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 are the beginning of a post I started months ago… Back when I thought I could withstand the scorn of the internet if I chose to not waste money and space on 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 virus— 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!
I’m practically BLIND FROM HOW HORRIBLE THIS IS.
So why would I consider 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 life’s 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 people’s 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 people’s initial input is well-meaning! (If bordering on didactic and unhinged.)
But if you fail to PROPERLY HEED THEIR WARNING AND APPRECIATE THEIR WISDOM…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!
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 couldn’t 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 varied… 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 hood… 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.
They basically went on to suggest that she was a filthy, squalor-dwelling subhuman moron.
And as I read on and on and on… 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 didn’t have a range hood, and we had to THROW AWAY ALL OF OUR BELONGINGS INCLUDING THE FURNITURE after one month BECAUSE THEY SMELLED SO FOUL AND HORRIBLE from non-vented cooking odors.
I don’t know about you… but that does NOT sell me on a vent… 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 I’ve 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 like— WHY IS THIS THING RIGHT IN MY FACE?
Until eventually I was like– Plague of nonsense, BE GONE!
p.s.— save some outrage for the post where I explain how I’m thinking of not having a freezer.
xoxo,
VEB, squalor-dwelling subhuman moron, esq.
December 14, 2016 @ 11:40 am
When I moved into my house 4 years ago, I turned on the range hood to see if it worked. That was the last time I used it. It’s on the list of things to go when I get the opportunity to tear out my kitchen and redo it. It’s not coming back. Mine is part of an enormous microwave, which also is not coming back. In fact, about 95% of the current kitchen is leaving for all time, when it happens.
Don’t give in to the pushy, opinionated trolls. Your kitchen is YOUR kitchen. Do it as you prefer. Hell, I’m taking out all my cabinets and replacing them with free-standing furniture and tables. I hate cabinets. My home’s resale value will be diminished but my kitchen will make me happy for the first time in 4 years, so…
December 14, 2016 @ 11:41 am
I have BUT I never, ever use it. As far as I know, it works. But whoever installed it put it WAAAAAY up high. Up much higher than my 5’1″ self can reach to turn it on and off.
December 14, 2016 @ 11:43 am
Salmon. What do you do about fishy smells when you cook salmon? I have one of those token vents that comes with an over oven/stove microwave and it is not so great. I have two Lampe Bergeres that work pretty well to kill the odor but have longed for a good real vent. Now I’m rethinking that…
December 14, 2016 @ 11:43 am
You don’t NEED a range hood. 🙂 If you cook a lot, especially things like fish, garlic, or fried stuff, it would probably be helpful. OR! Just open a window or a door for a few minutes. Every time my mother cooked salmon when I was growing up, even with the hood going full blast, we’d have to open the kitchen door. Even in January, in Vermont. We survived just fine! Enjoy your pretty hood-free kitchen.
December 14, 2016 @ 11:43 am
I too don’t have a hood nor see the real reason for one. I have a routine where I degrease the stovetop and any surrounding areas as my dinner is cooling and I’m good to go. 5 minutes tops. thats just me, but I grew up with a kitchen with a hood that was never, ever used so I never missed one. I have an oil painting hanging above my stove now and that makes me very happy.
Also, they get gross. I’m an agent in Minneapolis and I see this first hand when showing homes to buyers and they look under the hood only to see years of built up grease & dust—it’s surprising common. My take is that if I have to bend to see the dirt then I won’t clean it as much. So basically my lack of a hood is in my family’s best interest.
I have never had a buyer back away from a charming older home due to the lack of this appliance so I wouldn’t add one for the sake of resale. Older home lovers typically fall in love with a house regardless of “flaws” v.s. buyers of newer homes—these guys are more about fulfilling the Must Haves like checking off items on a shopping list.
I say you shouldn’t do it unless you really want one:)
December 14, 2016 @ 11:44 am
I’ve never had a range hood and I’ve never given it 10 seconds of thought until this post. Who knew it was such a thing? When was the last time you saw someone’s kitchen for the first time and a visitor whispered to you in horror, “My God, where is their range hood?!”
December 14, 2016 @ 12:06 pm
Actually, I said this while cooking pasta at my friends house this past weekend. It was my first time there, I put a pot on the stove for pasta, and I promptly looked aghast at the ceiling that was getting a steam cleaning with no vent in sight.
December 14, 2016 @ 11:47 am
Sometimes you need a range hood (if at all possible) and sometimes you don’t. I have a little house where my Mother lived that has high ceilings and a screen door nearby. We didn’t need and have never had a range hood in that small kitchen. My house, though, has an 8×12 kitchen that is essentially closed, and I wouldn’t be able to fry my grandson’s bacon without setting off alarms if I didn’t have a range hood. I went to a lot of trouble and expose to get one there.
December 14, 2016 @ 11:49 am
I live in a house built in 1920, with the original kitchen (which I love) and absolutely no way to add a direct vent exhaust hood. We’ve lived in our house for 17 years, and we cook very spicy food (my husband is Pakistani) and forget about smelling it in the house – you can often smell it down the block – plus over time I end up with a thick sludge of greasy dust nearby! Has anyone used the nonvented, charcoal filter exhaust hoods? I saw some at Ikea and thought I might be able to remove the modern shell and then rework them into something more interesting – say an old copper water boiler, or a funky old wooden box or shelf – basically something more fun. But I’ve never known anyone who actually had one. Do they actually work?
December 14, 2016 @ 4:25 pm
I had one in my GE Profile convection/microwave that was placed above my stove, as my contractor lamely forgot about leaving room for the the vent pipe above the cabinetry. It was very loud and i didn’t use it much because of that. When I did use it, it didn’t seem all that effective. I think some kind of fan in the ceiling/wall would work better and be less obtrusive and noisy.
December 14, 2016 @ 11:50 am
Your post just made me remember we don’t have a range hood. I never fry food, rarely burn anything, and we’re just fine. And if you don’t need a freezer, more power to you! If we didn’t have four kids, I might never use my freezer either.
December 14, 2016 @ 11:50 am
Oh my! Another rebel like myself? I’m another one who opted for a pretty light fixture over my island, rather than an ugly hood that would block the view of my beautiful kitchen. I do have a Jenn Air downdraft, but I don’t always use it. When we recently remodeled the kitchen, the designer insisted on a lovely hood to be the focal point of the kitchen. I poured through magazines to try to find the right one. Guess what? I finally got the courage to say that it was my kitchen, and I wanted it the way I wanted it. No ugly “lovely” hood! And I have a beautiful kitchen, in spite of it!
It’s your kitchen! Do what you want!
December 14, 2016 @ 11:52 am
Heck I don’t even have a range let alone a range hood!! When I remodeled my tear out kitchen I went with a portable induction cook top and never looked back. No one’s business but my own. My house…..So do whatever you want to Victoria.
December 14, 2016 @ 11:53 am
My last apartment didn’t have one and the smoke alarm went off ALL THE TIME (looking at you, perogies). The new place has one and the only time the smoke alarm goes off is when we forget to use the vent. So there’s that. Also the range hood has an open shelf built along the top of the fan whereupon I stack cookbooks and my radio and a vase of eucalyptus. And so I like it better. But I just googled down draft range fans and WOOOOOOOOOOO, those are cool.
December 14, 2016 @ 11:55 am
I have to have a hood over my small stove in my small vintage kitchen to get rid of all the steam while cooking. Where else will all that steam and smell go ,if not up and out the exhaust. Come on now be for real
Janice
December 14, 2016 @ 11:55 am
Unless you find some sort of GFT to hide the hood, inspiring an impossible project for Paul to mount it appropriately, do what you want…but if you could find some gold leafed be-cherubed GFT to hide it we will all enjoy the forthcoming video. You are fabulous and you know what you want in a kitchen. Everyone else can go remodel their own kitchen.
December 14, 2016 @ 11:56 am
Nope, you are definitely not crazy for not wanting a vent hood!
We have not had one since our kitchen remodel in 2008 and have never once missed it. I will add that it seems to be easy to forgo the vent if you have high ceilings and/or no upper cabinetry surrounding your stove which would make the space more enclosed. Our stove is situated on a peninsula type bar in our kitchen, no back wall above the bar, no overhead cabinets.
Who cares what the self proclaimed vent hood experts say, don’t let them impose their indefensible obsessive need for a vent hood into your design choices!
December 14, 2016 @ 11:58 am
Whenever I cook bacon it makes a smoky mess. Now that I have a range hood, no more smoke. Also, I grill it in the summer. Try grilled bacon.
Other reasons:
*If you make lots of pasta, the steam could ruin your cabinets and/or paint, etc.
*If you cook indian food, or anything else pungent, the smell lingers.
*Sometimes I just turn it on to drown out my husband’s complaining.
December 14, 2016 @ 11:58 am
Howdy! Love your posts! Did not read all the comments, so someone may have mentioned . . Chef Tyler Florences’ kitchen is used for production. Vent hoods too loud so he has a motorized skylight, which seems a much better option, in my opinion!
Quoted from article:
The kitchen is now outfitted with Viking stainless steel appliances, including a range with six burners and a griddle plate, a double oven, and a full-height wine cellar. But the biggest indulgence in the room, said Clark Florence, is the motorized skylight. It was installed in lieu of a hood, which would generate too much noise and make taping television shows nearly impossible.
Besides, the space above the range is occupied by one of the kitchen’s focal points: a large steel rod on which a collection of copper pots and pans hangs.
December 14, 2016 @ 11:59 am
Really, unless you fry a lot of food, sear a lot of food that will smoke up your house, or tend to burn a lot of food, you don’t need one. Let the naysayers keep their negativity. You know your kitchen and your cooking style, you know if it’s needed.
December 14, 2016 @ 12:01 pm
The only reason i ever use the hood fan is if i am trying to outwit our apartments overly sensitive smoke alarm……(its 7 feet from the oven). The only time we have ever had an issue with food odors was directly tied to how burnt our *microwave* popcorn was (and thus a hood vent wouldnt have helped anyway).
December 14, 2016 @ 12:02 pm
It occurs to me that I also do not have a range hood, nor have I especially missed not having a range hood.
I am feeling immense relief because I was designing my new kitchen to include a range hood (which was presenting design challenges) and now I realize I don’t need one after all!
Thank you for the wonderful service of deprogramming me from my lockstep kitchen design conformity!!