Kitchen air supply under cabinet

frenchlanny

I am a homeowner, DIY remodeling my kitchen area. The new open floor plan includes the dining area and altogether there are 3 air supply vents in the concrete slab floor. The free-standing electric range will be over one of the vents, with 1 inch clearance. Should I block that vent or is it satisfactory to leave it there? 

Dave Carpentier

If the ovens has convective cooling slits in the rear panel, then you cant blow furnace air up there. With the oven set in place, is the vent entirely under the oven ? If so, Im thinking some kind of u-shaped foam "skirt" to blow the air out. Ovens usually have a storage drawer on the bottom, so the bottom of the cabinet doesnt get hot.
If you block it, will you still have adequate heat balance in the kitchen ?

Jamie Hall

I have a suspicion that that is going to be a heads, you lose, tails you lose choice. On the one hand, the 1 inch clearance, if it really is that all the way around, will restrict air flow from the vent -- but probably not all that badly. Down to perhaps a third of what it is now. But it will tend to blow whatever dust and dog hair and the like that gets under the range out. That's a plus. On the other hand, if anything should happen to roll into the vent, like an errant bit of food, it's going to be there forever. Also if there was a filter on the vent, it will never be accessible again. Also, if you are air conditioning, the air from that vent will be nicely preheated by the stove. However, if you block the vent completely -- and if you do, I'd remove it and continue the floor over it -- you will lose at least a third of the air flow in the space, and you just might want that to maintain heating and cooling balance. You may also need to adjust dampers elsewhere in the system to maintain balance.

Dave Carpentier

Wonder if you could get someone to make a vent director like this.
The box would slide under stove between the feet ,to encapsulate the vent. Fancy it up with something on the visible end if you wish. Can pull it out to clean etc.