I am in the same boat as you. I don't care for downdrafts with a gas range since they do pull the flame making it hard to cook evenly to say the least. I would either go with an induction range (have one in my vacation home and it is awesome) or gas range. Either one could use a freestanding hood with an adapter kit making it ventless. Just be sure to change the charcoal filter often. It won't interfere with the bathroom overhead

second story bathroom is not a dealbreaker. There is typically a foot of space for mechanical between floors. If you can get to an outside wall then it is doable.

I have a 2 story and my architect figured out a way to vent my rangetop. Post a drawing of your house and see what the gurus here can come up with.

I would like to see the kitchen layout to make sure this is the only place for a cooktop. If at all possible cooking appliances are best on an outside wall. When going up every bend creates a need for more CFM and that can get expensive. Ripping out flooring , ceilings are all going to add to that expense.Ventless hoods are only as good as you are at cleaning them and never IMO take the place of an actual vented hood. I agree downdrafts in my experience are little better than ventless.

Find a better layout. Cooking is only 10% of the time you spend in your kitchen. Prep is 70%. If you want an island, you want to design it so that it is where you prep, not cook.

Islands are great places for a range or cooktop, especially if you cook while guests are there. You will want a proper hood though. Downdraft are quite useless. Find a way to do it properly or find another place for your range.

islands are pretty much the worst place for a range or a cooktop. As sophie said, most of cooking is prep so an island should be used for prep. The stove should be against a wall.

Recent thread on same topic - see if you can move the stovetop o a perimeter wall.

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/center-island-range-remodel-yes-no-dsvw-vd~5036401?n=60

The house I grew up with had an island cooktop that was vented to the exterior between the joists to the exterior, not vertically. And I've vented interior wall cooktops the same way. No going up and through other parts of the house.

And how do you think any range gets vented in a multi story building? There arent stacks and stacks of separate vents going as many as 20 stories to the roof...they go between the joists, or in a soffit, to an exterior wall.

I don't know why everyone assumes that you can only vent straight up? And many many kitchens here are buried in the middle of new construction, the ranges are not on direct exterior walls. And they are still vented.

Please save those caned doors and sell them on ebay or something.

I would be very surprised if you could not vent to the exterior like this:

I have two friends with island ranges. Their island ranges work extremely well for them.

On prep vs cook. Most dishes are likely closer to 50%/50% as to time of each. 90% prep and 10% cook? Also, much of the prep can be done ahead of time and often is done prior to guests arriving. Cooking OTOH, must most often be done immediately prior to dining and so is more likely to be done while guests are present.

I've cooked at an island range while talking to guests. Not a problem. This is massively different than having to say lines in to a camera and make somewhat continuous contact with viewers which is indeed a bit difficult. I've not had any problems w/ splatters on guests.

The only reason that I can think of not to do an island range or cooktop is effluent collection which will usually not be as good as a range along a wall. However, with a really good hood such as from CaptiveAire, that can be accomplished as well. If you don't mind a fairly large hood then including MUA exhaust around the edges will create an air curtain that will make effluent collection even better and mostly eliminate problems of cross drafts.

OP should have no qualms about doing an island range if that is what they want. They just need to work through hood issues.

You could put a range and hood in front of the window and put the sink, dishwasher and trash pull-out on the island. You could use the wall oven space for pantry pull-outs.

A range and hood in front of a window may not meet code, especially if you want to open the window.

There is no code that prohibits this arrangement as long as the clearances are met.

I would have some concern, even if I have no data, about a highly radiant cooktop causing localized heating in the otherwise non-combustible window glass and potentially causing a fracture from thermal stress. Glass absorbs rather than transmits light in the infrared at wavelengths longer than around 2.5 micrometers. An induction cooktop would be OK, and lowish BTU burners would probably be OK with several inches of window sill to provide a gap. "High end" ranges with their large BTU burners at the front might also be OK. I would consult with the manufacturer of the range before planning a window configuration.

the purpose of the soffit ceiling is to carry mechanical. As someone pointed out you have a very good chance of being able to vent straight to an exterior wall. We were able to do this in our last house with an island rangetop.

The above island hood looked great and worked much better than the downdraft we replaced. In our new house they also had an island cooktop, which we removed to put a range along a wall. We also are venting straight to the outside and not through the attic.

Here is the type of cooking that made messes where we really wanted a wall

1) searing steaks where they are smoking like crazy

2) cooking bacon - tons of grease splatters

3) deep frying in a pot - oil splatters

4) high temp wok cooking - oil splatters

With regards to prep, most of our prep involves washing and cutting which happens right near the sink, not the stove.

I feel you'll still socialize fine with a popup downdraft. But I'd put in induction for ease of cleanup and the fact that less venting capacity is required among other benefits. No waste heat to get rid off. The Best Cattura is a good performer.

I was told I needed to keep the cook top a certain distance from the window if I wanted to open it. Regional code? I don't know. .

If you like the current layout, keep it. Everyone seems to have different opinions on the island stove. I don't like it, but this is YOUR kitchen where YOU cook. So lay it out for you and no one else. We can all agree that it should be properly vented though, and everyone above has given great advice on how to do that.

Our range is under a three piece window that opens on either side. The inspector had no problem and there is no code. It might be an issue with blowing out the pilot light on really old gas stoves without electronic ignition. I'm in CA.

I would never want a stove under a window. Sounds like a horrible mess to clean. But I cook with a lot of oil, so maybe other people have less trouble. It would be pretty and a nicer view than a wall, except the vent right in front of it.

We have a higher window.

suzyq53: Reaching higher parts of the window for cleaning would seem to be somewhat awkward. Do you have to get onto the counter to do so?

Yes I do, but not very often. But it isn't the cooking, just need to clean occasionally. Also two bay windows over the counters further down. I could use a squeegee The outside gets dirtier, faster.