Most effective ductless / recirculating range hood

3 years ago

I’m renovating a tiny kitchen in an urban, high-rise condo building that absolutely, positively will not allow ducted range hoods. I’ll be using a 30” GE Monogram induction cooktop (silver color glass). I’m looking for the most effective and most aesthetically pleasing ductless range hood (understood that it will be much less effective than a ducted one). For me, “effective” means captures the most grease and odors with the easiest filter cleaning / replacement. “Aesthetically pleasing” in the context of my kitchen design means modern and minimal, and won’t clash with my cooktop. The two ductless models most often recommended seem to be the Fotile slanted ones and the Vent-a-Hood. Can anyone who has actually used either comment on their effectiveness, ease of cleaning, or look? Or if you’ve used a different ductless model you like that would meet my needs, can you comment on it?

Featured Answer

regbob

3 years ago

I have had the Vent-A-Hood ARS hood for 3 years and it works great. No recirculating hood is as good as a vented hood but I think this is the best one available. It does not have a mesh filter for the grease removal. It uses the VAH centrifuge blower for the grease removal. Grease is the one cooking component that causes the most damage so removing that is the main thing the hood needs to do. The other 2 parts of the filter system does a good job of removing the smells and moisture. I have mine installed above an induction range.

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Comments (7)

Kendrah
3 years ago
I'm in the same situation and 100% sympathize. When remodeling a few years ago, I did research and asked around and my conclusion was that the microwave fan above my range would do as much good as any recirculating fan - I too considered the Vent a Hood that pushes the exhaust out vents near the ceiling. The microwave fan is rather useless but I was glad in my small kitchen to not have to sacrifice the over range space for an almost as useless hood.

No matter what you decide, two things that really helped me are 1.) Having the range quite near the window. I crack it whenever I cook and it helps suck the odor, smoke, and moisture out of the room. 2.) Using a splatter guard on top of frying pans so that less grease has a chance to escape in the first place.

I'd also try to befriend someone in your building who has a recirculating hood and ask if you can come see it in action.
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kaseki
3 years ago
For more on VaH ARS, see the thread: https://www.houzz.com/discussions/2347276/vent-a-hood-ductless-ars-range-hood-update#n=181. I don't recall any Fotile related threads here that cover the performance over time. There are also some commercial systems, but they probably don't meet the aesthetics requirement unless one is going for the industrial look.
Susan Lewis thanked kaseki
User
3 years ago
The Fotile is a joke. Form over function. Cross it off. Either VAH or Broan make good products. Nothing will replace the weekly cleaning of the hood filter, and any stuck floating grease on other objects.
Kendrah
3 years ago
Is your kitchen open concept or a closed space? When we moved into this unit we changed from open space to a closed galley with two pocket doors specifically so the cooking odor, moisture, and grease wouldn't travel on to our upholstery, books, artwork. Most of the time we leave the two pocket doors open, but when we close them if we are doing a lot of greasy cooking or have stinky fish!
Susan Lewis
Original Author
3 years ago
Thanks, @regbob for sharing your experience with the Vent-A-Hood, and @kaseki for pointing me at that other thread. @Kendrah, no window unfortunately, and the kitchen is mostly closed—currently has a door, but that has to be removed because it’s in the flow of traffic when open and ugly when closed. So it’ll have a permanent door-width opening.
Lizette W
2 years ago
What did you end up going with? How is it?