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Ok, so I wanted to start a thread on my biggest pet peeve ever - the micro-hood. I know many people have them, have use them for years, love them, and will continue to buy them, but please read the following and consider before buying one.
Accessibility - I'm a certified designer and the biggest problem with these appliances is location. The location of these devices in terms of safety and accessibility is lousy. Safety - you have to reach over top of burners that are potentially live to access them. You have hot things coming out of the mic and hot things on the stove (and potentially live flame on the stove if you have a gas range) to reach over and it becomes a fire and safety hazzard.
Then there's the location in terms of accessibiliy. I'm a proponent of universal design, so I try to make everything in my home accessible to anyone. A micro hood is not easily used by shorter people, the elderly, those in wheelchairs, older children, and so on.
Lastly, the integration of mics and exhaust hoods. commonly isn't a good solution in terms of indoor air quality. ANYONE concerned with indoor air quality wants to exhaust the odors, toxins, and humidity produced from cooking directly to the outside. (Those "ventless recirculating" range hoods are completely ineffective at exhausting) Soooo . . be sure that any appliance that you buy for the purpose for exhausting toxins (including mold-causing humidity) actually exhausts to the outside! Yes, I know this means running some additional ductwork, but it's worth it!
So - my humble opinion is a counter top, or even better - below counter micro location and a designated range exhaust hood ducted directly to the outside. (match the cfms of your exhaust hood to the btus of your range/cooktop). For those that might be concerned that a counter or below counter mic location might be bad for households with children, consider a switched outlet to control the mic (who needs the mic clock when you have a wall clock and one on the range too?). That way, you switch the mic just like the garbage disposal. A switched mic uses less power and makes you a "greener" home anyway! Who knew one could write 5 paragraphs about the location of microwaves????? Have a great weekend!
Not to be a contrarian here, but just keep a few things in mind.
First, the original concept with this piece was a "spacesaver" design, hence the combination of cooking and ducting into a single appliance.
Second, as for the air quality issue, "running some additional ductwork" isn't always a cheap or simple proposition. That additional ductwork may also be rendered virtually useless if too much length or too many turns, dips and doodles are involved - a certain percentage of effectiveness is lost over each running foot and turn in the ductwork.
Third, as for the switch idea, on some microwaves, you need to reset the unit every time the power goes off before it will operate properly. As for the "green" concept, how much power does a nuke clock draw?
Five paragraphs? Three? We're just exercising (or is it exorcising? - LOL!) our inner-geekness.
Good points. I was writing more from a total gut remodel or new construction point-of-view - which is where I'm at in life right now, so yes the ductwork issue is a lot more feasible than in a simple remodel to an existing space where you don't really want to get that far into it. A professionally designed kitchen from the start should have a clear plan for ducting either up or out. Optimum situation would be out directly out the exterior wall - but how many kitchens do we see with the range in an island or interior wall - a lot, so sometimes you're right it's a challenge. WIth electric ranges and cooktops it's really not as big of a deal as it is with open flame combustion (gas/propane) which should always be vented to the outside.
As far as saving space - most of these I see installed in 3,000+ sf subdivision homes, so I really don't think that's the main issue for people! I think they are looking for a solution to counter top clutter, and a below counter installation will solve that too. . .
As for the mic clock power - it's not the draw only from the mic. Americans waste a HUGE amount of energy from "phantom" power. Here is a list of phantom power culprits in my home:
Computer CPU desktop, 2 laptop computers (power is consumed even if cord is pluggged in and computer is not - same for cell phone chargers, etc.), 1 scanner, 1 printer, 1 monitor, router, dsl box, cable tv box, 2 tvs, 3 vcrs, 1 dvd, 1 home theater audio system including subwoofer, microwave, range, 3 clock radios, 3 cordless phones. answering system, fax machine, digital camera charger, 2 cell phone chargers, and video camera charger. We don't have a video gaming system, or a digital TV recorder, but those would be ones too.
The bottom line is that all of these TOGETHER consume a good amount of power that could be eliminated. We have a solar system on our roof, so we were able to downsize our initial system purchase based on calculations to eliminate phantom power usage. This meant putting all of the above items on power strips that are turned OFF when not in use. Yes, that means the clock on the VCR is never right and it takes more time to set up the TV and VCR to record a show when we're away, but we never do that anyway, so it's not a big deal to us. Our TVs, computers, fax, and all related devices are OFF at night, etc. We do keep our range, clock radios, and phones on, but we make sure to unplug things like chargers, and as I mentioned, our microwave is on a switch.
It's more than most people want to know, but . . .if you are getting your electricity from a coal-burning power plant, it's something you should think about! Thanks!
Great points. I really enjoyed looking at the photos of the beautiful green home you are building! Thanks for sharing that!!
If I missed this part of the discussion, forgive me- but I would be remiss if I didn't mention make up air requirements to avoid something very dangerous- gas waterheater and furnace backdrafting when the hood fan is above 300 CFM. Essentially you are turning on your hood fan to vent toxins and end up sucking deadly carbon monoxide gas into the living spaces of your house. The fix for this is makeup air, which I am NOT an expert in, however I do know that there are some expensive methods of doing this, as well as some cheap ones.
If you are in an old house, you have the upside and downside of it not being close to airtight, so it's less likely that the air quality in your home is bad and maybe a hood is not as necessary. If you live in a nice, new tight house, well...it's tight!
The international building code that many areas have adopted requires backdraft testing based upon the age of your home if you install a hood with a CFM above 300. Check your local building code!
Yes! Make up air! We have a very tight house - as you could see on our website. We have an ICF foundation and spray foam insulation in the framed walls so we are basically as air tight as you can get (besides using sips panels for walls). So we have an air to air heat exchanger - called an HRV (Heat Recovery Ventilator) in our house. In the winter, it brings in fresh air from the outside as stale air is being exhausted to the outside. Where the two pass each other, there is a heat exchanger that takes the heat from the exhaust air and gives it to the incoming fresh air - which is then pumped into our return air ducts. (This is the expensive method!)
You mention inexpensive methods and that's what we do in spring and fall - we open windows! Although they just published a study that ranked Cincinnati as the 8th worst US city for air pollution, so maybe that's not so great!
We also have an exhaust fan in our garage set on a timer, so that when we pull the car in, the fan is on for 20 minutes - creating a negative pressure in the garage so that the air is less likely to get pulled into the house. (I couldn't win that battle with my husband. I wanted detached garage, he put his foot down on that one). Bla, bla, bla - I know, there I go again . . .
Houses are definately getting smarter! Sadly, even if you live in a really polluted area, the outdoor air quality can still be better than indoor, as you know!
We used to live outside Cincinnati (Montgomery) for four years when I was young. All we did was swim all day, all summer- but I was still the absolute last finisher in the 400 meter medley (they clapped when I finished it was soooo sad). The absolute BEST Halloween trick or treating experience of my life happened there (idyllic). A peach tree with so many peaches that it's limbs started snapping under the weight of those unbelieveably delicious fruits.
Chiming in on the old house side (and jealous of the story about the peaches, Kelly, WOW those sound yummy!)
We are gutting the kitchen, and adding on. However, the rest of the house remains old, despite upgrading the electrical system. We have our stove on an outside wall, and therefore can vent our (soon-to-be) Advantium OTR outside, but many other houses in the area are not configured this way. Also, since we live in an area with many old houses, code is specified to them, and doesn't always allow for the newer items we would all love, like big vent hoods. Houses here that are new construction can build one in, but older ones often cannot. The issue Kelly brought up is a good one, but again in older houses here, code will not permit for an air exchange system that would be appropriate.
I am trying to be a conscious of environmental issues as I can be while redoing the kitchen...unfortunately, code doesn't always keep up with the latest green news. It's a conundrum, certainly.
I truly miss summer peaches. The ones that actually tasted like they smelled. The ones today are so anemic that I can't even bring myself to eat one. That experience is lost forever, I'm afraid.
I hold out hope- remember how bad tomatoes got?? But they're BACK! They were unbelievable peaches, though, and we had literally 200 of them from a pretty small tree. My mom baked a peach pie. We braced the poor thing's branches; in fact it looked like the kind of brace you use to hang non-IKEA cabinets (no rail system).
It's not just nostalgia...I remember being blown away by them then.
Eva & Kelly,
I wish I could ship you some of the Georgia peaches grown just over the state line from me. This time of year or very soon there are road side stands selling the peaches that are too ripe to ship - and they
are lovely.
The peaches (and other fruit) that are shipped to farther markets are usually picked green and "ripened" along the way. Of course they have no flavor worth talking about - they are chemically enhanced!
I don't know how good the peaches will be this year. We had a late season frost, followed by a drought and I am not sure how the local crop has fared.
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