I agree that it should vent to the outside, especially if you have a gas stove. Ours vents outside but it was easy to do in our case.
Of course it does!
Uh, I thought it should but I just checked and it only recirculates the air.
What on earth are you ranting about?
Mine only recirculates, but I already knew that. What's the big deal?
I wouldn't know. I don't have time to cook.
I need to get my thyroid checked.
I agree that it should vent to the outside, especially if you have a gas stove. Ours vents outside but it was easy to do in our case.
DD '06
DD '14
DH would not consider a home without a outside-venting fan. We have had microwave ones, that did not do a good job - some I swear sucked grease through the microwave, and I was cleaning the microwave almost daily!
When our microwave broke, we replaced it with a real vent and a smaller countertop microwave - it is my favorite kitchen upgrade!
ncat
mama to DD 12/04, DS1 11/08, and DS2 7/13
At our previous house, it just recirculated. The stove wasn't on an outside wall so they would have had to done duct work when building.
In this house it vents to the outside. It's a microwave with vent and I hate it - I swear it let in cold air all winter long!
Oops, and I just realized I voted for old house (recirculates) instead of current house - sorry!!!
"Every mother needs a wife." - Amy Poehler, Yes Please
When we bought our house a year and a half ago it only recirculated the air, but we had to get a new over-the-range microwave and had someone come (an electrician?) and vent it to the outside. Our stove is on an outside wall and it didn't take very long. We also had him vent the guest bathroom fan to the outside since it was venting into the attic (!) and had a vent installed inside the master bathroom since there was none.
It better. Because I hear something flapping around the outside vent every time I turn it on (or the wind blows hard.) It is a mircowave one but there is a tube thingy, erm duct, that runs out above/behind the microwave. It is not on an exterior wall, but there are two vents on the outside of the house, one for the dryer and one for the range hood. Unless the duct and vent are for show and something just happens to flap when I hit the switch without forcing air/smoke outside, it vents outside. With a new construction house, who the hell knows what they did because current building quality tends to suck compared to 20+ years ago. I need to climb up and see what the hell the noise is but it is "on the list" and dragging out a ladder is something I have been too lazy to do. It works ok, it definitely reduces cooking steam and smoke rather than blowing it around in my face. My husband is the one who is going to burn stuff and he sucks at turning it on.
Last edited by kijip; 06-13-2012 at 01:31 AM.
Katie, mama to a pair of boys.
Ours currently only recirculates but when we renovate our kitchen, we'll get one that vents outside.
Mommy to 2 DS's (2003 and 2007)
OK, well I'm glad to see that at least *one* person thought theirs should obviously vent outside but upon checking found that it only recirculates. I don't feel like *quite* such an idiot now
I agree, I hate the microwave above the stove. Maybe we'll save up for a big kitchen remodel...cuz that ain't gonna be cheap. The microwave could probably be relocated to one of the corners but redoing the whole vent hood...ugh!! And if it's going to get that pricey might as well run a gas line and get a gas cooktop.
I didn't read the other responses, but at my old house, we made the range hood vent to the outside when we remodeled the kitchen. It wasn't too expensive, and I thought it was worth it.
Our current house has a cooktop with a downdraft that I hate. We stir-fry a lot and need high output burners with proper ventilation. The downdraft vent is really only good for low-med heat applications. When we moved here, I quickly realized that the weak burner output is due to the limitations of the downdraft vent (if the manufacturer put a stronger fire output, the downdraft vent wouldn't be able to acccodate the fumes produced).
I later read on the gardenweb forums that downdraft ventilation is really inefficient (smoke rises, and the vent is below the pot). It also tends to try to suck your flame, so you don't get an even fire on your pot.
If you are going to remodel your kitchen, I would recommend a proper range hood (not a recirculating microwave hood) that vents to the outside. From what I read, it should be at least as wide as your range/cooktop. Ideally, it would be two inches wider on each side of your range to capture the most smoke. Pick the power/cfu based on your cooking needs (if you stir-fry, sear, etc, you need more cfu. If your cooktop is over an island, you need more cfu's because all of the smoke is being dissipated into the air vs being contained by a wall/backsplash.
HTH!
DS1: 3/09
DS2: 2/11
DS3: 3/13
That was me. I swear that I often feel like such an idiot among all the geniuses on this board. I'm sorry but how does everyone know everything about everything from vent hoods to the nuances of personal finance to politics to any other topic that we sometimes seem to pull out of thin air!! And it seems like everyone has the outside venting hood, and the lowest interest rate, and the most in-depth knowledge of the political spin on current events. While I am left here bumbling through life at a much more clueless level of existence.
I had no idea about our vent- I knew there was a silver tube that was in the cabinet above the microwave and I figured that it was probably for air traveling out toward the top of our house. However, when I asked my DH, he knew right away that it recirculated.
You learn something new every day I guess.
DD
DS