I've started researching these hoods for our upcoming kitchen renovation and need some ideas or advice. There seems to be a million brands out there and dozens of types and I don't know where to start.

My range is going to be 6 gas burners but will have an electric oven, AKA "dual-fuel". I don't know if that changes the requirements at all? This will be vented to the outside as the range will be on an external wall, I had one in a condo I had owned where I wasn't on an external wall (and HOA would have never let me go out anyway) that was set up as a recirculating type but they aren't ideal.

Is there a certain CFM I will need? Are there any brands that are better than others?

This is what I'm looking for:

When we bought ours it was a no name brand (zephyr). We were told there are only like 2 companies that make them and the brand names slap a label on them.

Anyhow it works great. But ensure you put in the correct size exhaust pipe. Our builder put in 4” as that was the old standard. Come to find out the newer hoods are 6”. So I’m losing some efficiency because of that.

There are a lot of items to consider when choosing a proper range hood as you might have guessed.

The total BTU’s of the range
The width of the range
The proper height of the vent relative to the range surface
And most importantly the size and configuration of the ducting.

You want to make the vent as straight and short as reasonably possible. Many of the larger range hoods require either 6 or 8 inch diameter ducts..

What brand is your range and does that manufacturer make a hood for it?

Here’s an article about sizing your range hood.

https://www.prolinerangehoods....cfm-need-range-hood/

We replaced the one in our home in Washington. We bought ours through a local appliance dealer, who has their own branded hood. It was all stainless, had baffles (not screens) and a max of 600 CFM. It was a hell of a hood. When I add a hood to this kitchen, I will be buying another one from Albert Lee.

https://www.albertlee.biz/prod...ood-rh70130bs-397146

quote:

Originally posted by smlsig:


What brand is your range and does that manufacturer make a hood for it?

It's been ordered: GE Cafe 30 inch dual-fuel range

Total BTU's by the spec sheet info on each burner is 72,000

Not sure if GE makes a hood in the Cafe series

That photo looks almost exactly like what we installed 2 years ago in our kitchen redo. Height is important, particularly if you are tall(ish). Generally the larger diameter ducting, the better. Whether screens or baffles, make sure they fit in a dishwasher. Sizing (cfm) is key. If too small, you need to run it at higher speeds, which can get loud depending on the model.

a few suggestions:

it's nice if the hood is wider than the cooktop. If you have a 30" range, think about a 36" hood.

a general rule for cfm is 100cfm per every 10,000 btus. for you that would be 720cfm, which is a serious hood. probably higher cfm than anything GE makes for a residential kitchen. check out proline for powerful hoods.

try to keep the hood within 30" of your cooktop for maximum effectiveness.

When we bought or home in New Jersey it needed to be completely gutted and remodeled. When we did this we put an addition on the kitchen to make it bigger.
We ended up with a three hundred sq foot kitchen so i decided to put in a Garland six burner commercial stove.

A company we did work with, for the company I worked for, built custom stainless steel commercial kitchen hoods,stainless steel firewalls/backing and installed them.
I had my hood and firewall/backing built and installed by them.

You might want to look for a custom sheet metal shop that dose this to see if they do residential systems. In the end it was cheaper to go this rout and had a better looking hood than most of what was offer at the time.

If you would like I can email some pictures of how it turned out. Just email me from my profile info.

The one we have looks very much like the picture in the OP, Zephyr brand, Savona model. It looks good in the kitchen, but I would rate it as just OK. Gripes:

• very difficult to service, the squirrel cage fan/motor units have to be removed, and there is no obvious way to grease the bearings, they get hot and the fans slow, squeal, and eventually stop. Last time I tried this I was unable to get the fans out of the housing.
  
• the light bulbs used are a little hard to source, nothing at HD/Lowes fits. They are expensive Halogen's, and they do not seem to last very long.
  
• somewhat on the noisy side.

Bottom line, we hardly ever turn on the fans.

We exhaust through the wall to the outdoors, but the installer wanted to vent through the roof per the manufacturer's directions. We had an existing wall vent (8" IIRC, maybe 6"), has not been a problem as long as we keep the birds from nesting in it when the outside flap sticks open.

We have a XO which sits over a BlueStar RCS36 6-burners (5x15K and 1x9K). The XO is 700 cfm. Looks similar to pic. We also added an air handler because of the cfm to avoid back-drafting furnace, water heater, and dryer (when elec. dies). Air comes in on opposite ceiling of stove vent approx. 12ft away. Air is heated via elec. coils, but not cooled. I would go 40/42 inch if I did it again. We vent out the roof.

Mine is also a Zephyr. It works very well. Size wise, it fits the 48" cooktop. It has adjustable blower speeds from slight breeze to "holy-shit-the-fireplace-chimney-is-working-in-reverse". Height is the big thing. I have it at the maximum allowed height (per the specifications) so that I don't smack my forehead into it while cooking. Plus, I can still see the TV while manning the range/griddle.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:

quote:

Originally posted by smlsig:


What brand is your range and does that manufacturer make a hood for it?

It's been ordered: GE Cafe 30 inch dual-fuel range

Total BTU's by the spec sheet info on each burner is 72,000

Not sure if GE makes a hood in the Cafe series

I believe that the total btu’s of all the burners is 72,000. If that is the case you should be looking for something with over 700 cfm.

quote:

Originally posted by smlsig:
There are a lot of items to consider when choosing a proper range hood as you might have guessed.

The total BTU’s of the range
The width of the range
The proper height of the vent relative to the range surface
And most importantly the size and configuration of the ducting.

I'll add "sone" rating. May not be on the top of the list but an exhaust fan shouldn't sound like a wood chipper humming at full speed. Mine annoys me to the point I often just turn it off despite it being quieter than a lot of them are.