Buying a Downdraft Cooktop

Downdraft Cooktop. The downdraft cooktop vent is a very useful tool for many people who are looking to have proper ventilation in for their cooking options but do not have a vent hood or other system already in place.

The downdraft cooktop vent is different to more traditional venting systems because, as the name suggests, the venting comes in a downwards motion, taking it away from below rather than above as it would with a vent hood.

There are a number of advantages and disadvantages to such as system, let us take a look at a few.

Rather than using a venting hood to help suck away smoke and odours, which needs to be in place as part of a system, the modular downdraft cooktop approach lets you mix and match what you have in your home.

That way it is up to you if you just want the modular downdraft cooktop by itself, whether you want it with an oven etc. This is on top of the usual choices between a gas cooktop and an electric one.

This modular downdraft cooktop approach can save considerable amounts of money as you can choose what you want – you won't be forced to dedicate money and kitchen space to kitchen aspects that you won't be using.

So how does the downdraft cooktop vent work? This is where it really varies from a vent hood. Whilst the vent hood takes away heat and odours that rise up in the air the downdraft cooktop vent works by creating a draft that sucks the heat and odours down and out through it's own venting system.

This means that it needs to lead outside, so that it can use the difference in pressure to create a draft. So you may need to find a way of getting the downdraft cooktop vent system to lead outside (usually through a wall).

Because it is below the cooker it is not as efficient as top vent systems – heat rises and the downdraft system needs to fight this. But they are still efficient enough to make it worth using.

There are a number of gas downdraft cooktop options available on the market – indeed the most popular cooktop is a gas downdraft cooktop made by Jennair. These gas downdraft cooktops get a lot of very favourable reviews – with good reason, they work superbly.

Obviously what a review looks for is not always the same as what you would look for in a cooktop so before buying a gas downdraft cooktop it is important that you consider what you need from such an item.

Do you need to save space? Do you need to find a way of fitting the vent?

Whatever you decide you need to ensure that it makes sense for your needs. Pay attention to what reviews say about how easy it is to use, what the quality is like etc. But make sure you give more weighting to your own needs. Not every reviewer is right – they all have their own interests and biases.