The new range hood is in! (At least I did something worthwhile today.)
Our old range hood has been in sorry shape for several years. The knobs kept falling off, the vent was cracked, and one knob finally split in two. It was way past time for a new one.
Lloyd and I took the old one out and went shopping for a new one last weekend. We stopped at Home Depot (expensive) and Menards (less expensive). They only had one brand, Broan, that has four levels of quality: Economy, Good, Better and Best. We are not cool enough for Best, and weren’t desperate enough for Economy. We hemmed and hawed and settled on Better, mostly because it had two halogen lights, which looked a little like a car was driving toward the stove.
We got it home, then let it sit for a week to acclimate to the climate so it wouldn’t warp. (Y’know – like with flooring.) This morning, I decided that this was the day! I took off all the extra metal parts – duct connector (ours will be ductless), electrical parts cover, and internal vent. I popped the piece out for the wiring, and then thought…. ‘Wait a minute – is this even going to fit?’
We checked it.
No. No, it would not fit. Taking the old one out had been a bit of a challenge, because the space is really tight and the backsplash tile went right up to the old hood, which was six inches tall. This new hood was seven. Rats. We would need to cut off an inch of tile all around, and I knew that wasn’t going to go well. We boxed it up and took it back.
The ‘Good’ model was the right size.
The instructions were also considerably condensed. I guess they figured that those that can only afford ‘Good’ need simpler directions. Thanks, Broan – that was spot-on.
Here you can see where when I tried to wedge it in, I cracked the top of that tile. It just kept getting caught on the grout line. I figured some modification was in order.
I took apart the back corner so it would have a little flex to it. There were some places where it was welded pretty tightly, so I nicked my chisel doing this. (That sounds like a great exclamation of surprise: “Well, nick my chisel! It’s old Lloyd Sommerer come to visit!”)
Lloyd wedged it into place with his mad Tetris skills, then I insisted that he do the wiring. I fear wires.
Lo and behold, we have light! And a fan! And as soon as the weather cools down in the fall, we’ll even cook something to test the whole system out!