Jenn Air Downdraft

Jenn Air is the company that invented the downdraft technology for cooking ranges.

Jenn Air downdraft appliances from a pioneer in cooking appliance development have allowed us the freedom to design kitchens without range hood exhausts attached to a wall or ceiling, thus making design elements like kitchen islands, peninsulas along with indoor grilling a practical possibility.

Downdraft technology has been available in both ranges and cooktops for many decades and is therefore a 'seasoned' technology which works very well in spite of the perceived difficulty of sucking steam, smoke and aerosol oil fumes downwards as opposed to letting them be ducted out by overhead exhausts while rising. The fact is that it is a practical way of cooking as long as one does not have any extreme smoke-producing cooking needs in mind, like grilling and high-heat wok cooking on a daily basis. Online forums contain many comments from Jenn-Air users who proudly say that they have owned their units for 20 or 25 years without problems. However there is some grumbling about quality problems of late, both with the units themselves and customer care too. Hopefully, Jenn-Air, which is now a part of Whirlpool, will listen.

Jenn-Air introduced a new duct-free downdraft technology in 2009 which allows downdraft cooking in situations where ductwork is not possible even under the cooking unit or in the flooring. An example would be a condo or apartment kitchen in a high rise that would need expensive remodeling to install a ducting and exhaust system. This system uses a powerful filter to absorb cooking smoke, odors and oily aerosol fumes and is reputed to be one of the most efficient and quietest downdraft ventilation systems available. It is available either built into new units or as a kit for 30" and 36" cooktops with a variety of styles, designs, price points and finishes.

The most popular size for Jenn Air downdraft technology is the 30 inch downdraft cooktop and this is true for gas, electric or dual-fuel ranges. This is probably the case because it works best with the state of the current technology which involves sucking fumes away from the cooking surface. While smaller sizes like the 24 inch cooktops would work even better because of their smaller surface areas, they don't offer a large enough cooking surface to be of practical use in average situations while larger cooktops, like the 36 inch ones are too big and not as easy to duct smoke and fumes away from in as efficiently.