> Adequacy of the hood seems like it's not going to be usefully quantifiable or provable

If the exhaust mechanism is attached to an above the range microwave, it’s not adequate. And that is the vast majority of kitchens I see on Zillow, and I have probably sifted through thousands and thousands of houses.

A dedicated exhaust hood is seen in very few home listings, mostly in new higher end homes, or older renovated homes.

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mordechai9000 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

Why is combining it with a microwave inherently bad? As long as there is an air channel to the exterior, the critical thing should be air volume over time, no? (CFM or m^3/minute or whatever)

	▲	lotsofpulp 3 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I am assuming that effectively all microwaves move less air than dedicated range hood. From cursory Googling, microwaves vent at 300cfm to 400cfm, while dedicated range hoods can move 600cfm to 2,000cfm.
	▲	infecto 3 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		As the other person said most microwave vents barely move any air and in addition most are recirculating the air not venting it.

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infecto 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

And most vented hoods are still inadequate either because there is no makeup air and the fan is restricted or more likely the fan is just junk.

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amanaplanacanal 4 days ago | parent [-]

I suspect most homes are leaky enough that they don't need any kind of "makeup air."

	▲	AngryData 3 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		If your house is 35 years old+ then yes. If your house is newer than that I would not count on it unless the person who built it was specifically concerned with the quality of their whole house HVAC system. A lot of 90s+ builders are trying to prevent any and all air leaks, many with the idea of insulation, with the outer vapor barrier system already blocking 90% of what would get through on and older house, on top of the fastest building process being sealing every visible seam and line with caulk instead of trying to cut and match it up perfectly. And any overall airflow problems are quite literally not their problem, that all goes onto the HVAC guys/company or lack thereof, which often these days are the cheapest possible corporate scrapings for employees that only have half a clue what they are doing and only really care about whether the system turns on or not as per the system manual.
	▲	whatevertrevor 4 days ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		Even with an open mesh door during the summer to let replacement air in, our range hood feels completely inadequate. After any sort of fried cooking the spices and oil can be smelled everywhere on the level of and above the kitchen.
	▲	infecto 3 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Old homes, absolutely but with new builds this is becoming a problem.