Do I really need a range hood?
SEE OUR FINISHED KITCHEN HERE!
I need to tell you my deepest darkest kitchen secret:
I do not like a range hood.
I hate them all.
I particularly detest the massive monument-to-wasted-space that has become a bizarre status symbol; like mounting a Range Rover over your stove.
Sure, you can choose one that is low-profile, but that would be in direct opposition to the opportunity to install an oversized jet-engine, directly in the place your face goes while standing at the stove.
Although obviously, (like any sensible person) I would trade a good portion of my soul for this kitchen.
Those sentences above areĀ the beginning of a post I started months agoā¦ Back when I thought I could withstand the scorn of the internet if I chose to not waste money and space onĀ an appliance that I will never use.
However.
I have since begun to fear the wrath of the Appropriate-Cooking-Evaluators: a band of angry militants who patrol the internet for violations which offend them personally; and who believe that forgoing a direct-vented range hood is akin to voluntarily injecting yourself with Ebola virusā unbelievably stupid.
Like this kitchen below– so terrible! Let’s take a moment to reflect on how badly we feel for these people that their kitchen is so subpar!
Iām practically BLIND FROM HOW HORRIBLE THIS IS.
So whyĀ would I considerĀ an about-face from hood-denier to herd-animal; when my preferred response to scorn and judgment is always to dig in my heels and run forward towards the executioner?
I guess the internet has broken me.
Specifically, a particular element to the internet that pervades every single topic that people can possibly form an opinion about: the mindset that there is ONLY ONE GOOD ACCEPTABLE WAY to do something that has zero impact on anyone else’s life.
The ONLY ONE GOOD ACCEPTABLE WAY people believe ONE THING, and then that is ALL THEY BELIEVE and they make it their lifeās work to make sure anyone not doing THE WAY is immediately disqualified from life, clapped in irons, and dragged to the town square to be flogged for idiocy.
Which, upon reflection, is the source of all human conflict through history: your own opinions are fine, but other peopleās are moronic and intolerable and deserving of the flaming cannonballs with chains.
Unless they happen to agree with you, in which case they are well-informed.
The ONLY ONE GOOD ACCEPTABLE WAY peopleās initial input is well-meaning! (If bordering on didactic and unhinged.)
But if you fail to PROPERLY HEED THEIR WARNING AND APPRECIATE THEIR WISDOMā¦they become enraged.
WHY! Why would someone WHO HAS BEEN WARNED!! Fail to instal a direct-vent range hood???
Look at THESE IDIOTS! Living without a range hood!
Imbeciles!
Ā
I am thinking specifically of a kitchen-chatboard thread, where a woman explained that it was IMPOSSIBLE to direct-vent her range hood. And she wondered if (seeing as how she couldnāt direct vent,) could she just skip the questionably-effective-substitute-which-is-essentially-just-a-fan and install a light fixture she had fallen in love with.
It was the light fixture of her dreams! A design element that would bring her peace and joy and goodwill towards all! A lamp that would improve her very existence on earth and she could die happy because SHE HAD THE BEST LAMP.
The responses variedā¦ but there were an ALARMING number of respondents who were EXTREMELY BOTHERED by the fact that this woman was not gutting her kitchen to the studs and reconfiguring everything towards the goal of direct-venting the range hoodā¦ and she should probably just go out and rent a bulldozer THAT VERY NIGHT and knock it all down to the ground while flagellating herself for having considered any other option.
Ā
They basically went on to suggest that she was a filthy, squalor-dwelling subhuman moron.
And as I read on and on and onā¦ I have to tell you that I was AMAZED at the PASSION total strangers were bringing to disparaging this woman and her lamp… I mean, who has time for lengthy screeds decrying other people’s DESIGN CHOICES?
And then I was EVEN MORE AMAZED at how these people do not realize that they look like flaming lunatics.
My FAVORITE response was from a woman who wrote:
This one time, we didnāt have a range hood, and we had to THROW AWAY ALL OF OUR BELONGINGS INCLUDING THE FURNITURE after one monthĀ BECAUSE THEY SMELLED SO FOUL AND HORRIBLEĀ from non-vented cooking odors.
I donāt know about youā¦ but that does NOT sell me on a ventā¦ it DOES, however, make me wonder WHAT THIS WOMAN IS MAKING FOR DINNER.
Anyway. All of this is to explain that I do not want a range hood.
But that I am thinking about it anyway.
Because of the internet.
And I am mad about it.
The way Iāve decided to deal with this irritating anxiety that MY kitchen in MY house designed to MY preferences might draw the ire of some random stranger on the internet is to turn it over to you.
Here’s what you need to know: our township construction code does not require one. I will not have an eight-burner stove outgassing 67 billion btu’s/therms/whatever other specs.
Ok! GO FOR IT!
This is your chance!
I WASH MY HANDS.
And if you fail to draw me out from the cave and convince me of the shadows on the wall, then you must return to your war room and inform the other ONLY ONE GOOD ACCEPTABLE WAY-ers that your method is flawed.
Please make a good argument! Definitely do not include information like this: you NEED a hood!
Because: SURPRISE! I do not!
I can prove that to you because we HAD a hood! It was direct-vented!
And I NEVER USED IT.
I never used it SO MUCH that I had Paul take it out.
Every single night I was likeā WHY IS THIS THING RIGHT IN MY FACE?
Until eventually I was like– Plague of nonsense, BE GONE!
p.s.ā save some outrage for the post where I explain how Iām thinking of not having a freezer.
xoxo,
VEB, squalor-dwelling subhuman moron, esq.
Jeannie
December 14, 2016 @ 1:39 pm
We remodeled (sort of) our kitchen earlier this year. I love everything about it EXCEPT the range hood – HATE IT!!! It is constantly in my way when I’m cooking or trying to clean the stove and back splash. The thing does indeed sound like a jet engine when it is on low. I haven’t worked up the nerve to try it on high. I have been known to set off a fire alarm or two, but opening a window does the same thing as the range hood, and the added benefit of an open window during Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner is a blast of frigid air that perks our guests right up. If you’re going to use your kitchen to actually cook, your cabinets will get dirty and need to be cleaned whether or not you have a range hood. I wish I had opted for a fabulous light rather than a range hood. If you hate the thought of a range hood, you won’t like the real thing any better. I say rage against the system and go ventless.
Dawn
December 14, 2016 @ 1:42 pm
I’ve never been a fan of hoods either. We installed a pop-up vent in our last house (island cooktop) just because we felt we “should”. When we built our current home, we elected to not put in a hood or vent of any kind. Can tell no difference. We also don’t cook a ton, especially not with grease and the like.
Beth W.
December 14, 2016 @ 1:44 pm
I live in a 1939 Canadian Cottage. I do not have a range hood. To put one in would be as absurd as the lady who had the lovely lamp she wanted to install instead – it wouldn’t vent outside, it would open up all sorts of repairs we didn’t know about, etc… We have nothing over our stove right now, and we don’t miss the space hog that a range hood would be. My husband is the chef de maison, and I can’t think of the last time he set off the fire alarm from an inability to control his cooking. I think when we did, it was because he accidentally crisped a beef wellington in the oven, so a well placed fan did the trick to move the smoke around and out of the room. He does, however, make a lot of meals that get our itty-bitty kitchen steamed up, and if we had a range hood, the steam might not fog up the windows. Would it be worth the eyesore (no matter how beautiful, because in 1939, they simply didn’t have them) just so that we didn’t fog up the windows 3/7 nights per week? Well, since I’m pretty sure the hood might not get all the moisture anyways, no… it’s not worth it.
Does my house and do my belongings/clothes smell like spices and wine? No. At least not to any company I keep, nor to us when we go away for a week and return home. Our house actually smelt like pachouli when we bought it (yogi-thai-massage person living here before)… I miss that smell.
Anyways, final thought? It’s never worth doing if it doesn’t make your soul squeal with glee at the mere thought of it (this goes for all things in life)
Jane
December 14, 2016 @ 1:44 pm
Well hello from South Africa where I barely know what you are talking about! When I was unmarried I had an awfully pretty kitchen (nothing like yours, but pretty with all sorts of THINGS around the place). I lived on peanut butter sandwiches, salads, boiled eggs and things cooked in the oven. A liter bottle of cooking oil lasted me nearly 10 years. Then I married a chef and moved to bigger house. We remodelled the kitchen which is semicommercial in look and feel. All six inch white tiles and stainless steel but with a blue and white mosaic floor which redeems it and a lovely marble topped table where we eat, and one display area of beautiful blue and white china and antique copper utensils. The stove (regular electric/induction/gas combination is off in an alcove thing surrounded by tiles and with a deep stainless steel shelf above. Tony fries a LOT. Searing things, deep frying and all the rest. This is a messy process. We have a powerful exactor fan set in the wall (to the outside) next to the stove. It gets turned on every time he fries. It sucks out most of the grease. The tiles and shelf get thoroughly cleaned once a year. The fan does not get cleaned. For me it’s about the mess in kitchen. I hate grease. I guess its about what you cook and how. And your grease tolerance.
Katie
December 14, 2016 @ 1:45 pm
I’ve never lived in a home with an actual vent, just a fan (typically on the underside of a microwave, also always in my face) and I’ve managed to survive these 33 years. The money you’d spend on a vent could be put towards something fabulous and shiny – that’s my vote!
Tammy Lanes
December 14, 2016 @ 1:47 pm
I don’t have a range hood or a freezer!! Somehow, my linens still smell lovely and we all walk upright without dragging our knuckles.
Melanie
December 14, 2016 @ 1:56 pm
If you don’t want a vent hood, don’t get one, honey. I’ve seen many kitchens that didn’t have them, for various reasons–smaller stoves, no central heat and air (which spreads odors and grease around your home), the owner doesn’t cook that often, etc. In fact, most vent hoods are vented back into your kitchen, so what’s the point of them anyway? Personally, I love them and would never be without one. When we built our home, I insisted that ours be vented to the outside. Horrors! You would have thought I had asked for a hunk of cheese from the moon. I think vent hoods also serve a safety purpose. When I turn set the self-clean function on my oven, the vent automatically comes on and will not shut off until the oven cools. Anyway…those are my thoughts on the matter. I enjoy reading your blog and best of luck on your kitchen!
Cynthia
December 14, 2016 @ 1:57 pm
My stove is in front of a window so I can watch the ferries as I slave over dinner. Because no one wanted to interrupt the view, my 1950 house has a ceiling vent with an in-line fan that is in the attic. It works pretty well, and there is nothing in my face or in the way of the view.
Christina
December 14, 2016 @ 1:57 pm
Just install an inline fan and cover with with one of those beautiful antique cast grates. Practical and pretty wall art.
Mary
December 14, 2016 @ 2:03 pm
We cook nearly every night, and we don’t have one, and I honestly forgot they existed until this post. Never much used one when I had one.
We don’t have a separate freezer, either. I repeat: we cook nearly every night. I use the freezer attached to my fridge for 1) ice cream and 2) storing wool sweaters if I see a moth.
I am astonished by strangers’ passion about these things.
Jessica
December 14, 2016 @ 2:04 pm
You’re vegan, right? We’re vegetarian, so we don’t really cook fish here, or bacon. Ever. Maybe that’s why we don’t need one. That being said, there wasn’t one in the house when we moved in. There was heavy drapes and carpet everywhere from the older woman that lived here, which had clearly been here since the 50s when our bungalow was built. As the person that took down the heavy draperies and tore up the carpets I can say there was no food smell in the house. The house survived almost 70 years without one and there’s no way I’m tearing out my entire vintage metal cabinet retro kitchen that I love dearly to make one somehow work. #noventhood
Marie Patric
December 14, 2016 @ 2:12 pm
Sometimes I despair when so many use their passion and anger on such trivialities as decor. Sure it’s nice to look at pretty pictures, and I am as addicted as the next person to blogs & pinterest. But come on, to each her own. Plus we have real problems, which I don’t need to enumerate at length, like babies with cancer and a contestent on ‘Dancing with the Stars’ in charge of nuclear energy.
Tammy Daig
December 14, 2016 @ 2:13 pm
This is YOUR kitchen!! Don’t let trolls decide your vent hood fate. I mostly use mine for the light, so there you go. Be brave, stick to your guns.
Barbara Warkentin
December 14, 2016 @ 2:15 pm
I never use my fan. I have a hood vent with a flat top and all I use it for is the salt and pepper shakers, I use everyday. My family is tall and a hood vent gets in the way unless it’s up against a wall. I do have a friend with a gorgeous chef’s kitchen with an amazing solid copper vent (a complete work of art) that hangs down over her huge island. But it’s also placed quite high up so when I cook there it isn’t in the way. I suggest you do whatever you want and only worry about what you and Paul want to do. Always enjoy your ranting and raving as I am, sometimes, the same way… Merry Christmas to the World, Barbara
Jacqui
December 14, 2016 @ 2:17 pm
I lived for the last five years in a house without even a fan and it smelled fine, even when we cooked our horrible Swedish/Jewish pickles-and-fish feasts. I recently moved into a new house in which the previous owners left a hood which is a) hideously ugly and b) broken, full of congealed grease, and held together by blue athletic tape, and you know what?
*whispers* I’m taking that sucker out and I’m NOT REPLACING IT.
Perhaps I shall install a light.
Joyce Winge
December 14, 2016 @ 2:18 pm
No hood vent. If you have good air flow, including a good way to air out the space in a hurry in the event of smoking pan, then go with the open, uncluttered head space.
I hate mine. Its noisy, barely useful and still doesnt vent enough to remove cooking odors three feet past the stove, so why bother? ?
Michele
December 14, 2016 @ 2:22 pm
Thank you, thank you, thank you! My husband is going to be stoked about my new idea (thanks to your pictures) to rip out our over the range microwave with its useless fan. We , um he will be ripping it out and installing a rack for my beloved Le Cruset above our Range. I’m so excited, I can’t wait to see the look on his face.
Marilyn Strode
December 14, 2016 @ 2:24 pm
You need a range hood only if you spend hours every day boiling lobster or such. I agree that it just gets in the way. However, I do think you need a freezer, but it doesn’t have to be in your kitchen if that will spoil the look you want. I’ve had freezers in the garage and basement. I even know one woman who has hers on her back porch.
Kristi jacobs
December 14, 2016 @ 2:27 pm
I do not have a range hood. I have a big 6 burner Thermador gas rangetop with a griddle. Our old house does have a cool sloped ceiling leading up to a big old attic looking fan. If I have a lot of smoke I turn it on, but very rarely. It is a really cool design idea for such an old home. No problems so far! If I could share a picture I would.
Tracee Mathis
December 14, 2016 @ 2:28 pm
I currently do not have a vent hood either. Simply because during our remodel SOMEONE got pregnant with twins. So the stairs and landings have not been stripped and refinished, NONE of the trim has been finished or the doors for that matter. We gutted a 1910 farmhouse. I kept the trim and doors where I could.
Anyway point being, the only result from not having one seems to be a greasy like film on the pans in my hanging pot rack. Mind you I do NOT fry very often so not sure how long it takes for this “film” to develop.. once I find one I do like, I will get one but my twins just turned 8 and all the stuff mentioned above still hasn’t been done. At this point the floors need to be redone, the trim and doors in some places have crayon on them and I figure anyone who comes over and has issues with that, doesn’t need to come over again! I far prefer to read about your adventures for GFT and remodeling your kitchen and just living with mine the way it is!