Graph paper (you can down load and print, just google for it) works just fine, just show all the measurements.

The thing about our "island" range is it's not actually on an island. It's on a half wall that opens up into the dining room (there will be an approx 6 inch raised "backsplash" behind the range). I don't *think* it should pose safety concerns, but I am concerned about the hood (see original post). Here, I've posted a dimensioned drawing. You can see the range is on the East half wall (it looks into the dining room, with open stairs to the basement in between the two rooms). You can ignore the part of the drawing with the red X through it. I've also attached other detailed plans for the kitchen layout.

Thanks for your comment, Cook's Kitchen. A few things...one of our main goals is to get more natural light in the kitchen. We live in the city and houses are close together. The two windows above the sink face the side of the neighbors house and get very limited sunlight. If we take out the other single window, that's even less light. Additionally, The X-ed out portion of the plans was our original plan to open the kitchen into the sunroom, which we've back-burnered for now due to cost concerns, but want to leave as a future option, so don't want to build out the kitchen in a way that would prohibit that possibility. Making the wall between the kitchen and dining room a half wall helps with more natural light from the front of the house, plus would allow us to see our small kids playing in the living room while we're in the kitchen. Currently no where for kids to play within our sight while we cook. If we had unlimited funds, we'd finish the attic, putting all bedrooms upstairs so we could open up more rooms near the kitchen on the first floor (or move, ha!). We're concerned about cost of course, but also about making our kitchen/home more livable for us.

Lastly, what are safety concerns with this layout that I'm not thinking about? As I said, we have small kids, so are of course concerned about this.

Thanks!

If you switch your gas range to induction you'll improve safety by reducing burn possibilities for the kids. Induction further will reduce the amount of ventilation power you need. No ventilation is needed for the waste heat from gas burner use. With induction you could possibly get away with the downdraft capability of a Best Cattura unit. While not as good as a properly sized overhead you do get some capture especially if you place the pan near the vent.

can we see the full floor plan including the other rooms as it is now?

I don't have a full floor plan that's more detailed than the dimensioned one I attached. Thanks for your interest, though!

Our contractor floated the idea of flush-mounted fans in the ceiling, with the rationale that we do "normal people" cooking (i.e., not commercial kitchen-level in terms of quantity, heat, smoke, etc), so this kind of ventilation could suffice, and that an island hood would obstruct the view into the dining room that we will have just created by removing the full wall. Does anyone have experience with flush-mounted ceiling ventilation above the range?

Notes: Moving the range to another location is not an option for us, nor do we like the downdraft option. Should also probably mention there is an (unfinished, as yet) attic above the kitchen, in case that matters for ventilation.

Thanks!

For all intents and purposes, your range is definitely an "island" or "peninsula" range. The half-wall will help a bit, but the majority of the effluent will still be in the open.

Regarding the wall, it should be at least 9" thick -- that's the bare minimum you should have behind any open range or cooktop.

If those are stairs directly behind the range, then I would be very careful about skimping on ventilation -- people going up/coming down will have anything not caught by your hood in their faces -- think billowing steam from boiling water, smoke from any browning/frying, splattering grease, etc.

I'm with you on no downdraft -- they're better than nothing at all, but not much better! (Experience speaking!) They only work for items right up next to the fan -and- shorter than the top of the fan by several inches! They're also loud! (See that item in the video above -- tiny and short! Did you also notice in the video that even at the highest speed not all the steam was captured - quite a bit escaped above the fan? If that were a typical pot -- say 8 quarts or 12 quarts, even more would escape!)

Regarding the need for venting...there are two primary things that affect what you need for venting: the type of cooking you do and the type of cooking appliance. Cooking is the most important with appliance second.

• If you do any grilling, you will need a very effective and much larger/stronger hood.
• If you fry, stir fry, brown meat, etc., you will need a good hood
• If you just steam or boil water, you will need a good hood, but the fan may not have to be as strong.
• Gas, especially high BTUs, will need better venting b/c of fumes and higher heat
• "Regular" electric still has heat, but not the gas fumes
• Induction does not introduce added heat from the burners, but there is still heat from the food -- much less heat overall, though

BTW...others are correct, it's more expensive to vent in an open space like your situation than when against the wall.

• The hood is more expensive b/c it has to be finished on all 4 sides
• Venting can often be more difficult -- having to go up, turn a corner, and go out an exterior wall (be careful about venting through the roof)
• You need a bigger and stronger hood b/c you have more and stronger air currents that will make capturing the FOGSS (fumes, odors, grease, steam, smoke) more difficult....plus anything missed will quickly spread throughout the home. The lack of cabinets flanking the hood and a back wall to help corral the FOGSS is also an issue.

So, how to minimize the impact since you are dead set on having the range in that location.

First suggestion: Would you be wiling to leave part of the wall up? Say the width of the range + 9" to 12"? That would give you a wall to help your hood work better and to cut down on the FOGSS spreading. The hood size won't be as big an issue as well.

Keep in mind that you spend far less time standing in front of your range cooking than you think -- only about 10% of your time. The rest of the time is spent prepping at counters & sink next to or across from the range (about 70%). (The other 20% is spent cleaning up -- at the cleanup sink, wiping down table & counter, loading/unloading the DW, etc.)

Sizing of Hood:

• Width...The hood should be at least 6" wider than your cooking surface. So, for a 30" range, the hood should be at least 36" wide. This provides an extra 3" on each side. FOGGS do not just rise, they also expand as they rise. Since you don't have cabinets and a wall stopping the expansion, your hood definitely needs to be wider. (I might even consider 12" wider since it's going to be so open.) If your hood were against a wall with cabs flanking the hood, then 6" wider would be sufficient.
• Depth (front to back)...The hood should be 27" deep for the same reason as the width above. If your hood were against the wall, then it would only need to be 24" deep.
• Height...you want the hood to be able to corral the FOGSS for expelling to the outside, so the taller the hood body is, the better.
• Fan...I would go for at least 600cfms. Note: You might need makeup air (MUA). Some municipalities are starting to require MUA.

I know you don't want something so big, but if you really want the range in the open, then one of the consequences is the need for better/bigger venting.

"I don't have a full floor plan that's more detailed than the dimensioned one I attached..."

It only needs to be a sketch showing relative sizes/locations of the other rooms on the floor -- not an exact, fully measured layout. Such a sketch lets us see how the rest of the home relates to the Kitchen and how traffic flows in, around, and through the Kitchen. However, if you're not open to making any changes to the layout, I don't think it's worth your time to draw one up.

I might just work on a full sketch of the first floor to post.

In the meantime - because this configuration, with the range on the half-wall facing the stairs/dining room, seems less than ideal - we're considering alternate layouts. The Cook's Kitchen (above) commented that we could drywall over the window that's shown near the fridge now and make that useable wall space. I'm interested in how this modification to the posted drawings might work. I'm not sure what placement of the range and fridge would make the most sense if we made that change. Ideas?