Extendavent vs. Microvisor for kitchen ventilation

July 19, 2023 7:56 PM

I'm planning on replacing my ancient over-the-range microwave. I'd like to improve the vent-hood situation at the same time. Does anyone have experience with a microwave with a built-in extendable vent (like the LG Extendavent models) or with an aftermarket extension like the Microvisor? Which is more effective?

Maximizing vent hood effectiveness is the priority.

Built-in pros:

• Built in, so only one installation. (minor)
• Will match the microwave better than aftermarket. (minor)
• Has vent intake on the extension, as opposed to just redirecting fumes towards the intakes at the rear.

Microvisor pros:

• Extends a little further out over the range.
• Has a lip projecting down, so fumes don't spill out as much if they aren't immediately sucked into an intake.
• I can get a microwave whose vent fan moves the most air possible.

I'd probably prefer the retractable microvisor to the "removable" microvisor, so cost is mostly a wash: microvisor + regular microwave is about as expensive as a microwave with built-in extension.

Any experiences or thoughts on these two options?

posted by samw to Home & Garden (5 answers total)

Maximizing vent hood effectiveness is the priority.

Is a microwave in this spot non-negotiable? IME you’re always going to have much better ventilation from a dedicated hood. Like, from something that mostly just makes noise to something that causes noticeable suction effects on the nearby windows. If you have good CFMs, those couple inches that these gimmicks buy you aren’t a huge factor. (Suction will decrease as the filters get greasy between cleaning, so ease of cleaning is another big thing to look for.)
posted by supercres at 8:28 PM on July 19, 2023 [1 favorite]

We are installing a kitchenaid slim microhood with 500 cfm. It also extends a few inches further than a standard microwave.

Caveat: it gets installed in 2 weeks, so I can’t yet report on how well it performs.
posted by samthemander at 8:37 PM on July 19, 2023

Response by poster: Yeah, I probably should have said that an over-the-range microwave is not negotiable. It's a compact kitchen in a condo. We need the microwave there.
posted by samw at 8:37 PM on July 19, 2023

In case you haven’t seen it, you might want to take a look at this video from Technology Connections: The Antique Microwave Oven that's Better than Yours .

He claims microwave ovens peaked in 1997.
posted by jamjam at 8:50 PM on July 19, 2023

IME you’re always going to have much better ventilation from a dedicated hood.

Not sure if I agree with this. As far as I can tell, the vent on the back of a microwave is just a tacked on vent on the back, and given size constraints, they are actually relatively quiet and relatively powerful compared to dedicated ones. Also, vents are extremely simple technology, and price they charge for vent hoods when you can buy an in-ceiling one that's almost as many CFM and far quieter at any big box store for like $100 says that the mark-up is mostly in design and looks, not in quality.

I have hooked up microwave-based ones before, and I've not reviewed the power but the fan power of them in general (300 CFM for my Whirlpool that is not installed over the range - I have a dedicated hood) is great.

Also that old Microwave might have cooked stuff ok, but who is that aimed at? Again, like wall thermostats, people cook things to their own extremely specific preferences, and programming a dial to get 'perfect' generic preferences just isn't gonna fly without a sea-change in simplicity/design and that thing ain't it. When people want to give up control of cooking, they choose restaurants.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:46 AM on July 20, 2023