Kitchen Wall w/Ducting Takedown

6 years ago

We are renovating our kitchen soon and can’t figure out what to do with the wall between the kitchen and the dining room. I’ve flip flopped a hundred times, keep it, take it down, pass through, and on and on. I was sort of convinced that a wide pass through that doubled as an island/peninsula was the best choice but then realized that we have a vent right in the middle of the wall. Grrrr. I mean I knew the vent was there all along but didn’t realize it would be so difficult to move. The vent goes straight up and also services a bedroom above it.

I’ve had several contractors look at it. One says we have to keep it and work around it. Another says that we can reroute it and move it. The first guy says we can move it but it won’t work well. We already have not great HVAC upstairs.

What do you think?

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Comments (6)

PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
First we need to see a to scale floor plan all windows, doorways marked . All meaurements clearly marked. Graph paper makes this a bit easier to do. Do you have to haven eating space in the kitchen at all? I s the upstairs bedroom not getting heat or AC properly? I have actually removed ducting to a bedroom and replace with a mini split system in that space and it work 10x better. So post the floor and make sure you inclue appliance masurements and also what is the reason for the build out where the wall oven is.
mike_home
6 years ago
Does the duct come up from the basement or crawl space? Does it straight up to a vent on the second floor? It is hard to say for sure how difficult it will be without opening up the wall. You may also need to move the vent on the second floor.

If you open the wall or make a pass through, have you thought about how this will look when sitting in your formal dining room?
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User
6 years ago
The second floor should have its own system anyway. Route the main duct elsewhere for it. Better HVAC, and problem solved. Yes it’s the most expensive solution. It’s the right solution.
louislinus
Original Author
6 years ago
@Mike - Yes it comes up from the basement. I’m open to moving the vent upstairs as well, but my understanding is that it doesn’t matter in regards to how it will operate upstairs. The issue is that right now the HVAC is a straight shot up, so creating that initial turn in the basement is what is going to impact the efficacy.

@June - that is interesting and gives me pause. We have a master bedroom/bath addition that was added over the garage in 1950. It has its on HVAC. I wonder if we could simply hook the whole upstairs into that unit.
mike_home
6 years ago
If the duct you want to move is connected to main duct then adding a 90 degree turn should not have much of an impact on the air flow if it is done properly. If an 90 degree already exists, then moving the elbow will also have little impact. The current duct may be undersized and this may be an opportunity to increase the dimension. You may have better air flow after the duct is moved.
sktn77a
6 years ago
Pass throughs are very 1960s. While formal dining rooms are also somewhat passe, a double whammy my not be good for resale. Talk with a realtor before you do anything.