Full Size Range Hood Should Be Construction Code

The benefits of having a good kitchen exhaust fan is under-rated. Especially desirable when you burn something so much it smokes, or when cooking something extra pungent or messy. But day-in, day-out, they are good to use when doing any amount of stovetop work that involves oil. Get the aerosolized oil droplets out of your house, instead of letting them disperse and much things up.

The worse situation, of course, is to have an un-ducted fan. That does basically nothing but make noise for the placebo effect. But I think a microwave is a poor substitute for a full-size range hood. Unfortunately, it seems like over-the-stove microwaves have replaced range hoods in most kitchens these days. Ours included. I think replacing the microwave with a good hood would be pricey, and then also we have a space-inefficient kitchen layout, so counter space is somewhat limited, and so no good home for a countertop microwave.

If we ever move again...