I think I know why you're here.
You planed a center Island with a range or
high powered cook up and want a powerful downdraft to vent.
It's good thinking.
High CFM for high output cooking.
Perhaps you've seen this in a magazine
and like the ability to put cooking in the middle of your kitchen. In this
video, we'll show you the highest CFM downdrafts currently on the market,
then you'll learn why none of these will work properly, especially if you cook.
So as an added bonus,
I'll show you some better options as well as some better design ideas for your kitchen.
Let's get started.
Although I'm not a fan of downdrafts, it is better than nothing like this
inexplicably designed yet nicely styled kitchen with no ventilation.
Seriously, it's a 48 inch range with about 1,000 to 1,200 BTU output with a griddle.
They're probably not going to show this
picture after two months of consistent use of the range because the kitchen will have
grease all over the cabinets and it probably won't smell the best.
We've all been in those kitchens that were under ventilated.
They smell like the last few dinners.
So use this video for ideas of retrofitting an existing kitchen or
hopefully redesigning something better than a downdraft.
You can buy downdrafts from 370 to 1,500 CFM.
Downdrafts are a separate item in back
of your cooktop or heaven forbid your range.
You typically buy them as one piece from 370 to 600 CFM.
For downdrafts over 600 CFM
you buy the blowers and intakes,
the part that pops up and down, separately from the blower. Bowers can be mounted
in the cabinet, inline, in the duct or outside your home.
I'm not a fan of the inline motor because you need access in case of repair.
Now let's look at the three most powerful downdrafts.
The Best Cattura started you into thinking
about placing a downdraft in an island in the first place.
They were the first to design a downdraft to be
used with a free-standing range and even a pro range.
By placing a blower in an adjacent cabinet or underneath the range.
Both are irresponsible, by the way, for reasons i'll tell you later.
The unit has decent specs, 18 inch Max height to
catch more steam and grease.
It's made of Typed 304 steel with antivibration guards.
Also, as a choice of the inline, outside, inside lowers up to 1,500 CFM.
Not that that matters. Thermador is second with 1,300 CFM with their
separate outside motor, they were the first to produce a downdraft.
It rises on 14 inches to cover your pots and pans.
They are the only downdraft
with a recirculate option to make an ineffective product even less effective.
If that's possible.
You could choose from five options of remote, inline or integrated blowers.
It has a silent drive system with three power levels.
It offers a full range of ventilation.
$8,499 for a 1,200 CFM downdraft? This could be my least favorite appliance sold.
You take an ineffective ventilator import it from Italy, so it's good looking.
Maybe people are forgetting that's hidden 90%
of a time and oh, by the way, it's $8,499 plus another thousand for the blower.
Now let me tell you why none of these will
work. First to understand why downdrafts our last choice replacements only,
let me show you the ventilation basics.
Ventilation is divided into equal parts.
CFM stands for a cubic feet per minute.
Literally how many cubes of air flow
through the vent in 1 minute. Downdrafts can vent quite a bit at 1,500
that is literally one small room of air per minute every minute. Smoke is not
expelled immediately after reaching the vent, its captured, then vented.
That's why you see huge hoods in the middle
of restaurant kitchens. Capture is best defined by the height, width, and depth
of your hood. Downdrafts have zero capture and will not be effective for higher output.
Cooking. Or even For most types of cooking.
The best ducting follows gravity where the smoke is naturally headed,
so straight up is best, short horizontal runs straight back or okay as well.
Downdrafts however, direct the smoke down
against gravity and then transition with an elbow, reducing static flow even
further. Most downdrafts have longer runs as well.
Even furthering, a bad design. Duct size was more of an issue
years ago, when contractors were using
four inch dryer ducting, typically eight to ten inch rounds are
adequate for any vent. So you now know downdrafts will be
a challenge, especially if you wok, grill, griddle or fry. They work better
with induction or electric cooktops that emit less heat.
Or better yet, if you don't use it and eat out a lot.
Overhead hoods have a proper capture area.
It could be placed over pro range or range top.
You do not want to vent a long way, but an overhead hood is way better than
a downdraft because of capture and it's directing the heat up,
where is naturally going.
Island hoods used to be designed poorly,
when I started at Yale back in 1986. The Europeans changed that, Best,
Zephyr, and Faber manufacture beautiful hoods in a number of different
sizes. You can even design on your own just by a liner, controls and blowers.
It sounds hard. It's really not.
These downdrafts all promote themselves as splash cards for grease.
If you cook, especially high volume cooking grease will splatter everywhere.
Is that an understanding?
Maybe so, but probably not from a kitchen
design standpoint, you should follow a classic tenant.
Never be one step from the most used appliances in your kitchen.
Namely your, sink, dishwasher and range top.
We used to call it the kitchen triangle. That in mind
the best appliance to place your island is your sink,
not your cooking. You use it the most, seriously.
You can even place an entertainment sink
like a galley in the middle and have every possible accessory to entertain.
Downdrafts seem like a good idea but they're
really the byproducts of poorly designed kitchens or last resort
options only, like a replacement. So it should be against the wall
with shorter runs to maximize the effectiveness of your event.
If you have to place your cooking
in the middle, consider an overhead vent with good CFM or better capture.
You can also consider another design with the sink in the middle.
I have mine in the middle
by the way. However, your key takeaway is high CFM downdrafts will
not help venting if you really like to cook.
Finding out about make-up air codes are
tough when discovered after the fact during inspection.
So download our ventilation buying guide
and learn the basics and issues of every type of ventilation.
Almost 1 million people have downloaded,
read, and learned from a Yale guide. Thanks for watching.