Don't Do It!!

In 1996, our new house was built with an island cooktop in the center of the kitchen. It was a nice design touch, but the island was very small and would accomodate only a 30-inch 4-burner cooktop. That presented a venting challenge, because the design of the kitchen precluded the use of an overhead vent hood, and we were told that 30-inch gas cooktops could not be bought with integrated downdraft exhaust systems.

The only solution was a telescoping exhaust vent installed directly to the rear of the cooktop. Consistent with the GE appliance package that the builder used (don't EVER accept that!), we bought the GE JVB34 vent system. At the time this seemed, in my woefully uninformed opinion, a pretty cool concept. I was soon to learn that this contraption was particularly UN-cool!

From an aesthetic perspective, this vent system is actually pretty sleek. It consists of a 500 cfm motor and fan assembly installed inside the cooktop island, ductwork that snakes under the floor to an outside wall vent, and a slim 8-inch tall vent panel that, when not in use, is concealed below the cooktop and lies flush with the cooktop surface.

To use it, just press the button on top. The vent panel magically rises, and the exhaust fan begins to run. On/off and fan speed are controlled by an infinitely variable selector dial on the end of the panel.

Two aluminum mesh filter screens are located inside the vent panel. Supposedly, these are intended to trap at least some airborne oil and grease sucked into the thing in order to reduce the fire hazard caused by grease build-up inside the exhaust duct.

So, what's not to like?? In short, plenty!

For starters, it's loud as Hell. When running at it's highest speed (the only way it will suck ANYTHING out of the air), the fan's noise level is exceeded only by the roar of a Pratt & Whitney JT9D jet engine. And the motorized drive that raises and lowers the vent panel, while not as loud as the fan, produces a dischordant refrain of moaning and grinding that's truly objectionable.

Second, it is totally impossible to clean. The two mesh filter screens capture a slimey, greasy film, which in turn captures a disgusting amount of dust. That wouldn't be so bad, except that if your hands are larger than a 5-day deoderant pad (how many of you remember those?), there's no humanly possible way get to the plastic tabs on the filters to remove them for cleaning. I have occasionally managed to insert a very small screwdriver into the vent opening and, while holding my mouth just right, somehow dislodge the filters so I can put them through the dishwasher. Each time I do this, I bend the filter frames a little. Fortunately, they're made of thin sheet aluminum, so they can be straightened pretty easily.

Once out, the inside of the vent panel displays an even more disgusting accumulation of oil and dust. I have yet to find a satisfactory method of cleaning that off, due to the very small access opening in the vent panel.

Thirdly, it is extremely ineffective at pulling steam and odors from cooking vessels. It's narrow intake opening is about six inches above cooktop level and, therefore, lower than the top edge of most pots and pans. At only 500 cubic feet per minute, it lacks sufficient sucking power to pull more than a small amount of cooking vapors through the exhaust system, and then only from whatever is being cooked on the two rearmost burners. It captures nothing, nada, zilch, zippo from pots on the two front burners, so all that crap escapes into the vast atmosphere of our open-floorplan two story home. Sautee an onion or a garlic clove, and anyone who visits will know it for a week afterward.

After seven years, this thing still works, although no better than it did the day we moved in. It's graceful ascent from, and descent into, the bowels of the cooktop island occurs with only moderate predictability. At times, it rises about halfway, then (perhaps because the light is too bright??!!) it chooses to reverse and return to its hiding place. At other times, while exposed and operating, it independently chooses to return to its womb in the cooktop island. So unpredictable is this gadget, that I would almost swear it's psychotic.

And that button - the one on top that actuates the mechanism that pushes it up out of the island - broke after the first couple of years. Yes, the button still works, but its brittle plastic cover disintegrated far too soon IMO, leaving an unattractive white plastic stem protruding from its square, jagged little opening. Fix it?? Sure thing. It just happens to be an integral part of the whole fan switch control mechanism, and as with most things appliance related, the little bugger would cost more than replacing the entire exhaust vent. So there it sits, in all its unrepaired glory.

For the moment, this mediochre appliance still calls our place home. Little does it suspect that soon, in the middle of some dark, stormy, thunder-filled night, it will find itself reunited at the landfill with the rest of the builders' quality GE garbage tossed outa the house during the past three years.

But I digress. This system will suffice if you have no alternative means of pumping cooking vapors out of the kitchen. Otherwise, it is junk!