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Design Your Own Kitchen-Here’s How Article #2-Ventilation Systems

Author: Jeremy Myers

Author: Jeremy Myers

by Jeremy Myers This is a series of articles about kitchen design and the things that you should consider when either designing a kitchen from scratch or attempting a remodel of an existing kitchen that is outdated or inadequate for your needs. I am attempting to present the topics in the order that I would deal with them if I were acting as a paid kitchen designer. In the last article Defining Goals-Storage Capacity,I explained in detail how to determine the overall storage needs of a kitchen in terms of cubic footage. I ended that article with a bulleted list of what could be done if it turns out that you really do need more storage capacity rather than just a simple update of the existing cabinets. That list was ordered from the lowest cost solutions and moving up with the most expensive solution of selling the existing residence and buying a larger one! This article deals with ventilation systems, the next logical item to consider in the design process. I know this particular topic might not seem all that sexy to some people, but a kitchen without a well designed ventilation system is going to be an unhappy place in a stinky home. All those exhaust gasses, steam and cooking odors need to be vented to the outside-no doubt about it If they dont go outside, theyll be absorbed by your walls, clothing, carpets and anything else in the area with unhappy results. When I was working as a paid kitchen designer I occasionally had clients who for a variety of reasons wanted to either eliminate or short-change the ventilation system despite my advise to the contrary. I was fine with that as long as they were willing to sign a document acknowledging that I advised them of the potential problems of a kitchen lacking adequate ventilation and asked them to remove my liability in that area, specifically and in writing. Needless to say, that usually changed their attitude about the topic. Proper ventilation depends on a few key factors, that when you think about are not all the hard to understand. First, the cooking process generates heat, and heat rises. Second, the volume of ventilation required is dependent on how much heat (or stink) is being generated. So given the foregoing its pretty easy to size a venting system that will always be able to keep up with the demands placed on it. A good rule of thumb is to size a venting system to provide one cubic-foot-per minute (CFM) of venting power for each 100 BTU being generated by the cooking appliance. Simply put, CFM is a measure of the volume of air being evacuated by the venting system each minute and BTU (British Thermal Units) is a measure of the amount of heat being generated by a cooking appliance. Fortunately for us, stoves and ranges are rated in BTUs so its easy to get a handle on how much venting might be required for each situation. Almost all hoods and vents are supplied with specifications as to venting capacity and ducting requirements for proper operation. The key thing to keep in mind is that moving air develops resistance as it travels through a ducting system. The smaller the vent pipe, the longer it has to travel (the run) and the more turns it takes all increase the amount of power that the venting system will have to supply to move adequate air. Manufacturers supplied specifications for all venting appliances should make all of this clear. Ive found the manufacturers Reps and Customer Service people to be an invaluable resources when I have questions about this sort of thing so I always call to confirm my design parameters before ordering. In terms of WHERE to run your ducting, I would recommend that you consult with a trusted general contractor. Even the simplest ducting plan should have the blessing of someone who has X-Ray vision and can see into walls and ceilings to determine how ducting pipes will twist and turn on their way from your stove to the great outdoors. Because the length and layout of ducting in part determines the fan sizing of the venting system you really have to get this nailed before any shopping takes place. Once you have the ducting plan in place, you can proceed with confidence. All else being equal, the most efficient venting system is a range hood that is 6 wider than the stove it is venting and placed at an appropriate height above the cooking surface. Wherever possible this is the type of system that I strongly recommend to clients as their first pick. The over-range hood is the most efficient of all venting systems because heat rises and is easily captured by the sump of the hood where it can pumped out of the house by the vent fan. The range hood is also desirable because in many cases it is fully customizable for your needs. These days even low end hoods may give you a choice of fan sizing, lighting options, heat sensors to automatically control the fan power and other goodies. All you really need to know to design a system with a range hood of this type is the maximum amount of BTUs being generated by your range with all burners going plus considerations as to ducting as explained previously. Its also worth paying attention to the amount of noise being generated by the fan system. Noise is measured in sones, the lower the sone rating the quieter the fan-its worth paying a little more to get those sones down! Again, I highly recommend that you contact the Manufacturers customer service department to confirm overall system design and capacity of any venting system that you are considering. As an aside, you may see very sleek looking euro-style hoods that lack a sump, meaning they have open sides and back-they dont vent for beans, so forget them. If you are unable to design with a vent hood, the next choice in my view the is the venting microwave which is quite a step down from a real hood. A microwave venting system is far less optimum than a true vent hood because it has no sump to collect exhaust gasses, has a low exhaust capacity and is very noisy for the amount of air being moved. Many of them are erroneously installed as recirculating units, meaning they just blow exhaust gasses right back in your face after passing the air through a tiny activated-carbon filter panel. Most over-range microwaves can be installed to externally vent, but you have to make sure this is done correctly by the installer. I dont know how many of these Ive seen installed to vent back into the houseyuck! In my considered view, the most inneficient venting system is the down-draft fan unit that comes with some ranges. These operate by pulling air across the surface of the range and exhausting it down and through ducting to the outside of the residence. Aside from the fact that you loose practically all of your under range storage, they are noisy as the devil and dont really do anything except pull all the heat off the range and away from the food your are trying to cook. You may have one of these things once, but after that its over, baby. One final note and a safety warning. All ventilation systems are pumping air out of your home and that air has to come from somewhere. In the case of the larger systems you could be moving up to 500 cubic feet per minute or more which is quite a lot. You need to crack a window or door near or in the kitchen to provide so called 'makeup air' to enter the residence. If you don't provide a handy source of makeup air when running the vent system you could be creating a real carbon monoxide hazard as explained below. If you run your fan system with all doors and windows tightly closed, fresh air will be pulled down through an open chimney flue, or more dangerously down through the venting system of your gas fired water heater or space heater. This is known as 'back drafting" and is a dangerous condition because there is the potential to pull carbon monoxide back down into the residence. Carbon monoxide is invisible, odorless and deadly in high concentrations. I would strongly recommend that you install a carbon monoxide alarm in your utility room so that if back drafting IS pulling poison gas back down a flue, you'll know about it.Better yet, always remember to open a window or door to provide makeup air when running your vent system! In the next article well talk a little more about appliance choices. Then Im going to show you how to layout a proper kitchen on paper and begin to formalize plans for construction.About the Author:

Jeremy Myers is a wedding officiant and owner of Lyssabeth's Wedding Officiants. Visit his websites at Lyssabeth's Oregon Wedding Officiants , Lyssabeth's Monterey Wedding Officiants and Lyssabeth's Colorado Wedding Officiants.
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