[DTAR]

Have a question and would love to get ideas for our range hood cabinet. We removed our soffits so that we could use the 39" cabinets. Put in 24" tall by 30" wide cabinet over the rangehood. Unfortunately this leave ~28" from the rangehood to the range. We would like to move this down to 24-25". Any ideas what we can do? (move the 24" cabinet down and put some 3-4" filler either above or below, other cabinet options?) We really don't want to go with a 30" cabinet since this brings the rangehood so far down.

Thanks for any suggestions!

[DesignDiva]

What is the manufacturer's spec on the height of the rangehood above the range?

[JimGo]

Eva nailed my question - some companies want their hoods up a bit from the cooktop. I think my Zephyr Pyramid had a spec of 28-36 inches above the cooktop. Personally, I like the added space the slightly smaller cabinet gives. Our old set-up was a cooktop with OTR microwave/hood that sat only about 14" above the cooktop (if that). The new configuration has a MUCH more expansive feel.

Here are pics for a comparison. We have 39" cab's that we cut down to 36 due to the height of our ceilings (91"). I don't recall now the height of the cabinet over the cooktop, but we wound up with something like 30"-32 between the cooktop and the hood.

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[DTAR]

Thanks for the response.
I have a venta hood range hood and they recommend 21-24". I would still like to shoot for a bit higher like 24-25" since my tall husband needs the extra space to cook more easily.
I would gladly trade off a sligtht decrease in venting capability vs a decrease in space between the range and hood.

[JimGo]

The tough part will be if you want to use the 3-4" as storage and expect to build a "box" into which the stored items would be placed. For the most part, you'll eat up about 1" of that for the top and bottoms, unless you forego the bottom and just use the cabinet's top as the bottom for the other space. If you want a top, you might consider using Luan or another thin, relatively strong material and attaching it with L brackets, or even just nailing it to the top of the neighboring cabinets (before you hang them) or gluing it to the neighbors (before/after). The nails and glue have the down side, though, that you won't be able to easily remove the cabinets.

Oh, that's actually an important consideration, too...you won't be able to use the same rail for your vent hood cabinet if it's dropped. Make sure you have enough!

Also, where do your vents come in? Are you using the hood in recirculate mode (assuming it has one), or are you venting to the outside? If to the outside, where does the vent tube come in, from the ceiling or from the side? If from the top, you'll probably want to cover the hole, but if from the side, You might decide that since it's over the hood, it looks OK even though it doesn't line up with the rest of the cabinets. Have you tried mocking the appearance up in something like Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Sketch-up, etc.?

Personally, I don't think the Plinth looks that much like the rest of the cabinets. It's far enough below and behind the cabinets when used as a toekick that it doesn't look bad, but at least in my Adel Medium Brown kitchen it doesn't have the same grain pattern as the doors/drawers. I'd recommend buying a coverpanel and cutting that down because that will have the grain and color you want. Of course, if you're doing something like a white (i.e. non-wood appearance), then the Plinth might be fine.

[DTAR]

JimGo,
thanks for the response and the pics. In reply to your questions:
-No, don't need to have useable space in the 3-4". It will just be filler.
-Venting outside, upward towards ceiling
-We have extra rail
-Cabinets are Adel Birch

I like your ideas and was wondering if this would work....
You had mentioned that you had cut down your 39" cabs down to 36". Is this what you are showing in your pics w/ 30" doors?
Could I cut down a 30" cab, down to 27" and use this for the range hood cab? I would put 24" doors on them and need a 3"filler to make up for th 27".
How did you bolt the bottom with the cut side (the one w/ the drilled circle where you put the bolt/ and toggle thing) ? This would be cut off it I shortened it. Would you just nail that side together?

Thanks