Appliances for Xmas, need an island mount range hood, BUT

[Kev Williams]

Some of you may remember my 'the oven didn't come in' thread and 'the skillet didn't fall out of the untaped box' threads- This ended up a new-appliances-for-the-wife Xmas, which put me at the top of her 'nice' list :) -- in addition to the oven, she got a Bosch dishwasher, and a GE Cafe 36" gas rangetop, which replaced a very nice 3 year old 36" Jenn Air ceramic cooktop we were both perfectly happy with. However, can't fit an oven under the Jenn Air because of the downdraft plumbing. I got the new range installed and going Tuesday, and man.... there's just something about fire :D

But now we have no cooking fume retraction system. Hey, no big deal, I'll just get us a ceiling mounted range hood....

...now for the BUT...

This house has a sunken living room, which left the rest of the house with 7'-7" ceilings. Which means big Ikea stuff won't fit, and as it turns out, most range hoods won't either. Nearly every island-mount range hood has at least a 30" drop. The closest the burners should be from the hood (they say) is 28-29 inches, so 58-59 inches total...

It's 38" from the floor to the burners, less 91" to the ceiling is 53". That puts the hood/burner space at 23-24". That might work, but just eyeballing it with a tape measure, it looks close. Also, at 24" it's in our line of sight. At 29", we can see right under it. That's also a plus.

Ok, so let's just find one with less drop.

Uh huh.

Actually, I've found a couple, and one in particular that we both really like:
350395
this is from the Houzz website.
below, is the dimension graphic. Notice it shows the drop-down range from 26" to 47.75! That gives me 4 extra inches, SCORE!
350396
--but, not so fast, read the fine print off to the right, all on the same page:
Minimum drop-down height: 35", required ceiling height 8.5-9.5'...

I've found this nonsense on Sears, Amazon and Ebay's websites.
However, this is Home Depot's graphic of the same hood, which almost matches the text rhetoric...
350397
So I have a bad feeling if I just order one of these, it'll be too tall. So my first order of business tomorrow morning is to attempt to contact AKDY and see if there's any way to get a shorter chimney setup, and if so how to order it from Amazon.

If a shorter chimney's not an option, then, what are my options for shortening the chimney myself? Anyone here ever done such a thing?

One of the reasons I'm wanting an AKDY is because their inner framework is a full-on box--
350398
--rather than this...
350399

A full box setup will be more difficult to cut down I'm sure ;)...

Anyway, any advice anyone might have would be greatly appreciated! :)

[Bob Grier]

Look for a hood that places fan on roof or outside wall of building. These are usually higher capacity units but that isn't bad as long as you add adequate makeup air. The cost is more but you get more performance which is a good thing for island stove. Maybe go for 1100 cfm and add lots of makeup air that is controlled by pressure switch you install in the flue above (downstream of) the baffle. I like your idea of going for the low profile hood over the stove. Less visual obstruction. If you can find hood with baffle and controls with motor/fan sitting on roof or outside wall, I think you can make it work.

Makeup air really is important and depends on how tight the house is and on local as well as national code. It is important, especially if you have gas or oil fired furnace or water heater inside the building envelope. Fireplace would also be issue if you turn fan on while fireplace is lit.

[Ole Anderson]

Careful use of an angle grinder with a 1/16" cutoff blade would do the trick. I used to have a roof mounted exhaust fan. when I did the kitchen remodel, I went with a more traditional Braun setup, but kept the roof mounted box, just removed the fan and motor. If you are in a cold climate, be sure to insulate the duct as it goes through the attic to minimize condensation issues. During very cold weather, water would drip on the stove, not anymore after insulating.

[Jamie Buxton]

It is entirely possible to build your own hood. You can buy the blower guts of it, so the part you build is just the hood. The guts are called a blower insert, available from the same sources that sell the complete hoods-plus-blowers. Or you can combine Bob's great suggestion of a remote blower with a shop-built hood.

[Jim Becker]

I agree with the remote blower arrangement for your situation. I almost had to do that here, but was able to arrange for customer duct work that permitted using a standard 48" hood over our range. The ceiling is 6'10" and the customer duct work routs between joists to the outer wall.

[Kev Williams]

I don't think I need all that much firepower, just need it to suck up a little steam, the occasional bacon & burger fumes and the occasional heavy holiday use. I'm sure one of these will be fine as is. :)

Anyone else ever use a Jenn Air? Because they pull air down, the air extraction is more novelty than utility. ;) - And on a gas range, the blower pulls the burner flames sideways....

The original fume extraction method in this house was a plain old fan in the ceiling identical to the original fan that's still in our bathroom, both of which just vented to the attic. The one above out of the box will be far and away the best fume removal setup this house as ever seen! :)

SO, my main concern is 'fit'. And I have a HF air cutoff saw that should work fine if it comes to that! -as long as I cut the right pieces... :eek:

[Wayne Lomman]

Miele make a retractable island hood that rises up out of your eye line when not in view. Hang onto your wallet...

The box frame model shown looks like it will cut down ok but if not, mount the unit in a neat recess in the ceiling. About 4" deep will do it. Put a bit of scrap framing timber in the ceiling space for a secure mounting point. The make up air vents (?) at the top of the chimney will work above the ceiling sheeting. Cheers

[Kev Williams]

Thanks all for the responses!

After doing more researching into these things, we decided on a Z-line brand. While I like the framework of the AKDY units (although some of them use straps and angle's too), I like the fact that Z-line units seem to be reasonably unique and not identical to a half dozen other brands. I also found most people in reviews who buy these things with clocks hate the clocks because they all seem to be in military time.

several other reasons we like the Z-line: their blower moves nearly double the air (760 v 400 cfm), they're 'quoted as' being at least 2db quieter, they have simple push-button controls, they have directional 20w halogen bulbs that might actually light up the cooking area, and best of all for our situation, they sell short-ceiling mounting kits. Of all the brands I checked (in our price range) they were the only ones that do.

This is what we're getting:
350483350484

here's where it'll be going--
350485

-original 1966 cabinets, going to be fun trying to make the cabinet doors under the stove fit the hole around that dinky oven after I remove it...

As for a retractable, that would be cool-- but we're both only 5'-7", so with the hood 30" above the stove, it'll be totally out of our line of sight! :)

>edit< FWIW, AKDY did get back with me, they don't sell a short-kit, and I would have to cut it up myself TO shorten it. Kudo's to them for letting me know quickly!