another range hood post

4 years ago

I’ve done tons of research on here. Read lots and lots of posts about this topic. It seems the only way to get an ideal set up is through a remodel/new build. Need advice from people who have had less than ideal situations like myself. Im not willing to tear up my beautiful vintage cabinets that were a big factor in my decision to purchase this home a few months ago.

Problem: getting a good capture/containment hood, with baffles, 8” duct , highest cfm hood. I only have a 30” wide area available. The distance from top of existing opening to countertop is 36 15/16”. That leaves enough room for the low profile hoods from blue star and Viking. They do not have good capture/containment though.
I thought if I removed the rail and unusable cabinet above the microwave, then I could squeeze in an 18” tall hood for the better capture area. But then I would only have 45 11/16” distance from top of opening to countertop. That leaves me a few inches shy of the required 30” minimum from countertop to bottom of hood.

To top it off, the soffit above my cabinets can take a maximum 8”duct before it gets to the attic where a 10” duct would be fine. I am fine with doing an inline or rooftop motor but the 8” duct poses a problem for adequate cfm blowers. They all require 10”.

I’ve been at this for about 2 months now and every time I think I have a hood figured out, I realize I don’t. While I don’t mind spending the money to get one that works fantastic, I’m not okay with spending lots of $$ and it not performing the way I need it to.

Salesmen are no help at all.

Am I stuck with a cheap, mesh filter, low cfm hood with no containment area? Or is there something out there that I have not come across yet?

1st pic, my set up.
2nd pic, the rail and unusable cabinet that I’m willing to remove up to the bottom of the soffit rail.

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Comments (2)

kaseki
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
Imagine this: Remove microwave oven. Remove flip-up doors. Carefully remove horizontal trim piece above MW and vertical piece between doors. Put in 18-inch high hood (example Wolf Pro Wall hood; 24 and 27 inch deep units exist - page 153 of the Wolf Design Guide). Build new panel, or use the trim piece if it fits to cover the gap above the hood to where the flip-up door hinges are. You may need a way to get into the area so you can unplug the hood, although hard wiring may be possible. Magnetic panel attachment may be feasible.

30 inches base height plus 18 inches hood height is 48 inches, or, if the counter is at 36 inches, 7 ft from the floor. Will this work with the existing soffit? If I read your message correctly, the distance to the upper rail was only 45-11/16 inches. To get to the recommended 30-inch height, you would need to cut out the upper rail or part of it. Else operate 2-3/16 inches low and be sure to use an external blower -- with a deep hood bringing the controls to the front and a non-pro range the heating of the lamps and switches should be minimal. In any case, I'm not sure the cabinets are far enough away for a pro range.

30 x 24 inch hood has nominal 5 sq ft. entry aperture (or effective entry aperture for purposes of illustration). 5 x 90 CFM/sq. ft. = 450 CFM. Blower rating should be ca. 700 CFM. 450 actual CFM can be transported by an 8-inch duct. You cannot use huge CFM to make up for insufficient capture aperture without using a flow rate that would be extremely loud and quite possibly too much air speed for the baffle design.

Alternatively, use the 10-inch high Pro model. In this case, I think you will lose baffle slant and hence the tiny capture volume (containment volume/reservoir volume) that the taller hoods have. "You can't always have what your want, .... " This will have a minor effect on the type of transient cooking you can get away with without spillage. All residential hoods are compromises over commercial hood performance. Commercial hoods are optimized for performance at minimal electrical cost, with size a free parameter. The 10-inch is only 22 inches deep, so slightly lower CFM will be called for.
angies66
Original Author
4 years ago
@kaseki What you are saying to imagine is what we were thinking about doing. The soffit slant will prevent us from removing the very top rail, right below the soffit.

I think I may have to go with the 10" model. Thank you for your assistance.
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