37" plus 27" is 64" and hubby is 70 inches tall

37' plus 30 " is 67" and hubby is still 70 inches tall.

Is he going to bump his head? Probably: ) if standing too close.

But the range door and handle are PROUD of your countertop by about 4 inches and nobody leans on an oven door/handle: )

Change the hood insert or stand back a bit.

Mine fan bottom is 28 1/2 above the cooktop. Hope this helps. I am 5'2 and hubby is 6'

I'm short and I have hit my head on the corner of metal hoods when cleaning, so I like to place the hood at the highest position recommended by the product specs.

The clad insert at her hood depth is the issue.- 22" deep BEFORE a clad.

I have had these at clients of decades ago.......

and those hoods have CORNERS WRAPPED in foam !!.....due to the head splitting pain of the corners at your temple in an ordinary wipe up of the kitchen.

I'd adjust my cooking and eating habits first ! Being TALLER than the hood bottom could be seen as advantageous. No, not kidding : )

I do not like clad hoods but that is not the issue the capture area in a must to get right so follow the makes instaructions I am 5'9" hubby 6' our one son who visits often 6'5" we all cook no issue with head banging . I have a vent-a-hood I like it but I have double the CFM you will have

One of us is 5'4", one of us is 6'1". We have a Vent-A-Hood with the 24"-27" mounting height like yours.

Our hood is made of Corian and I made it wider so I could do a big radius on the vertical sides and all edges are radiused so it is "soft" there are no hard corners on it. And it's over a vintage 27" cooktop so it has a wider capture area than the cooktop.

1) we mounted it a little higher than recommended.

2) it is Very heavy, and it is actually mounted on two steel angle irons that are set into the framing Behind the finished wall. They were fastened firmly enough that I could hang off them. And the hood had to be designed to fit the brackets in between the insert and the outer portion of the hood cover.

And you are pretty much limited to one of the white shades they offer or a specific solid color because I think the streaked or stone look or particulate patterns would make a weird hood.

That said it is easier to clean than wood, is more scorch and flame resistant than wood according to the data and was easier to fabricate with curves than wood.

A much lighter fabrication with radiused edges could be done with stainless steel and a radiused form could be made in wood as well, to prevent the typical low hood/sharp edges problem

My Vent-a-Hood is 31 inches from the stove top. I am only 5ft but my husband is 6ft. It has not been an issue for my husband.

First, a comment on VaH's infamous multiplying factor for their "Magic Lung" hoods. Most commercial and higher performance residential hoods use baffles for filtering the larger size portion of the cooking effluent particle spectrum to minimize condensation onto the exhaust ducting. The double reversal of flow in the baffles has a pressure loss (resistance) that can be very roughly (at full flow) degrade the associated blower's achieved flow rate by a factor of 2/3. Without the baffles, the VaH Magic Lung avoids this pressure loss; hence, 600 CFM being claimed to be equivalent to 900 CFM. (The 600 CFM, by the way, is for the hood assembly hanging in free air.)

But wait, there is more. Not only are duct pressure losses (usually small relative to baffles and larger diameter ducts should help) additional resistances for the Magic Lung, but more significantly, so are make-up air losses, in some cases dominant where a deliberate MUA system is not included. The Magic Lung squirrel cage blower(s), intended to expel grease particles like baffles, have a less "robust" fan curve than axial and centrifugal blowers used with other hood systems. This means that they are more degraded by additional pressure losses than conventional hood systems. In many MUA limiting cases, where the conventional 900 CFM blower will be degraded to an actual 500 CFM, the Magic Lung could be degraded to 400 CFM (as a example of the principles involved).

An example VaH "fan curve" table for a larger system is included below. (The "inch" values in the heading are pressure loss in inches of water column.) Click to expand.

Second, cooking effluent plumes expand as they rise toward the hood assembly. The expansion angle varies with cooking conditions, and also hood flow rate. Generally, one wants to capture a 10 degree angle from vertical for the largest pan used near the hood edge. More roughly, a 3-inch overlap of the cooking surface (wider than the pan usually) is deemed adequate. It may be understood that the higher the hood is placed, the larger the plume diameter, and hence the larger the capture area should be. Some trapping by the wall (for wall mounts) and sides (where cabinets are located) can aid capture. Where feasible, more CFM can slightly increase the effective capture area (pull in marginal plume elements).

So one needs to not only trade performance vs. aesthetics and cost, but within the performance category effectiveness of capture vs. protection from head impact.

My Vent-A-Hood is 30" from the cooktop surface. I'm 5'10", my DH is 6'5" - neither of us hits our head on the hood. Most people have a "sense" of what's in front of their heads, so it usually isn't an issue. Even if you lack that "sense", hitting a couple of times will "train" you to not hit your head.

I did get the one with an "emerald lip" in case it was an issue - but it turns out it wasn't necessary. Although, I like the look better than the others. Our hood is 42"W x 24"D over a 36"W cooktop (induction).

(OK, my DH did hit his head once, but he did it when he was peering up into the hood - when he backed out, he hit the back of his head!)

For depth, you're correct about 24"D.

For width, the hood should be 6" wider than the cooking surface with a "concave" shape that will capture the effluent as it rises and hold it there until it's exhausted to the outside.

As to the height - follow the manufacturer's instructions - no lower and, preferably, no higher. If you want to mount it higher, get an even bigger hood so the capture area is larger. The effluent/FOGSS (fumes, odors, grease, smoke, steam) spread as they rise, so if you mount it higher, you need a larger capture area. as they will spread farther.

ETA: I see Kaseki beat me to it mentioning larger area, etc. His/her posts are always very informative!

(Ignore Fobets, they're trolling the site for business.)

I'll admit to still being a "his."

Thanks @JAN MOYER for your comments :) Am I understanding it correctly

"37" plus 27" is 64" and hubby is 70 inches tall

37' plus 30 " is 67" and hubby is still 70 inches tall."

You mean it doesn't matter, if he hits the head, he hits the head no matter 27" vs 30" from countertop. No difference as hood is anyway 3~6 shorter than him.

"Being TALLER than the hood bottom could be seen as advantageous. No, not kidding : )"

Sorry didn't follow this sentence. Do you mean it's actually good to put hood low? so in my case if 27" has better vent outcome I should shoot for that?

Thanks @Lorraine Leroux may I ask how deep your hood is? 24", 22" or shallower?

thx @kaseki for your comment. Very technical. If I understand correctly you are actually recommending "higher" for 2 benefits 1) larger capture area 2) less chance of bumping head is that correct?

Re 1) yes larger capture area, but does it also mean less "sucking power" if higher?

Re 2) See Jan's comment: "37" plus 27" is 64" and hubby is 70 inches tall 37' plus 30 " is 67" and hubby is still 70 inches tall."

Do you feel 27" vs 30" make a difference when it comes to bumping head?

Thanks again for your comment :)

Thanks @Buehl for your comments. I'm actually prefer like lowest possible permitted by instruction and not hitting the head. From your reply seems I should shoot for 27" if I see Jan's comment

"37" plus 27" is 64" and hubby is 70 inches tall 37' plus 30 " is 67" and hubby is still 70 inches tall."

Re whether 27" has better vent outcome I have replied to Kaseki and waiting for the reply.

Unless you are running a 24/7 stir fry kitchen, I doubt 3" is going to matter all that much. Tape up a cardboard box ......and decide. Not really a hand wring. Or just use 28.5" and get on with life.

It need not be one or the OTHER.

For performance the closer the better. You can go higher but the canopy size of the hood needs to get larger to capture the cooking contaminants as the mushroom cloud rises. I am 6'3" and have hoods as close as 24" off the cooking surface, this worked great, up to 30" and neither was a problem. Beuhl is correct, you hit your head once or twice and you learn. The only time it could be a problem is when you are cleaning the hood or the appliance and you need to get up under the hood. I never understood the reasoning why you need to put your head/face over a hot pan or burner while you are cooking. Jan is correct, if you are not sure play with a cardboard mock up at different heights and see what works best for you.

W.r.t. "sucking:" The flow rates (and sound levels) of residential cooking hoods are far from those that can actually suck effluent toward them. Welding and grinding operations may have such hoods. The kitchen hood depends on the upward velocity of the effluent plume to get it to the hood capture area, and high enough flow rate to ensure that what is captured is actually contained (and hence ejected, preferably outside) instead of reflecting out of the hood. See image; here the upward flow rate exceeds the ability of the hood's flow rate to achieve full containment.

So, hoods with marginal flow rate and/or marginal capture area are generally specified to be close to the cooktop, whereas larger hoods with adequate flow can be higher up. As an extreme residential example, there is @opaone's hood.

If one needs to keep the hood close to the cooktop, then one has to suffer the potential consequences of visual blockage and head interference. My Wolf Pro Island hood base is at 34.5 inches above my cooktop. When I was 6 ft (and younger) I just ducked a smidgen, now I have clearance. Re 2, both heights will require "training" to avoid. I have no experience to grade their relative inconvenience.

So, Re 1, higher mounting needs a hood with larger capture area, rather than implying that higher somehow achieves larger capture area. In case I'm unclear, capture area is basically the area at the bottom that the plume can pass through. With enough flow rate, some slight increase may be achieved at the edges where the edge flow curls up into the hood.

Please also keep in mind that 'perfect' is the enemy of 'good enough,' and depending on cooking styles and particularly adequate make-up air (MUA), a range of hood configurations (pun intended) may be sufficient.

Or as a wise general once commented, approximately, an affordable 80-percent solution beats an unaffordable 100-percent solution.

I think you have to keep in mind when you are cooking at the stove you normally bend your head down to watch what you are doing. Here is a pic of my husband and son at the stove. Husband 6ft and son around 5ft 8 or 9. Hood at 31 inches and 24 inches deep.

What @kaseki said.

FWIW, our hood is 76" above the floor which works well for most people. Thanks to the large capture and containment areas it also does a very good job exhausting effluent and on low, which we use about 90% of the time, it's silent. And even on high is quieter than a VAH on low.

What people fail to remember is that fan should be on, well before food hits fire..........