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So I currently live in an old house that doesn't have a range hood. I usually open the windows when I'm cooking but doing anything with fat/oil spreads aerosolized grease and the odor lingers throughout the whole house for a few days. One time I made the mistake of cooking bacon-wrapped scallops in the oven; I thought it'd be cool since the oven door is sealed, but there was an old-bacon-and-seafood smell in the house for two weeks before I ended up scrubbing all the walls, floors and ceilings with 409 to cut the grease that was sticking to them. My wife and I had left our coat closet open and are still fighting to get the smell out of the coats months later, despite soaking in oxyclean, vinegar solutions, etc. It's really loving annoying. We're looking at moving to a more updated place for this and other reasons, but just found out that place we applied to has a range hood (built into the microwave) that recirculates rather than exhausting to the outside. I've never had one that does this, and comments on the internet range from "worthless" to "better than nothing" to "acceptable if you have charcoal filters in it". I don't want a repeat of my experience in this house. Does anyone have experience with recirculating hoods and can comment on their effectiveness?
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May 21, 2014 21:33
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| # ? Apr 16, 2024 12:08 |
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Those recirculating microwaves/hoods are worthless, in my experience.
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May 21, 2014 22:29
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M42 posted:Those recirculating microwaves/hoods are worthless, in my experience. They are. The vents in mine just do nothing but aim aerosolized grease at the cupboard doors above it. Worthless garbage.
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May 21, 2014 22:45
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VERTiG0 posted:They are. The vents in mine just do nothing but aim aerosolized grease at the cupboard doors above it. The last apartment I had with one of those actually managed to redirect everything directly into my face.
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May 22, 2014 00:33
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I have a recirculating hood, and it really doesn't do much. I use a splatter screen with a carbon mesh like this one. It works wonders, and it can be run through the dishwasher to get the smell and grease out of it.
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May 23, 2014 21:14
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All my recirculating hood seems to do is get smoke higher and faster so my annoying fire alarm can trigger even more easily.
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May 26, 2014 23:45
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contrapants posted:I have a recirculating hood, and it really doesn't do much. Thank you. I forgot these existed or something and just have a recirculating hood in my place. Honestly I don't even think it's possible to put in a proper hood where I am, partly because of the microwave and partly because the vents are already tiny.
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May 27, 2014 04:18
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contrapants posted:I have a recirculating hood, and it really doesn't do much.
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May 27, 2014 16:26
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I love the smell of toasted butter and garlic when I've cooked something. It is tiring the next couple days, though. I open ALL the windows and run my HVAC on 'fan' but it doesn't help. I have a massive window right by the stove but I think it just attracts beggars to the parking lot with the smell.
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May 27, 2014 17:40
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Every apartment I've been in had a recirculating hood. There are screens that go over the intake area that you can get carbon filters for. The landlord at the last place actually replaced those filters and the thing worked pretty well for filtering grease/odor. It didn't stop smoke very well (probably due to particle size) but the filter still made a huge difference. My house actually has a vent that goes outside, but the fan is so old and under-powered it's merely a suggested route for smoke to travel. I also have a splatter guard thing like contrapants linked to, it works okay, but is tough to clean in my small sink.
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May 27, 2014 19:16
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I installed a 30" hood on my stove on a exterior wall. Note that being 30" it was meant to be installed between two studs with a stud in the middle, so to vent to the outside i had to do a 90 deg turn to another 90 turn to go through the wall. Not as efficient as I want but vent to the outside is very useful.
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May 28, 2014 04:45
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I just had a chimney installed for my range hood. Works better than recycling the air but I was pretty unimpressed. I think it either needs a more powerful fan or I should install another fan up top near my roof to draw the air up. It was pretty weird smelling country ham on my front porch when I left after breakfast.
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May 28, 2014 15:39
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Our ventilation sucks donkey balls. Seriously. It's horrible. It's a recirculating hood, and when we bought the house, we went to have a new nice hood put in but they said we needed to have the whole kitchen rewired etc. We (I) really want a hood that works. He just says whatever will stop us having to open the front door and the kitchen window to keep the smoke alarm from going off from any cooking we do. drat thing goes off when there is any steam etc going around, and the recirculating hood just does nothing. It doesn't seem to have a vent to outside. Who would we call to install a vent to the outside when we get around to getting a new hood and rewiring the kitchen? I am thinking a heating ductwork person but I am not positive. Any ideas?
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May 28, 2014 21:42
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I don't think I've ever seen an apartment that didn't have a "hood" above the microwave that just vented everything back/up.contrapants posted:I have a recirculating hood, and it really doesn't do much. Does that work legit? Cause I'm gonna have to buy it.
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May 29, 2014 03:15
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contrapants posted:I have a recirculating hood, and it really doesn't do much. I got something like that a while back. Trapped grease splatters fine, but in my experience it also trapped any and all steam and smoke (and let it all billow out when you lifted it), which is not so great when you're trying to get a nice dry sear on a steak (I mostly grill them these days, but still.) When I lived with my dad he had one that was just a plain wire mesh, and that worked beautifully for just trapping grease while letting everything else through, but I can't seem to find them anywhere.
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May 29, 2014 03:25
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Boris Galerkin posted:Does that work legit? Cause I'm gonna have to buy it. Mine is a Farberware mesh that I picked up at Stop & Shop on a whim. I think the one I linked to is the same as what I have. It is the perfect size for my skillet.  Fucknag posted:I got something like that a while back. Trapped grease splatters fine, but in my experience it also trapped any and all steam and smoke (and let it all billow out when you lifted it), which is not so great when you're trying to get a nice dry sear on a steak (I mostly grill them these days, but still.) When I lived with my dad he had one that was just a plain wire mesh, and that worked beautifully for just trapping grease while letting everything else through, but I can't seem to find them anywhere. I don't have any problem with steam. It vents out through the mesh just fine. The splatter guard works great for making popcorn in my cast iron skillet: steam comes out, but oil stays in.
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May 29, 2014 05:08
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I live in a very old house and like to cook wings in the oven. Usually I just open all the windows and doors because there's a steady breeze that usually helps a lot. I recently decided to try mounting wings on a cooling rack, placing that rack on a baking sheet, and pouring water into the baking sheet so the oil from the wings can't burn. It needs a couple of top-ups during the 40 min cook, and the wings don't get *quite* as crispy as they would on a dry sheet, but they are still good and there's far less smoke.
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May 30, 2014 04:06
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I have the same problem of bombing out my apartment with the smells of whatever I am cooking. I guess that's the curse of liking weirdo ethnic food and bringing commercial kitchen habits into an small domicile. The solution for me is to put the largest fan possible in the window closest to the kitchen, blowing out. Open only 1 window on the other side of the house and you'll get a good air current going, drawing most of the smell outside and bringing fresh air inward. Someday I'll get a real kitchen and install a badass ventilation system, but for now this will have to do.
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Jun 6, 2014 18:51
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Juche Box Hero posted:I live in a very old house and like to cook wings in the oven. Usually I just open all the windows and doors because there's a steady breeze that usually helps a lot. I recently decided to try mounting wings on a cooling rack, placing that rack on a baking sheet, and pouring water into the baking sheet so the oil from the wings can't burn. It needs a couple of top-ups during the 40 min cook, and the wings don't get *quite* as crispy as they would on a dry sheet, but they are still good and there's far less smoke. Some people will boil the wings for a few minutes to cook off some of the fat before baking them (at 500 degrees)
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Jun 6, 2014 19:35
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Bob Morales posted:Some people will boil the wings for a few minutes to cook off some of the fat before baking them (at 500 degrees) This sounds better because then you're not steaming the wings with water in the oven.
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Jun 7, 2014 03:18
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ZetsurinPower posted:The solution for me is to put the largest fan possible in the window closest to the kitchen, blowing out. Open only 1 window on the other side of the house and you'll get a good air current going, drawing most of the smell outside and bringing fresh air inward. What sucks about my kitchen is that it's surrounded by walls on three sides (the whole central area of the house is one big open space with the kitchen slapped in the middle.) There's a nice nook with 2 windows that open, but any draft from elsewhere in the house just bypasses the kitchen entirely without ventilating it at all, so basically the smoke just diffuses out aside from what little rises to the ceiling and spreads into the airstream. It also makes climate control a bastard, even when the kitchen hasn't been used for days it can be a good 5 degrees warmer than the rest of the house with the A/C vent closed, which it normally is since it's a really awesome open-or-shut fixed-air-direction vent, which blows full blast on the stove and can quench the flames halfway around the front burners. 
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Jun 7, 2014 10:53
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yeah with your kitchen, it sounds like a good ceiling-mounted hood/vent would be the best solution. Totally worth the expense in my opinion, especially if you love to cook and the smell/heat is a major annoyance
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Jun 8, 2014 21:08
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I have never lived anywhere with a proper vent but, outside of roasting peppers or frying fish, have never noticed any bothersome lingering cooking smells. I don't think I am an bad smeller but I have never even thought of this as an issue.
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Jun 9, 2014 17:28
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bunnielab posted:I have never lived anywhere with a proper vent but, outside of roasting peppers or frying fish, have never noticed any bothersome lingering cooking smells. I don't think I am an bad smeller but I have never even thought of this as an issue. Man, like I said before I just got my chimney installed so it evacuates to the outside. I'm super excited about the next time I make either: greens, boiled peanuts or boiled cabbage. All of which make my house smell like a fart for 1-2 days. Edit: Oh and the most exciting part for me is I put it on low when I'm baking and my kitchen doesn't warm up to 85-90 degrees anymore! Hot drat!
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Jun 9, 2014 18:48
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If you own the place just install a real vent hood. We bought a townhouse and got to pick the appliances, we ditched the microwave and installed a 36" wide range hood that sucks everything out of the house. It's amazing and worth every penny.
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Jun 11, 2014 02:25
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Put me down as having a vent hood/fan that isn't worth poo poo. If I ever get around to it, how much can I expect to spend on a decent hood? I'm sick of my house smelling like 3-day-old roast chicken every other week.
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Jun 11, 2014 03:45
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What are some good make and models of range hoods to look for? I've got a lovely combo microwave/hood that is externally vented. Any time something on the stove makes steam I'm afraid to use the microwave because it tends to start arcing.
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Jun 11, 2014 22:59
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Fucknag posted:What sucks about my kitchen is that it's surrounded by walls on three sides (the whole central area of the house is one big open space with the kitchen slapped in the middle.) There's a nice nook with 2 windows that open, but any draft from elsewhere in the house just bypasses the kitchen entirely without ventilating it at all, so basically the smoke just diffuses out aside from what little rises to the ceiling and spreads into the airstream. stop fighting it, thats by design. a lot of flavour is inevitably lost to the atmosphere when you cook, but you dont want that to happen... you want to soak the food in the flavour so that hopefully it can reabsorb most of it. the whole kitchen ventilation industry is set up to make people who dont know any better lose more of their flavour so they'll be less satisfied with their own cooking and more reliant on restaurants. the people who designed your house understood that. dont buy the hype, there is a disgusting amount of flavour drifting off into space already--we dont need to waste any more of it
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Jun 12, 2014 07:39
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Cpt.Wacky posted:What are some good make and models of range hoods to look for? I've got a lovely combo microwave/hood that is externally vented. Any time something on the stove makes steam I'm afraid to use the microwave because it tends to start arcing. I would imagine you want whatever has the highest CFM, the rest is probably not as important aside from noise and asthetics. Then again, I'm no expert, is there anyone out there that knows of a good resource for reviews or something?
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Jun 13, 2014 16:51
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ZetsurinPower posted:I would imagine you want whatever has the highest CFM, the rest is probably not as important aside from noise and asthetics. Then again, I'm no expert, is there anyone out there that knows of a good resource for reviews or something? I think there are some issues around getting too much CFM where you need to provide "make-up air" so you don't get backdrafting and other issues. Noise and user interface are my concerns after effectiveness and it's hard to find good reviews for them.
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Jun 14, 2014 00:35
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contrapants posted:I have a recirculating hood, and it really doesn't do much. I think I remember reading an amazon review of one of these where someone managed to set it on fire because they were too stupid to wash it occasionally and it was overloaded with grease  For a few extra bucks this one looks a bit nicer and has feet to keep it off the countertop http://www.amazon.com/Progressive-International-Stainless-Splatter-Screen/dp/B0002MR0TA/ we're in the process of buying a house and the jenn air gas range comes with an under-vent (downdraft?), which I didn't even realize existed. OBAMNA PHONE fucked around with this message at 20:47 on Jun 14, 2014 |
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Jun 14, 2014 20:44
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BraveUlysses posted:
We had an electric Jenn-Air years ago; it's kind of neat watching the steam, smoke, etc. get sucked sideways and down into the center of the range top instead of rising into the air as it normally does. Don't know where it vents out to, though. But if it works well, it does a pretty good job keeping the air clear.
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Jun 15, 2014 00:13
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I've seen one of those before in a 1970's stovetop... Actually worked remarkably well all things considered. Vented out through the wall on the side of the house.
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Jun 15, 2014 09:52
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