Sat - July 30, 2005

aluminum tape for VAH installation



Just a note to add: My DH & Contractor used alluminum tape on all the flexible joints on the ducting. While this isn't a requirement or a factoid that means mine is quietier than one without this tape. It was just a nice little extra DH thought of to reduce any possible vibration, rattles and/or air leaks that may occur. You can sort of make it out in this image. Call it a 'good work practice' I suppose.

Posted at 11:49 PM     Read More  


Wed - June 8, 2005

gas cutoff position



Posted by: brickeyee (My Page) on Thu, Jun 2, 05 at 14:24

The cutff is for servicing and testing lines, not an emergency cutoff. That is why they are allowed behind drawers, under the bottom drawer of the unit, etc. I have placed a few in the kick-space area under cabinets with drawers. You remove the bottom drawer to reveal the cutout for a quarter turn gas valve. You can also use a fireplces type valve with a long key and access through a small hole (about 1/2 inch) in the toekick.

Posted at 10:30 AM     Read More  


Tue - May 24, 2005

FP comments


to counteract epinions doubts!

* Posted by: seekingadvice (My Page) on Sat, Apr 30, 05 at 15:10

Hey, MidCenturyMod~ I know what you mean! I ordered the FP Iridium thinking that I got such a good deal on it that if I changed my mind before installation I could always sell it on ebay and get something else and still save money :)

As it turns out, I LOVE it. Wanted to say that I made real stir fry last night for the first time - I've made stir fry before, but not with a good wok that sat in the wok holder. WOW!! What a treat!! My dh just asked if we could have it again tonight. I did have to wipe out the entire cooktop pan, but the hardest thing about that was moving the grates. This CT is great about that - nothing cooks on and cleanup is a snap.

* Posted by: seekingadvice (My Page) on Sun, May 1, 05 at 13:51

waterlaw, the simmer burner works well for most things. It goes down pretty low, but I have not adjusted mine so it's higher than it should be. If I don't watch something like melting chocolate, it can scorch. I've heard that some simmer settings allow you to leave chocolate on all day with no scorching but that would not be true of my simmer burner. The reason I haven't adjusted it is because I don't use simmer for many things and I like having the simmer burner higher for use with my small pots. I toast sesame seeds, melt choc chips & butter, but mainly I just use it as a burner for my small pots (like making 1-2 cups of hot chocolate). I usually just simmer things on my regular burners because that's what I use simmer for - large pots of things like stroganoff or chicken & wine sauce. I've used the simmer mat a few times but I am usually just around keeping an eye on stuff. When I tried the simmer burner for the large pans it worked, but since I'm lazy I just generally turn the burner down (regular large burner) as low as it will go, which is pretty low. You can adjust each burner to get the flames the way you like them.

I guess that wasn't much help! My experience so far has been that the simmer burner isn't something that would sell me on the appliance, but it wouldn't keep me away, either.


* Posted by: Pammo (My Page) on Mon, May 2, 05 at 22:26

Love my FP, especially the high BTU center burner. My experience with simmer is the same as seekingadvice's. I didn't realize I could adjust the flame down though. Now that I know I think I will, though it's been low enough so far for most everything I've had on there.

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Posted by: Cajun_Louie (My Page) on Sun, Aug 14, 05 at 0:35

We have the F&P 36" without the griddle, and have only 2 complaints: the simmer is not low enough to simmer anything without a simmer plate, and the grates are so low, close to the burners, we have to bend way over to see the flame on larger pots. Then there are 2 things that are absolutely the best: Cleanability is fantastic, unmatched by any other cooktop, and the location, quality, and appearance of the control knobs is perfect. The big center burner is slow to light sometimes, but the best method is to turn it all the way to lowest position to light it, then turn it up to the desired flame level. I have read a lot of complaints on web forums about ignition wiring problems.

Posted at 12:05 PM     Read More  


Wed - January 12, 2005

Purchases



Cooktop: bought the Fisher Paykel 36" gas cooktop, model GC901, stainless w/ black grates
Oven: bought 2 of the Frigidaire 27" side opening door ovens, model GLEB27S7C , white

Posted at 11:43 PM     Read More  


Sat - January 1, 2005

less expensive but goodhoods



* Posted by: cheakamus on Fri, Dec 31, 04 at 14:09

Zephyr hoods. We have the "Typhoon"--800 cfm, under $500 when purchased with other appliances (I believe the list is around $800). Works great for us. Ours is exhausted in a straight run of approximately 10 feet through the roof. We have all-gas, 5-burner DCS range with 17,500 BTU on all burners and have had no problems even grilling smoky steaks. We rarely have it on anything other than the lowest setting, which is relatively quite.
My only caveat is that installation of Zephyr hoods (if the rest are anything like mine) is a real bear!


* Posted by: KitchenObsessed on Fri, Dec 31, 04 at 19:12

I have a Kobe 600 cfm 6" high under cabinet stainless hood; it was about $500 purchased alone. So quiet on the lowest settings that my husband has a tendency to leave it on. Including the week we were away. No complaints (other than re my husband for wasting energy) and that the controls are a bit odd. I have heard (here) that Sakura hoods are comparable and maybe even cheaper. Various powerful quiet hoods are sold in Chinatowns (lot of cfms to take care of that wok cooking!), but the main drawback is that the directions seem to be in Chinese. If you or a friend can translate, what a bargain! These types of hoods have grease cups to collect the grease rather than filters.

Someone on Epinions trashed Kobe, but remember the person wrote about an earlier model.

Posted at 09:54 AM     Read More  


Wed - October 13, 2004

commercial style ranges



The Rosengarten guy tested four commercial style ranges (Blue Star, DCS, Viking, Wolf) with very specific cooking tests, and the Blue Star was the winner in each test. I'm not really interested in those ranges, but here are some other points he made for things to look for in a cooktop:

Prep Work

With so many cooktop features available, it can be difficult to determine which are really important. Here are the ones to consider most carefully:

BTUS Your cooktop's single most important feature is its heat-generating ability, a figure measured in BTUs. Most commercial-style home ranges offer 15,000 BTUs per burner, which is perfectly adequate for most at-home cooks. You won't always need all that heat, but if you want to caramelize a bell pepper in seconds, or blacken a redfish like a pro, well, you'll need all the heat you can get. My advice: Go for the big-time BTUs.

AIR FLOW As important as a cooktop's BTUs is the air flow around the flame: The more room you have between the source of the flame and the bottom of your pot, the more efficient the heat. Air flow can be affected by sealed or unsealed burners. Traditionally, all burners were left "unsealed." In other words, the flame was surrounded by an open groove through which food could drop. But then home cooks began objecting to that open groove because dropped-through food inevitably accumulated under the cooktop. Companies responded by offering a sealed burner, which contains the spillover to the cooktop—but reduces the heat efficiency of your BTUs. My advice: Skip the sealed burners.

THE PORCELAIN CAP Years ago the gas jets of burners were made of stainless steel. But then range owners began complaining that heat was discoloring the steel. So manufacturers started adding a "porcelain cap" onto the jets to protect the metal. Unfortunately, this "solution" ended up reducing air flow. So then the manufacturers came up with a better solution: They built the burners from cast iron, which won't discolor. My advice: Skip the cap, and look for cast-iron burners.

WHEN THE HEAT HITS THE PAN Professional chefs spend a lot of time discussing . . . physics. Specifically, what is the ideal angle and spread at which the flames of the burner should hit the pan? Some argue for a "wide" spread of flames; others argue for a more conical flame. My advice: Go for a wide spread of flame that shoots directly upward to the pan; it provides superior heat distribution.

IGNITION When testing a cooktop, turn on all the burners repeatedly and reject any appliance that gives you even the slightest ignition anxiety. My advice: Make sure you understand how your ignition works.

THE VISIBILITY OF THE FLAME Once you get the flame on . . . can you see it? It's easy to overlook this detail, but important to investigate: Some cooktops' flames are practically invisible. My advice: Buy a cooktop with a clear flame.

THE TURNING OF THE DIALS Make sure your prospective range doesn't have sticky dials. And make sure your dials turn down to low as easily as they do to high. Often, when attempting to find the lowest possible setting, you must turn the dial so far down that eventually the flame just disappears, forcing you to reignite. My advice: Test the low heat on your prospective cooktop and make sure you can find the lowest setting.

CYCLE HEAT OR STEADY STATE? Speaking of low heat, some ranges give you a steady low heat on the lowest setting, but some "cycle" the heat, or alternate blasts of low heat and no heat. My advice: Stick with the steady low heat.

THE WAY THE GRATES SIT Great design is essential in grate design. Do the grate's spokes block the flame? Do they jiggle in place, wobbling your pots, or sit firmly as they should? Finally, are the grates aligned with each other, from burner to burner, so that you can easily slide your pots and pans anywhere across the cooktop? My advice: Pay attention to the slidability factor; it makes cooking easier.

COMMERCIAL OR RESIDENTIAL MANUFACTURE? Is your prospective cooktop manufactured by a producer who exclusively makes residential ranges, or by a commercial producer who makes a line of home ranges? All the pros said commercial producers' cooktops are usually heavier and more durable. My advice: Look for commercial manufacturers.

Posted at 09:07 PM     Read More  


Mon - September 20, 2004

Hood Styles



K Series
Also like the M-series and S-series but they look more fancy and elaborate.

Posted at 09:34 PM     Read More  


Thu - September 9, 2004

cooktop safety idea



If you have or can get gas, install in an upper cabinet (maybe with a lock even) a switch that is connected to a gas solenoid. A solenoid is nothing more than an electrically controlled valve. Turn the switch on, and gas flows to the range or cooktop. Turn the switch off, and gas cannot flow to the appliance. Complete safety. And to make life easier for later or when your house is sold, have the plumber install the solenoid in parallel with a regular byass valve. When you don't need the solenoid anymore, just open the bypass valve. The bypass also provides a way to cook if the power fails (as the solenoid will automatically close without power).

Posted at 09:41 PM     Read More  


Wed - September 8, 2004

cheaper way to get copper hood?



Posted by: young5344 on Wed, Sep 8, 04 at 21:12

We had one made from drywall encased in a wood frame and fitted to the bottom of the VAH liner. It goes to the ceiling in our vaulted ceiling kitchen with the hood being at the higher end of the ceiling. Our cabs are cherry, our walls a subdued olive green and we had a smooth drywall finish put on the hood and painted it a faux cooper color. It looks very nice.

-----

Nice design of wood hood here (artteacher's kitchen) - like the shape of the arch and such. Would that work in our freestanding mode? (no cabinets on the sides). Look at this site (wood-hood.com!) for wood hood examples.

Posted at 09:38 PM     Read More  


Sun - August 22, 2004

comments on FP 901



* Posted by: Stdpudel on Wed, Aug 18, 04 at 11:07

We have the GC901M and love it. It is very easy to clean. Our contractor couldn't believe we were able to get the drawer right underneath it. We have a utensil drawer and two pot drawers with the cooktop mounted at standard counter height.

If you compare it to more expensive cooktops you have to remember that the burners on the F-P are specialized - different BTUs, good for different purposes. I have no problem with that. Some cooktops have all the burners the same so you don't have to choose.

The big burner in the middle is awesome for wok cooking. The way the grate flips over to hold the wok is ingenious - no special wok holder to misplace. On the downside, the center burner ring is so large that if you put even a fairly large pot on it and crank up the heat on high, the flame will rise up the sides of the pot and burn the plastic handles (ask me how I know!).

I have not had any problems with small pots becoming unstable on the grate. There are cooktops that are way worse out there for this issue.

For style, for value, for usability, we are very satisfied with our choice.


* Posted by: seekingadvice on Tue, Aug 3, 04 at 20:04

Hi, Mitch. I have the 901M (it's the Iridium with the 20,000 BTU burner). I love it. I've used it for only about 2 months so I don't have a lot of experience to know about igniters burning out and such, but I can tell you that I have not had any problems with oxygen starving, burners not staying lit, etc. In fact, I love the fact that the burners can be turned down very low without going out. There is automatic reignition, but I've only seen it in action a couple of times when I turned the burner down as far as I could to see how low it would go. I use large pots and small pots with no problems at all. The nearest thing to a problem I could report is that the grate design makes it important to center small pans or they will tilt into the center hole. It isn't really a problem, but thought I'd throw in anything I could think of that wasn't a glowing report. Otherwise I think the CT is ideal. It has a low profile, is super easy to clean, cooks like a dream, has plenty of power unless you need 12-15,000 BTUs on every burner, the layout is nice, the look is attractive, there is room for a drawer and a cabinet underneath - I can't think of anything about it I don't like.

Posted at 10:46 PM     Read More  

side opening Frigidaire wall oven



* Posted by: cross_stitch on Sun, Aug 22, 04 at 19:20

I know that there are others on this board who disagree with me, but I put a lot of faith in Consumers Reports for their appliance ratings. This summer they reviewed kitchen appliances and rated the Frigidaire 27'' wall oven tops for baking... the only oven to score at the top for baking. Since we grill most meats outdoors, our oven is used primarily for baking. So I bought this oven in July. It was just installed on Thursday last week so we have not tried it yet. (It has the added advantage of a reversible, side-opening door. This was very appeaing since the Thanksgiving turkey goes in the oven and I am not getting any younger. No more reaching over the oven door to access that bird.)

Posted at 09:43 PM     Read More  

vent-a-hood styles



Vent-a-hood claims to be the quietest because of their unique technology. (Broan also claims to be the quietest - maybe they are the quietest of the ones with filters?) I believe it is also quite pricey. From VAH, the styles I like are
• Excalibur
• Slopeline
• Straightline (stair steppy - might be too much!)
• Straightline that's not stair steppy

Vent-a-hood can be used as a liner for a custom enclosure, like this stucco one (which I don't like) and this wood one (ho-hum, probably from cabinet company - but maybe we could get /make an interesting one to match our Berkeley doors!). This page starts the details on the liners (including installation.)

They have a line of finishes , including "real copper" and "copper vein" [copper + black]. One of the hoods I saw showed options of 4 or 5 finishes, so perhaps they are not all available for every model? Other decorative options include bands, lip treatment, warming shelf assembly, pot rack.

Here is an MSRP range for liners and wall hoods . Those copper ones are quite pricey, maybe I should take another look at their liner design presentation and come up with a tiled hood or something - maybe one of those alcoves. Ask Matthew again: what is the story on the friend of a friend who likes to work in copper? And maybe I'm not cut out for the maintenance necessary for copper...

Posted at 02:39 PM     Read More  

Miele convection oven



I have a second, smaller (27 inch Miele Novotronic) under counter electric convection oven I use almost everyday. It's fabulous -- heats up in 5 minutes, I use it to cook smaller amounts of things. I need two ovens, really, but would be very unhappy if my only oven was the one large Wolf range oven...probably mostly because of the long heating time, not performance.

Posted at 09:43 AM     Read More  

Ventilation tidbits



Hood FAQ

Read the FAQ on ventillation .

"As to the question of hood height, higher hoods have more capture area. Capture area is where the smoke, grease, vapors, steam, etc. stay as they bilow out of the cooking area until the fan get a chance to suck them outside.

If you are going to get a grill or do stir frying with any frequency, the taller hood will work better. If height is a problem, you can compensate by getting a larger blower than the rule of thumb suggests. But be aware that this exhausts more of the air that you have paid to heat and/or cool outside."

Posted at 12:10 AM     Read More  


Sun - August 15, 2004

microwave idea



maybe have a 2 drawer base, remove the top drawer and use it for microwave. Do this on the end of the work counter. This photo might show what I mean (if direct linking is allowed!)

Posted at 10:28 PM     Read More  
Wood Hoods
Copper Hoods
GE Monogram 36" gas cooktop - DCS in GE clothing
vent hood advice--internal v. external blower?
convection
which 36" cooktop to buy?
27' vs 30' double ovens
Fisher & Paykel cooktop
oven tidbits
griddle riddle schmiddle
Second oven - less features
Cooktop Considerations
lowered cooktop & possible cabinet
Microwave - "Under the Counter"
Lower the cooktop!

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