Software
Houzz Logo Print
nialltom

Outdoor kitchen ventilation without a hood - possible?

7 years ago
I’m building a home with a covered 3 season room, open on the south and west sides. The north side of the room is access to the house, and the east side is centered with 2 house windows. The east side is the only side I can put a bbq, sink and smoker. The smoker will most likely go on the farthest end of the wall toward the open south.

The bbq however, may need to be centered on the windows on this same wall. You can start to see the dilemma here. I can’t drop a hood over the bbq because of the windows being right there. Instead of a hood, though, do you guys know of any other ventilation options?

Only other thing I can think of are powered vents at the ceiling. Would this be sufficient? What options out there are good for this sort of thing? Any other ideas? The ceiling will vault from approx. 9ft to 13 ft at the tallest.

Thanks for any input you have!

Comments (16)

  • PRO
    7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    You want an outdoor smoker/bbq right up against the house. .................: ( Off the top of my head? I'd say bad idea.

    A lowly gas grill used three days a week all summer at the far end of an open deck, will do a great job of coating that side of the house , all the screens and windows with a layer of grease and smoke residue. And that's if all you grill is fish, chicken and steak........and nothing ever catches fire.

    Pelagic thanked JAN MOYER
  • PRO
    7 years ago

    Bad idea IMO a smoker is a huge stink maker let alone the smoke that needs to be removed. A BBQ in a 3 season room needs to be vented big time and IMO you need both of these outside that space so maybe a small open air deck with a cover to protect you when you are cooking .

    Pelagic thanked Patricia Colwell Consulting
  • PRO
    7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    @ Jan I think they wanna put all that indoors not outdoors.

  • PRO
    7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    I understand it to be UNDER a covered/open three side patio that places it directly at WINDOWS to the actual home. Not a great idea, in any scenario. He is referring I believe to an "outdoor room" but no ability to powerfully vent.

    "a covered 3 season room, open on the south and west sides.

    The north side of the room is access to the house, and the east side is
    centered with 2 house windows. The east side is the only side I can put
    a bbq, sink and smoker."

    The bbq however, may need to be centered on the windows on this same wall."

  • PRO
    7 years ago

    The problem with a grill up against a framed wall is that over time, the heat coming off the back of the grill dries out the wood framing like a kiln and you eventually get all the elements for a great fire. Fire Magic, one of the lines we carry, calls for 14" of clearance from the back of the grill to the face of the combustible wall, with a steel stud framed wall covered with a non-combustible substrate in front of that. Unless you're planning on that (or the wall is non-combustible material) I would hesitate to do this. Also if the windows are close enough to the grill that you can't use a hood, that seems like it's setting up for a whole bunch of other issues.


    Pelagic thanked Revolutionary Gardens
  • 7 years ago



    Something similar to this is what I had in mind. So this would not be "indoors" but not completely outside either because of it being covered, and only open on 2 sides. It's a 3 season room/back porch. What you see on the right hand side of this pic is a fireplace that splits the open southern exposure.


    Sounds like it is doable to have the grill along the wall/windows here if precautions are taken with non-combustable materials in the wall, but not advisable. Also, good point about the smoke residue and grease forming on the windows over time, as that would certainly be a hassle to clean.


    I'll look into indoor BBQs and see what kind of options that presents, but I'm assuming most options will require some sort of venting directly above, a la a hood, which as you can see wouldn't work with this setup. If that's the case, I need to re-think this entire back porch, and placement of the outdoor kitchen.

  • PRO
    7 years ago

    I wouldn't feel comfortable building what's in that photo. That deep under roof, there's no way I would do a grill without a hood. And I'm no glass expert but I'm guessing 80,000-150k BTUs (depending on the grill head) isn't great for the window or whatever's on the other side.

  • PRO
    7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    As I said:) Not a great idea at all . It belongs in the great OUT doors

  • PRO
    7 years ago

    No hood works if it's not positioned directly above (30" typical) the cooker. When you have any cross ventilation it's a bigger challenge. You can compensate for variations to the typical by increasing the width and depth of the hood. In a commercial kitchen you will find the hood up at 78"-ish but the chef is actually standing under the hood it's so deep.

  • PRO
    7 years ago

    This will be a disaster waiting to happen. I'm trying to find pictures of the job I did a while back, they put a bbq close to the house and burned down the entire side of the house including entire deck.

    This is just a bad idea.

  • PRO
    7 years ago

    Indeed: ) I like BBQ,,,,,,, not that much lol


  • PRO
    7 years ago

    Here they are:





  • PRO
    7 years ago

    Yes......... RE THINK to the entire cook function outside the "room". A bar inside? Fine! Who the heck wants to sit in any smoke. At all.

  • PRO
    7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    Just because you see it in a picture does not make it a good idea, listen to what has been said.You could do something like this attached to the space


  • 2 years ago

    @pelagic what did you wind up doing? I have a similar situation and was wondering how it all turned out for you and any learnings you had along the way. Would love to see pics!