Slow Home Studio – “Hoodfans”

Posted on: October 5th, 2010 | 4 Comments

It’s Tuesday, October 5th, 2010 and today we present a question sent to us from Carlos in Fort Lauderdale. Carlos tuned into our kitchen renovation episode and wants to know what options are out there when it comes to choosing a hoodfan.

If you’ve seen any great alternatives to “run-of-the-mill” hoodfans or have any other suggestions for Carlos, post them to the comment page below or email them to john@slowhomestudio.com. We’ll take a look at all the great options you come up with on Thursday’s LIVE edition of Slow Home Studio at 9am Mountain, 8am Pacific and 11am Eastern.

And don’t forget tonight at 6pm Mountain, 5pm Pacific and 8pm Eastern, John and Matthew will be taking your design questions while looking at a Housebrand renovation of a split-level home, LIVE!

  • Jim N

    [img]1_venthoodmurdockyoungdotcomcutlertownhouse.jpg[/img]

    I’ve been interested in passive houses for some time and, coincidentally, ran across some discussions this morning about kitchen vents and the whether you need/want make-up air (http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/search/node/hoods). The short version is that with a tightly sealed home you probably don’t want a hood vent that that sucks more than 100 cfm. Otherwise your house becomes much less efficient. The suggestions were to either skip a hood or go with a charcoal-filtered recirculating vent. It’s also my understanding that you don’t want to tie your hood into your energy/heat recovery ventilator.

    In my book 100 cmf is pretty wimpy. It’s also going to miss a lot of the greasy steam that will end up on the walls and cabinets. We eat a lot of Asian food, including stir fried fish, lots of garlic, and the best Cambodian egg rolls you’ve ever had. The food is wonderful; the leftover odors are less so. It can take 2 or 3 days to get rid of odors during the winter when we can’t open all the windows. We do have a hood that vents out the roof, but it simply isn’t powerful enough for the job.

    We hope to eventually build (or upgrade our current home) to passive house standards and have a fresh smelling home. The best solution I’ve come up with so far is a vent hood of about 100 cfm that would look like the one in the picture. You can also see it at: http://www.murdockyoung.com/projects/cutler-townhouse/#/images/3/

    The advantage of this hood is that it could be lowered directly over the odiferous pot/skillet and let the ERV handle the rest. The industrial look of the hood is growing on me, too. We’re hoping we can have our great food, fresh air, and efficiency. I’d be interested in others’ thoughts on this.

  • Mid America Mom

    AH. Interesting! Never thought too much on these except if I had a slow home with modern kitchen the hood would be like a spaceship.

    John sent my email with attachment jpegs for pictures (contact me if issues viewing).

    Mid America Mom

  • Ugur G.

    [img]miele1.jpg[/img][img]miele2.jpg[/img][img]miele3.jpg[/img][img]57a349a7a0.jpg[/img]

    the 1st. 3 pics are from a german manufacturer (of the city i live): miele.

    the 4th is from an italian:
    http://www.falmec.com/uk/design_prestige.htm

  • Mike

    [img]ilvevelacanopyrangehood.jpg[/img][img]buechelephonixzdrdd22974.jpg[/img][img]buechelephonix1opxv922974.jpg[/img][img]modern20hood20vents20elica20space.jpg[/img][img]hood.jpg[/img]

    interesting topic;
    I found a couple of hoods that serve dual purpose;
    -the red one has a built-in tv;
    -the pop up is ideal for island situation as it has a black board on the backside
    -one that looks like a desk lamp is similar idea Jim’s original post as it can be used in smaller areas;
    - the modern one that looks like a clock?? I still can’t figure out how it works.

    hope this helps
    Mike