Does a Kitchen Range Hood Vent Have to be Centered?

What happens when the kitchen vent doesn’t fall in the middle of the upper cabinet over the stove?

When you’re designing cabinets, does the one over the cook top area have to be perfectly centered in order for the range hood to connect to the pipe?

Is there flexible piping that can be used if things don’t align correctly?

No, it doesn’t need to be in perfect alignment but there are certain conditions that this statement applies to.

Every situation is different and some of what determines whether or not you can get away with this mistake is the height of the cabinetry.

Yes, there is flexible exhaust pipe that can be used with a kitchen hood vent pipe in order to make connecting a stove vent easier when it does not align properly.

How far off can the center of the vent be in a kitchen hood cabinet if it doesn’t need to be exactly in the middle?

Here’s what determines how much is allowable, it is the interior height of the upper cabinet. There must be enough height on the inside of the wall cabinetry for the flex pipe or angled adapters to work. The higher the range hood cabinet is- the easier it will be to make a connection when the pipe coming down from the ceiling is off center.

It’s OK for the vent to be off center a little but the connection must be centered because of the appliance.

There are several adapters that have various angles on them which will allow you to move the center line of the vent coming out of the roof to a different location.

As previously mentioned you can also use flexible tubing to accomplish getting the range hood vent centered over where a microwave or cook top exhaust pipe needs to be connected. This bendable piping is made from metal and is limited as to how tight of a radius that can be bent.

It’s frustrating if these situations occur when you’re remodeling kitchen cabinets or building a new home. If at all possible save yourself some headaches and try to get the range hood vent in the middle of the wall cupboard. Things will go a lot smoother if you can get this piping centered over the position of the microwave or stove hood.