The Forgotten Appliance

An exhaust hood is typically NOT the new appliance that you can't wait to show your family and friends, is it? The duel fuel range with the "big red knobs," the warming drawer or the side by side refrigerator often takes top billing. Yet proper ventilation in your kitchen is crucial to the rest of your appliances functioning at peak performance.

Great cooking comes with great messes. One of the potential messes is caused by the by-products of the cooking process. Take for instance, heat, odor, grease and smoke from high temperatures and fresh ingredients, being cooked on professional series cook tops. Without proper ventilation, those same by-products can end up all over your walls, furniture and draperies. Have you ever ventured to see the grimy dust that often exists on top of kitchen cabinets-it's caked with cooking grease-it's the same air that you and your family are breathing!

But don't be intimated-there are many different types and brands of range hoods (also know as ventilators) that can solve nearly kitchen ventilation need. The basic types are: chimney, "pop-up" downdrafts, wall and custom inserts. They come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors.

First things first: follow your cooking appliance manufacturer's recommendations regarding minimum air movement, and the location of the ventilation system with respect to the surface of your cooking appliance. Be sure to take into account the width and depth of you cooking surface. The height of the ventilator should be no less than 30 inches and no more than 36 inches from the top of your cooking surface.

Choose a blower system carefully--motors can usually be placed either inside the hood or on the outside of your house. Placing the system outside of the house reduces the noise by up to 30 percent. Be sure that the amount of air or "cubic feet per minute" that the blower is moving is adequate enough to move the amount of heat produced by the cook top.

In some instances, the ventilation system cannot be placed outside of the home. In these cases, there are several wonderful "recirculation" options which essentially pass the cooking vapors over an activated charcoal filter. This removes the exhaust by-products and places the filtered air back into the room.

Another consideration---make sure your HVAC contractor matches the duct work within the walls to the specifications of the exhaust system.

Remember, great cooking begins with efficient and well thought out cleanup--beginning with ventilation!

hhgregg Fine Lines showroom is located at 7024 Smith Corners Boulevard. Call them at 704-599-4196. Special thanks to Greg Fosco, BSH Company for contributing to this story.