"Dee Randall" > wrote in message
...
> If you are talking about a stove like the Genair that has a down draft, I
> have a Genair. here is my experience:
>
> If you set a pot on it that is over a certain height (like most pots
that
> you cook spaghetti in) you cannot expect the steam to go up in the air and
> for all of it to be pulled down again into the draft -- at least not
mine,
> you can't. You can try to put a lid on it and direct the steam out toward
> the vent, but there is always the steam then that gets around the open
part
> of the lid and goes off in another direction.
>
> My husband feels that while it is sucking all this air out, then there has
> to be an opening (window open) to replace the air. Consequently in cold
> weather, we have a kitchen window open -- or elsewhere in the house.
>
> Our kitchen was remodeled before we bought the house and there are nice
> cabinets in it; some of which are above the stove. I could not afford to
> tear up the kitchen again, so I stick with it.
>
> P.S. I put my big electric rice cooker outside to cook. It makes just
too
> much steam that cannot be handled if I place it on top of the stove to
cook.
> If I had an overhead draft, I would be able to cook the rice by placing
the
> steamer on top of the stove and the steam would go up the overhead; but
> definitely not with the Genair downdraft.
>

I have a Jenn Air and I agree that the downdraft is very poor at removing
smoke and steam. It doesn't even do a good job with smoke from short pans
or the grill -- not to mention how it sucks away the heat. I had to do some
remodeling because of a small fire. It is possible, and even easy under
some circumstances, to remove an overhead cabinet or two. I took out the
cabinets above and beside the stove and replaced them. I had an
over-the-range microwave that needed to be replaced. I took the opportunity
to vent the new one. It was relatively easy for me to cut a hole in the
bottom of the soffit and run flexible duct work to an outside wall. I put
the cabinet back and connected the new duct to the new microwave/hood.
Since I did that, the problem with the smoke has been eliminated. I haven't
set off the smoke detector once, even while using the grill. The downdraft
gets some of the smoke and the hood gets the rest.