The Overhead Oven Hood Is A LIE. How Do I Install A New Fan?

November 27, 2013 5:57 AM

So I've got a nice oven and a nice overhead hood. Unfortunately, behind the facade of wooden veneer is NOTHING. No vent, no fan, nothing. Can I install a fan up there?

Okay, that's a lie, as there are some wires.

My assumption here is that there used to be something above my stove, but now there's nothing above my stove, and I should be able to install something above my stove.

Here's an imgur album of what it looks like from the front, and what's under the hood.

I'm getting ready to rent the place out so I'm just looking to get the maximum for the minimum. I assume this would be a fan to suck up the smoke and odor.

Handypeople of Ask, lend me your expertise!
What's the easiest fix available here? Bonus points if you link to instructions and/or equipment at Home Depot or Lowe's.

posted by John Kennedy Toole Box to Home & Garden (10 answers total)

Without spending a whole lot to put a duct in, you're looking at a ductless hood. Might not be worth the trouble, unless you're just buying it for the lights and to try to convince a potential tenant that it's better than nothing (which is tenuous, in my experience).
posted by supercres at 6:04 AM on November 27, 2013 [1 favorite]

Here's a ductless range hood at Lowes for $99.

You may want to remove that honking wooden thingy altogether (looks dated) and pay a bit more for a hood with pizzazz. Here's a nice one for about $450.

Another option would be to remove that fake-o hood thing and install an over the stove microwave. This is utilitarian, attractive, inexpensive and other good things.

Since matching the wood for a cabinet would be a hassle, Build a simple box above the microwave to the ceiling and stain it the same color as your cabinets. Or throw a couple of Ikea stainless steel shelves up there. You can put cookbooks there, or attractive bowls, or whathave you.

If you want a fun project (I say laughing) you can tile the backsplash. It's a pretty inexpensive project, and will really tart up the space. Or you can get a large piece of stainless steel to put behind the stove and microwave. Just slap that bad boy up with construction adhesive.

I don't miss owning a house, but I do miss the creativity of the projects.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 6:21 AM on November 27, 2013

If you install an over-the-range microwave, be prepared to replace it every 3 or 4 years, as the steam from cooking delaminates the button membranes and the buttons stop working one by one. Not that I'm bitter or anything.
posted by jferg at 6:28 AM on November 27, 2013 [1 favorite]

Like supercres wrote, there's no duct present, so no place to put what's sucked up except back out into the room. A ductless hood is marginally better than nothing, in that it would probably have lights for the stovetop and a basic grease trap which can keep the walls cleaner if the tenant uses it and there's a lot of frying and searing going on, but the charcoal filters that are supposed to remove smoke and odors are a bad joke.

An OTR microwave would be nice and more useful, but would require some way of boxing in the space above it as RB suggested.
posted by jon1270 at 6:30 AM on November 27, 2013

Best answer: No tenant is going to expect a real range hood, but putting in a replacement that sort-of works & has lights will at least give the impression that you are a landlord who maintains his property, which will help you rent it. Speaking as a landlord, I say keep the existing trim & go with whatever is least work to install - sounds like a trip to Lowe's.
posted by mr vino at 6:35 AM on November 27, 2013

That is weird. Ductless usually exhaust out the front or top. Clearly there was intended to be a hood there, but I am not seeing where a ductless would exhaust. I do see what looks like more recent patchwork at the top of that wooden enclosure. It's possible there was or is a duct there. Are you able to check the outside of the building for any mystery duct nearby?
posted by rocketpup at 6:54 AM on November 27, 2013

Ductless hoods aren't worth anything, in my experience. They're just a slightly more-convincing version of the lie that you already have.

It looks like your kitchen might have had a vent duct at one point, judging by the plaster repair work up under the wood thing. It might be worth opening it up with a drywall saw and seeing if there's actually a duct up there that goes somewhere. (Or looking on the outside or in the attic of your house to see if there's anything coming out.)

If there's not a second floor above the kitchen, putting in a vent is straightforward ... depending on local building codes it may be acceptable to just vent it into the attic (typically not OK in cold regions).
posted by Kadin2048 at 7:01 AM on November 27, 2013

I had a ductless hood in my last house. Any stir fry was a rush to the smoke detector. Absolutely worthless except for the light. If it were me, I put in light - it looks like you have power (hope there are wire nuts under that duct tape). If you put in a ductless vent, you're looking at having to change the filters, which nobody ever does.

I wouldn't take out the wooden hood because it at least looks nice.
posted by plinth at 8:38 AM on November 27, 2013

Response by poster: Thank you all very much for your answers! I appreciate them!
I wanted to do some snooping before responding.
1) It seems that there was NOT a vent covered over by drywall. If I cut a hole in that drywall, I would just be looking up into my attic space.
2) This vent/exit sits atop my roof, directly over the area where the stove is.

It would seem to me that while there was the ability to install a fan, duct it through the roof and out into the atmosphere, that was never accomplished.

It opens up some new alternatives for new hood, venting it through the drywall and through the attic and then attaching it to the existing vent.

My home improvement DNA is recessive, so I may need to hire a handyman.

Again, thank you all for your help!
posted by John Kennedy Toole Box at 9:39 AM on November 27, 2013

Best answer: I suspect that there was a real vent duct there at one point and it was just removed during the kitchen reno and never reinstalled.

Having the roof vent there is really good since that's the hardest part of the job. I could totally understand not wanting to tackle a roof penetration on your own, but since it's already there the rest of the job is pretty straightforward. You'll just need to run a duct from the bottom of the existing roof vent down to the hood area and hook it up to whatever exhaust fan you buy. If it gets really cold you might want to insulate the duct (wrap it in fiberglass insulation or just buy insulated ducting), this will prevent condensation on the inside of the duct.

In a friends' house with a similar hand-built wood over-the-stove thingy, rather than a manufactured "vent hood", what they have instead under the wood thing is a light fixture and an exhaust fan, installed separately. It looks like you have more than enough room to do that if you wanted to, and there's already an electric circuit. (It'd be really nice if it was switched; do you have any 'mystery switches' in your kitchen that don't appear to do anything?) Generic exhaust fans are cheap and you get get one at Home Depot, I'd go for one that's quiet. A bathroom one is probably fine; if you put a piece of grease screen across the intake (also sold at Home Depot), it'll be as good as any kitchen-specific vent hood.

The nice thing about your project is that since it's all hidden under the wood "hood", you don't have to worry about tricky finish carpentry or drywall work or anything else fiddly, it just has to work (and not electrocute anyone, catch fire, burn the house down, etc.). That marks it as a good DIY project in my book, but get a friend to help you if you're not confident.
posted by Kadin2048 at 7:32 AM on November 28, 2013