Kitchen & Bath: The Forgotten Kitchen Appliance

My appliance supplier recently commented that most homeowners take great care in their selection of kitchen appliances, with one exception: kitchen ventilation. The choice of a hood or the specs on an appliance's downdraft capabilities seem to be left mostly to chance and dictated by how much pocket change is left over. That's a shame in a room as expensive as the kitchen. And although most building codes don't specifically require a kitchen ventilator, it adds significantly to comfort and cleanliness by carrying away excess heat, damaging steam, grease, and odors. Kitchen ventilators can be broadly divided into two categories: overhead hoods and downdraft systems. Downdraft ventilators can be a built-in feature in ranges or cooktops, or be purchased separately for