Ventilation

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Cook
Joined
Aug 22, 2007
Messages
59
What gets me is how so many folks give little to no consideration for the ventilation hood above their ranges and then wonder why the smoke detectors are going off everytime they sear something...

The worst culprits? Those stupid microwave/vent combo's which usually just cycle the air back into the room via a filter and never have enough CFM to do much good. That and they hang so low that it's hard to reach taller pots on the rear burners..

Do yourself a favor - especially if you're getting a gas cooktop - make SURE you get at least 400cfm as you'll have a lot of BTU's coming off that cooktop.

Additionally, make sure you always crack a window because even the best ventilation systems around require that to work best in order to create a better updraft.

/end rant here. :)
 
agree 100% ... the most important appliance in your kitchen is your ventilation hood and fan...gotta be vented outside.
 
Lucky me, mine is 40 years old so it vents through the roof.
And once I removed the charcoal filter, it does a good job!
Why charcoal filter air venting to the outside, anyway?
 
I agree, well said ... however ... if you are unlucky enough to move into a home where that [a wonderful ventilation system] is not already installed, the cost of installation is more than what probably can be afforded right away. OR if you have a terribly tiny kitchen where cupboard space is a premium so an above range microwave is what works the best, giving up great ventilation is the price I'm ... I mean some people ... might be willing to pay. sigh.
 
I agree, well said ... however ... if you are unlucky enough to move into a home where that [a wonderful ventilation system] is not already installed, the cost of installation is more than what probably can be afforded right away. OR if you have a terribly tiny kitchen where cupboard space is a premium so an above range microwave is what works the best, giving up great ventilation is the price I'm ... I mean some people ... might be willing to pay. sigh.

I believe that - largely - people don't think about their ventilation and therefore accept what most buildiers put in their homes - the cheap microwave solution and are generally ignorant when it comes to thinking about ventilation.

If you're a home-owner and cooking is important to you and you don't have good ventilation - yeah.. it's called a HOME Equity Loan; check into it :P

I promise it'll be money well spent...

The freedom to do things such as indoor grilling (using a cast iron grill pan on top of your burners for example) is very nice...

Besides that, if you're into cooking then what business do you have with a Microwave in your kitchen anyway? :P
 
I have a microwave mounted over the stove. It is quite high enough that my largest pots fit under it with a lot of room to spare. I do not know the CFM rating of it, but it is powerful enough that my smoke detector almost never goes off. There are a few vent settings and one of them is a turbo (or some other silly name) setting that really boost the power. It does vent outside, not back into the house.

I would love a better ventilation system, but I have about 30,000 other things to spend money on first. If/when I redo my kitchen I will get a better system, but for now this microwave ventilation works 99% of the time for me.
 
how many folks wathcing FoodTV or TopCHef or whatever say to themselves or their family "I can't do that, the greese and the smell and the smoke would be everywhere...all over the furniture all over everything etc...." well with good ventilation you can cook like that. but yes expect to pay $$ for quality equipment and work. still...
 
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