Beyond the Mantel Hood

By Ellen Cheever, CMKBD, ASID

There's no question how powerful an impact a decorative mantel hood can have as a focal point in a kitchen. Whether classically traditional, transitional, Asian- influenced or stylishly Italian, a large unencumbered, beautifully detailed enclosure around the ventilation system is something that is highly valued by consumers today.

Interestingly, kitchen designers' ability to allocate so much space to this hood element is possible because of the concurrent trend away from traditional wall cabinets: Clients are comfortable walking a greater distance away to a floor-to-ceiling storage cabinet in order to house items formerly located on either side of the hood.

Planning this type of enclosure, however, is truly a "balancing act" between function and aesthetics. The ability to meet both criteria is essential to creating a successfully designed cooking niche.

FUNCTION FIRST
Occasionally, I enjoy looking at a beautiful cooking niche or mantel hood yet wonder if the ventilation system really works! Obviously, a beautifully designed mantel hood is useless if it doesn't provide the necessary ventilation power. For that reason, when considering mantel hood design, it's a good to start with a review of basic ventilation requirements.

1. Ducted Hoods: A ducted hood should be designed to catch and hold the contaminants before and during the process of their removal by the fan. While many consumers question the interior openness of a hood canopy from a cleaning standpoint, it's this very aspect of the design that's the key to successful air removal.

As cooking byproducts rise naturally from the surface, they're caught in the hood canopy area and stay in this "holding area" until the fan can activity remove them.

Note the words "rise naturally." The old story about a fan "pulling" cooking contaminants from the cooking surface is actually incorrect. Airborne cooking contaminates rise naturally and only when they're close to the fan can it go to work to remove them.

For that reason, proper positioning of the ventilation hood in relation to the surface is essential. Consider the following:

• A hood 16" to 17" deep should be 21" off the surface (57" off the floor). This is important to consider if your design includes a microwave hood combination unit.
   
• A hood 18" to 21" deep should be 24" off the surface (60" off the floor).
   
• A 24"-deep hood can be 30" off the surface (55" off the floor). Ventilation specialists suggest that this 30" dimension is the maximum of clear space between the bottom of the hood's holding area and the cooking surface in any installation. With some of today's arched and boxed cooking areas, this dimension is extended.

Some designers feel this extended height opening is acceptable for a family who cooks rarely or who cooks relatively lightly. However, the ventilation system's effectiveness should be thoroughly discussed with whoever will be doing the cooking in the family particularly if it's a home chef who enjoys stir frying/wok cooking or plans on feeding large numbers of guests and family members.

2. Safety/Convenience Landing Space: The National Kitchen & Bath Association has a standard guideline suggesting a clear landing space at 12" to 16" on one side of the cooking surface and 15" to 16" on the second. Clearly, this isn't working space it's a safety zone for pot handles and the ability to slide something instantly from the cooking surface to an adjacent area. When planning a mantel hood or some decorative enclosure that in some fashion extends down to the countertop, this clearance needs to be