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Hello,
I'm remodeling my kitchen and i'm planning to install the cooktop on an island with white quartz countertop on Ikea cabinets.
A downdraft hood will be perfect to go with it but i never see one working before and I've no idea what model I should buy. I'm looking for something not too noisy.
My budget is around $600 - $700.
Any idea ?
I'm sorry you got stuck with an IKEA mess. You may not know it now but you will soon. As for the down draft, you really need to spend a grand to get one that actually works. What I mean by that is you ever see those bathroom vents for $10 at Home Junkpo? If you were to put a tissue over it, it would not even hold. They just make a whole bunch of noise and don't suck. Well they do suck which is why they suck.
I seen down draft vents for $400 but I offer my sincere professional word that they can not perform the function you are paying for. Well maybe $700 is a reasonable but go for a good brand and it should be effective. Personally I like GE and have been recommending the brand for over 3 decades.
My very best answer is don't burn food and you won't need a vent. Few of my customers answer me when I jokingly say that.
It has been reliable. The house was built in 1986 and I just replaced the fan this year.
The biggest benefit is that it keeps the kitchen cleaner. The filter and cover pop in the dishwasher and the space that the filter sits in is easy to clean. Much less mess than a hood.
Jenn Air now has a duct free option that uses a high efficiency filter, but I cannot seem to find any reviews about how well it works. Venting to the outside is best.
Downdrafts never work as efficiently as an overhead extractor and they require much more power (noise) just to try to reach similar levels of effectiveness. In doing so, the draft they create actually will hamper cooking- a current of cooler air is rushing by the surface of your food.
Regardless of which design you choose, using an effective cooktop extractor vented to the outside whenever you cook with easily washable filters will do wonders in keeping your kitchen clean and helping its finishes last longer. It has nothing to do with burning food. The very process of cooking produces steam laden with oil/grease and the purpose of a good extractor is to remove as much of that from the kitchen before it settles on every surface and in every nook and cranny. It's why I never would design or have a kitchen with complex moldings surrounding the cabinets (or rough, little stone tiles as a backsplash-an idiotic design)- it makes it a nightmare to clean, and also why I always use an efficient extractor turned on when I cook just like I would (as anybody would) when I cooked professionally in a restaurant.
A downdraft hood will be perfect to go with it but i never see one working before and I've no idea what model I should buy. I'm looking for something not too noisy.
My budget is around $600 - $700.
Any idea ?
Thank you
What you want doesn't fit your budget.
You can have a Downdraft with intergal blower for about that- but they're pretty loud.
The much quieter ones are those that have the remote blower option. But you'll need to double your budget. I have had several H/O's over the years request the remote version- and I must say the noise level is night and day.
Most of the major appliance manufacturers build downdrafts and offer the remote option.
Dacor was probably the option I saw the most.
Downdrafts never work as efficiently as an overhead extractor and they require much more power (noise) just to try to reach similar levels of effectiveness. In doing so, the draft they create actually will hamper cooking- a current of cooler air is rushing by the surface of your food.
I have not found the Jenn Air fan to be any more noisy than overhead fans. It seems contradictory to say downdrafts are less efficient then say they will hamper cooking. I do not think mine hampers cooking, and it certainly extracts the smoke and grease from the grill most efficiently.
I also do not like the industrial look of a hood and hoods are a pain in the neck to clean.
I have not found the Jenn Air fan to be any more noisy than overhead fans. It seems contradictory to say downdrafts are less efficient then say they will hamper cooking. I do not think mine hampers cooking, and it certainly extracts the smoke and grease from the grill most efficiently.
I also do not like the industrial look of a hood and hoods are a pain in the neck to clean.
Heat, steam and smoke rise, much easier to capture all of that naturally occurring phenomenon with a hood extractor exactly where it's already moving (have you ever seen a chimney underneath the fire?). Blowing cool air right over the top of food you are trying to heat to cooking temperature isn't going to make it cook faster. You can't argue with physics.
That doesn't mean they don't work, it just means it's not the most efficient design
Thank you for all your advices. Unfortunately, i can't connect the downdraft hood to the duct, so it has to be in recycling mode, using only charcoal filters.
Quote:
Originally Posted by T. Damon
Blowing cool air right over the top of food you are trying to heat to cooking temperature isn't going to make it cook faster.
I don't really understand why this machine has to blow air on the food ? I thought it was just sucking it ??
Thank you for all your advices. Unfortunately, i can't connect the downdraft hood to the duct, so it has to be in recycling mode, using only charcoal filters.
I don't really understand why this machine has to blow air on the food ? I thought it was just sucking it ??
The machine creates a current of moving air in order to extract smoke and steam, that air has to come from somewhere; it is a vacuum- hence, the current of air flowing over the food and then into the downdraft is cooler air from the surrounding area.
The "limitations" or inefficiencies I am speaking about are only in context of in a perfect world, what is the best system- you'll be fine and downdraft will work well enough for most cooking scenarios- just keep those charcoal filters cleaned or replaced often.
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