After posting progress pics of the kitchen a few weeks ago, some questions popped up. First, there was concern that the hood appeared to be too high.
Handy Hubby installed the exhaust hood according to the directions which advised placing the hood 30″ – 36″ above the cooktop.
Ours is 31″ from the cooktop so we’re actually on the lower end of the recommended range. There are several reasons as to why the hood may seem higher in pictures. First off, the height of the ceiling where the hood’s chimney dead-ends is 9′. That’s because we opened up the original 8′ ceiling and vaulted it. Where the sloped ceiling meets the wall is 9′. That extra foot of headroom might be extending the height of the hood visually.
Another reason the hood may look so disconnected from the stovetop is because there’s nothing but empty space separating them at the moment. The control dials on the range are located at the front, just above the oven door, so there’s no control panel on the back that sticks up. It makes for a clean line horizontally but might be why the hood feels oh-so-far-away. Ideally, I’d like to add a backsplash {not sure what type of material} and/or a shelf above the stove. Both of them would help to bridge the stove-to-hood gap. Upper cabinets placed on either side of the hood could also give the hood a cozier height visually but they aren’t in our kitchen plans.
One other thing…many of the newer exhaust hoods are efficient enough that they can be placed further from the cooktop than older models.
HH and I didn’t really notice the hood feeling too high. HH likes the fact that he can stand at the stove and easily see the burners without dipping his head under the hood. Hopefully, our plans to add a backsplash/shelving above the stove will keep the open space from feeling like a tundra.
There were also some questions regarding the fridge. Many of you wanted to know our reasoning for choosing a side-by-side model. We chose the side-by-side for several reasons:
1) We had one at our previous house and liked it.
2) We have friends who have a French door/bottom freezer drawer and they hate it. We usually like/dislike the same things so we figured we wouldn’t like it either.
3) We like having the water and ice dispenser on the outside of the door so our kids can fill their cups on their own.
4) We don’t have a need for storing large platters {i.e. we’re not caterers or bakers} in the fridge, so the narrower fridge space is just fine with us.
5) We wanted a counter-depth fridge and IKEA only offers them in side-by-side models. {We purchased our entire kitchen from IKEA during one of their 20% off sales…if you buy three kitchen appliances, you get 20% off your entire kitchen order. We bought our fridge, dishwasher, range and hood from IKEA.}
The side-by-side should serve us {and HH’s Yuengling!} well. I totally understand that some people prefer other types of fridges though.
What about you? What’s above your stove?…a microwave?…a patterned backsplash?…a custom hood? Are you like us and prefer a side-by-side fridge? Or are you a French door fridge lover?
FYI – We’re making progress in the mudroom/dining room/laundry nook! Catch a sneak peek two images up and in the image below.
images: Dana Miller for House*Tweaking
DIY, renovation