Looking for a cooktop exhaust to mount behind my induction cooktop
I have a small galley style kitchen cooking area with 30″ deep counters along an exterior wall and would like to avoid a hood over the cooktop so that I can use some of the space that would be occupied by the hood to hang some pans and kitchen tools.
I’ve started looking at options other than a hood and have found telescoping downdraft fans offered by Broan and other manufacturers. I don’t need a fan that telescopes, but would like to install a fan behind my burners with full width filters extending at least as high as my tallest pot to exhaust the cooking vapors. Since I am using an induction cooktop, I won’t have to worry about exhaust gas fumes, just moisture and oil from whatever I’m cooking.
I’d like something that can keep up with a large boiling pot of spaghetti or a 14″ wok going full bore, but also be variable speed so that it can handle a frying pan with 1 or two slices of bacon.
Does anyone sell a non-telescoping fan with good, washable filters that is at least 24-30″ wide to go behind my 24″ Bosch cooktop?
I can punch a vent for the fan straight thru the wall and would also like to have some robust backdraft protection so that cold winter air doesn’t blow into the house.
GBA Detail Library
A collection of one thousand construction details organized by climate and house part
Replies
If you haven't bought the cooktop yet, you can get cooktops with a built in extractor. Not cheap but all in one solution.
There are many downdraw popup hood out there, including ones from Bosch, that use an external blower. Might not find something for 24" but a 30" would work just as well.
Overall, I would put a regular hood without a fan but mounted up higher. This lets you use the wall space for storage still but now you have a functional hood.
The popup or built in ones only make sense on a kitchen island where anything else is much harder. I know people that have them and they are not effective.
I have a 24" Bosch cooktop, so can't consider a cooktop with built in ventilation.
What is it that your friends have found doesn't work well with the built in style?
I see a lot of bad reviews for the telescoping mechanism on the pop-up ones, but haven't even found a built in wall mounted exhaust that includes filters. The only built in ones I have found are low CFM fans designed for ventilation and odor reduction, kind of like the fart fans in a bathroom.
Both cases it was with gas ranges. The problem with those is it sucked the heat out from the burners instead of any fumes. Also had the issue with sticking, took a couple of tries to get it to raise and the fan to trigger.
The final issue is the exhaust location is simply not where you need it. Hot gases want to go up, not down, so most of the cooking fumes escape. Might as well not have it on.
artisanfarms,
I have lived with an induction cook top for nearly 10 years now and need to advise you on the wok idea. Unless you have a wok specific induction cook top, I suspect that you will be very disappointed. We have tried multiple "wok" pans and the confounding factor is the shape and material choices. The center and ring of flame on a gas cook top is critical to how the wok sides heat. The narrow bottom profile on a wok pan means the induction coils have a limited area to act on. Some induction tops will simply not work if it detects a pan size too small for the chosen burner. This inherently limits the energy you can put into the bottom.
We also found that with induction input the sides of the wok do not transfer heat sufficiently up from the bottom whether carbon steel or stainless steel. The searing action needed for good stir fry is simply not there. If you have found a pan that does work on an induction top, please post the source. We are getting by with doing stir fry in a large skillet which at least allows us to use the most powerful burner on our induction unit. Regardless of the wok problem, greasy fumes pose a follow up issue.
I can only amplify on Akos suggestion to stick with a regular fan hood. I have only seen two downdraft type cook tops (both on coil electric cook tops) and neither worked worth a ..... The ducting which is a narrow rectangle for at least part of the pathway is very prone to grease build up. Then you are stuck with a low exit point to boot.
The visually appealing, but not terribly useful overhead fan hood my wife and I settled on has been a mixed bag. It is a sleek glass arched panel with a minimalist central stainless tower housing the blower. It is effective at sucking up greasy fumes. However, the reverse flow grease catching grids are not so good at catching said grease.
Despite repeat cleanings of the grids, I finally had to take the whole fan assembly down and deconstruct the shell to get at the severely greased up squirrel cage blower assembly. The blower was very laden with grease, which due to gravity and time, had developed a bias of the deposits to one side. The now unbalanced blower would vibrate quite loudly on medium or high. I would strongly recommend against this type of pretty (useless) style of fan hood.
Additionally, the graceful arch of glass has two annoying problems. The upper surface is a pain to keep clean. Greasy fumes collect there and weld any dust into it. The underside of the glass acts as a condensation surface when boiling large pots of water or soup. Stainless would likely do the same, but the graceful arch of glass means the condensate slides down to the edge to end in drops of water that fall onto the edge of the cook top. Or any food items waiting to be added to the soup. A more traditionally shaped hood with a channel shaped edge around the perimeter would be helpful in this case.
If you do attempt to use the space above the cook top for hanging pots or utensils, plan on a lot of extra cleaning. Especially if you do stir fry. No wall or pop up fan is going to keep the moisture and grease from enveloping them in a soon to be condensed film of your meals.
As a possible choice that might work depending on climate and wind conditions, you could think about a twin direct fan through wall set up that is covered, when not in use, by a large panel hinged at the top above the fans. The panel, with side flaps that also hinge and fall into vertical position when the main panel is lifted, would act as a directing surface for the steam and fumes rising up. The wall fans will be taking a direct grease hit, but cleaning fan blades is a heck of a lot easier than a squirrel cage blower.
This is not really a great idea if you are in a cold or windy area as the panel would need to be both anchored and insulated on the inside to prevent a large condensing surface. Bugs and birds might also be a problem. Just a thought though.
You do have one advantage if you opt to do a standard overhead fan hood. Width. You are using a 24" cook top, so use at least a 30" hood, preferably a 36". This will massively increase the catchment of steam and grease. Our cook top is a 36" and the hood we chose is only 35 1/2" edge to edge on the glass and only 19" across the air intake grid. And yes, I should have gotten a bigger unit, but the placement constraints and budget nixed that choice. Anyway, the visible steam rolls around the edges quite handily. I assume the grease goes the same way. We do however use a simple spatter screen over the skillet when doing bacon.
Thanks for the detailed and thoughtful reply.
Regarding the wok, I have purchased a standalone 1800W induction wok and am really satisfied with the results so far when cooking meals for 2-4 people. More than this and the induction coil doesn't have enough oomph to really heat the food quickly.
Based on your comments and others I have received, I am back to looking at hood and may go with a 36" wide hood to fully cover my cooking area, not just my 24" cooktop.
That is a much better plan.
Here is one with a 30" hood over a 24" stove. Not the best designed hood as it has no capture volume but still works way better than a downdraft one.