We prefer home cooked food to eating out, and for seven years, the only ventilation we had was a 2003 recirculating Kitchen Aid OTR microwave. To avoid our home smelling like a restaurant kitchen, we tried a lot of things - an AustinAir charcoal filtration device, a charcoal microwave fan filter, 3M charcoal furnace filters, a box fan placed in front of an open window, and finally, a window fan used as an exhaust. The charcoal filters were completely ineffective at removing odors; the box fan was somewhat effective, but required an open window with no seal around the fan; this made for some interesting cooking in winters with sub zero outside temperatures. The window fan was the most effective of all, but required a bit of set up to seal around it and hence was inconvenient to use. We finally bit the bullet and purchased this hood. Due to the complexity of the duct run, we had a professional contractor install it. A quick summary here - it works far better than anything else we've tried, details follow.
First, appearance. The stainless steel finish goes very well with our other stainless steel appliances. I did not see obvious cosmetic flaws. I use a stainless steel polish to clean it, and it has a nice appearance. The two LED lights provide good illumination over the range, much better than the microwave did. Know though, that replacements need to be ordered from Proline when they burn out. They don't appear to be standard fittings, and don't seem to be available from any other supplier.
Moving now to performance. The hood is rated at 600 cfm. In the absence of some basic additional information, this is a completely meaningless specification. They do not tell you under what back pressure a flow rate of 600 cfm is achieved. Broan, for example, specifies their hood capacity at a back pressure of 0.1" of water. This allows you for instance, to determine that if you use a 350 cfm rated hood and a 7" dia duct, you should have no more than a 25 foot straight duct length if you desire to get full capacity, which offers atleast some basis for comparison or design. More ideally, one would need a flow rate versus back pressure curve similar to what comes with sump pumps. I can only assume that the specified flow rate for Proline hoods is achieved under completely unconstrained conditions, and addition of ANY ducting will reduce the capacity, perhaps even significantly versus the specification. Some useful rules of thumb - flow resistance decreases with the fourth power of pipe radius and increases proportionately with length. Using a 4" diameter duct will result, for example, in five times the flow resistance of a 6" dia duct of the same length. Using an 8" duct will reduce the flow resistance by a factor of three over a 6" duct. So go with the largest diameter duct and as straight and short a run as possible. I used 6" because I had to cut through an exterior brick wall, and was concerned over making too large a hole. I had about 20' of duct length with one 90 degree bend directly over the hood.
Proline supplied what looked like 3/8" length screws for mounting. I was skeptical that these tiny screws would support a 25 lb hood; nobody else seems to have commented on this, so perhaps it was a one time error by Proline. My installer replaced these with much better and stronger mounting bolts. Once installed, it worked well. It came with a standard three prong plug, so no special electrical work was needed. It does not extend over the two front burners of my Bosch range, but does a reasonably good job of capturing odors from those burners. I pan fried skate on my front burner, and could not smell it outside the kitchen. We use the center burner for high heat cooking which helps since it is directly below the two fans. Additionally, I blocked the intake vent in the kitchen leading to my furnace to prevent kitchen odors spreading to the rest of the house during cooking. This has worked very well even during heavy cooking. As others have mentioned, pressing the fan power button once when the fans are running starts an internal 3 minute timer after which the fan turns off. This allows you to exhaust any residual odors after light cooking. After more heavy cooking, I find that 3 minutes is insufficient, so I manually turn it off when I feel it has adequately exhausted the kitchen air. I actually checked using a count up timer that this is three minutes and not four (as some have said in answers to the questions about this product); obviously I only checked mine and cannot say if Proline has changed this setting between units or over time.
In terms of noise, in "Quiet" mode, it is about as noisy as our OTR microwave at full speed, on higher speeds, noisier. You can carry out a conversation with someone in the same room, but will have trouble hearing someone/something if there is a wall or door in between. Regardless of speed, I have trouble hearing the radio (which is at the opposite end of the kitchen) when I am close to the range. It does not bother us too much, but tolerance to noise is subjective. If you need something quiet, this is probably not the hood for you, but you'll end up paying a lot more for one that's significantly quieter. One thing that may help with the noise is using the largest diameter duct possible. This will reduce the air speed for the same cfm, which will reduce the noise a little; as an illustration, the average air speed in an 8" dia duct will be 56% that in a 6" dia duct for the same flow rate.
Construction wise, one thing I am concerned about is the quality of the springs in the grease filters that hold them in place in their slots. These look very flimsy and I am not convinced they will last. One of the filters has a slight bow to it, but it isn't terribly noticeable. Proline says these filters can be cleaned in a dishwasher. Personally, I am less convinced, and plan to hand wash them with dish soap (update- I actually put these in the dishwasher a few times and they seem to hold up fine.) They trap grease pretty well, so if you do any significant cooking, you will want to clean them every 2-3 weeks. From attempting to clean my OTR microwave filters, I know you do not want to let the grease oxidize at which point it becomes impossible to remove without using something like TSP. Also probably not a bad idea to have a couple of spares ordered for these and the lights - you do not know how long Proline will continue to provide support in the form of spare parts!
Overall, this is a hood that provides good value for money. It does not come with features like a digital clock or timer, but I have plenty of other appliances that provide this functionality. If you are looking for a hood with good exhaust capability at a price that won't break the bank, and can live with a little noise, this is not a bad choice. The 600 cfm number is meaningless and you should not use it to compare this versus competitive products.
Edit: I recently moved to a home that has a Venmar 350 cfm hood connected to a 6" duct with a short run. That hood, at its lowest setting, clearly outperforms this one even at its highest setting, as observed by how well it captures steam from a boiling pot. I put this personal observation down to make the point that there is a lot more to a hood than cfm rating. The overall design of the capture area, the installation, and the back pressure at which the cfm rating is measured all matter a great deal.
If you found this or any other review helpful, please take a moment to click "Yes"; this encourages us to keep contributing If you have a question, or notice something inaccurate, please leave a comment and I will respond. Please also note that this review, like most others, is based on my experience with one single unit, purchased based on my personal needs and requirements. Reading multiple reviews, both positive and negative, will provide a more comprehensive picture as to whether this product will suit your needs. Thank you for taking the time to read!
Wanted a hood wich could move a lot of air and that did not have those screen type filters. It had to vent out the back.
This is a great hood. High settings are loud but it is moving a lot of air. About the same noise level of the above stove microwave vent combo we removed that I don't think vented anything. The lowest setting is not too loud but not silent. We have an open kitchen and we can easily carry on conversations in the kitchen when the hood is running on the lower settings. High setting if you are standing under it conversations may be hard but a few feet away are just fine.
No more smokey kitchen when cooking items like blackened catfish or pan searing a steak in cast iron.
The lights are bright enough to cook by - I disagree with some reviews that say they are too dim.
I am surprised how often I use the delay off feature. it was a nice surprise.
The hood had slight vibrations when it was installed which required extra screws to be installed to prevent it from making additional noise. (Thus the loss of a star).
I had it professionally installed at the same time we switched from an electric range to a gas range. It required us to run another wire to the fuse box which is beyond my DIY skills.
Overall I am happy with the unit and I am happy with the purchase. I would recommend this unit to others.
Bought it to replace an over the stove microwave as we wanted to make the cooking area less cluttered. We chose this mode as it had one of the lowest profiles both vertically as well as depth. Another feature that we liked is the strength of the fan and the fact that there are 4 different speed settings. The sound at the highest speed was not any louder than the microwave it replaced. The lights are good and provide plenty of illumination.
THIS IS A GREAT HOOD!! I was prepared to spend much more to go with my new Dacor cooktop. I was prepared to tear out the cabinet and put in a chimney style if I had too.... but this hood has a slimmer profile, no logos, well made, quiet, and works like it is supposed too, and saved me from redoing cabinetry. The packaging was impeccable. Beautifully constructed, understated. Perfect for me
Our kitchen is approx. 13'x12'. We wanted a range hood that would remove fumes and not have to "think" about it. This hood is the answer. The company answered all email inquiries promptly, and the hood arrived earlier than expected. Some people complain about not being able to carry on a conversation when the fan is set on the lowest speed; we have not found this to be the case at all. The information we found about this fan puts the low setting at about 50 decibels or 5 sones. This is equivalent to a quiet inside restaurant. The highest speed is aptly described as "tornado" speed and is loud but evacuates fumes very quickly. The 3 minute delay feature to turn off the fan is nice. The LED lights are amazing and no need to worry about the lights adding extra heat to your cooking area. The lights are very bright and we use them all the time. The hood is easy to clean being stainless and doesn't easily show finger prints. The rounded corners give the hood a nice finished look and it doesn't protrude out so far that my husband hits his head on the hood.
The installation was a breeze. We had to cut a 10"x3" hole in the wall above the stove at the vent height. We inserted a damper adapter into the hole. Next was a test fit of the hood to verify where the electrical cord needed to go. (You can hard wire if you want, but having the option of plugging into a normal outlet makes the install even easier, which we did.) Once we verified the cord route, we hooked the hood on screws underneath the cabinet, plugged it in and it was operational. We have been using the hood since early January 2018.
We would recommend this hood to anyone wanting a hood that looks great and does what a range hood is supposed to do.
Feature Product
- SUPER SLIM CONTOUR SAVES YOU SPACE; The PLJW 185 is one of the slimmest under cabinet range hoods available, offering a height of just 5 inches. This level of combined style and performance is simply unrivaled in the range hood industry.
- COOL LIGHT CASCADES FROM THESE LED BULBS: You will love the light that is cast from these new 1.5 W GU10 LED. They are energy efficient, and bright enough to cover your whole range top.
- DYNAMIC DESIGN ALLOWS FOR MULTIPLE VENTING OUTLET OPTIONS: This model can be vented out the top or the back by removing the rear panels
- ULTRA QUIET MOTOR OPERATION: Do not let the Four-Speed blower fool you - Despite its power, this is one of the quietest blowers in the industry for its size.
- 3 Year Limited Manufacturer Guarantee: Proline Range Hoods will cover 1 year of parts and labor, and 2 years of parts in case anything happens with your ran.
Description
The PLJW 185 is one of the slimmest under cabinet range hoods available, offering a height of just 5". It also includes a beautiful stainless steel finish, LED Lights, Baffle Filters and Stainless Touch Button Controls.
Finally, an under cabinet range hood that's ultra-slim, with our powerful 600 CFM dual blower pre-installed and ready to use, this hood has everything you need to get the job done.
Product Features:
10" x 3" Rectangular Vent Duct Size
Stainless Steel Baffle Filters
4 Speed Dual Blower
New Energy Efficient 1.5 W LED Lights
5.0 Sones Maximum
Maximum Output - 600 CFM
110v 60hz (USA and Canada Certification)
Dimensions: Height 5" Width 29.5" Depth 19"
Sleek and clean profile, measurements are exactly as stated for the product. Took out a junky old range hood in a kitchen remodel and replaced with this one. Easy to install and after looking long and hard it's one of the best fans at the price level. The fan could be quieter, but I think all fans are noisy. I have LED under counter lights so the lights on the fan are enough for me. They would be dim if I didn't have under counter lights. But I'm happy they're LED. I think it's very good value.
This range hood is sleek and works great. The little LED lights don't really serve a purpose, but they look pretty cool. Even on the lowest setting, it's a little loud but it definitely helps remove cooking smells from the kitchen. I rarely turn it up above the second level. Since our house is an older house (1950s), the range hood was retrofitted and vents out into the garage. I can tell it's working because the garage starts smelling like whatever I'm cooking if I don't open the door for ventilation. It matches all of our new stainless steel appliances and looks modern. It was a little tricky to install, but my husband is pretty handy so he figured it out.
Works great, so far! We decided to move the microwave away from the cooking range, and searched for the thinnest vent fan we could find. We love this one, and it seems to be working just fine. We cook quite a bit, mostly Indian food, and this seems to be more than equal to the task at hand! The filters are the best part- It was a real pain, having to clean the aluminum mesh filters- The baffle filters are extremely easy to clean, whether you want to do it by hand or in the dishwasher!
Far exceeded my expectations considering the price point. This unit moves a lot of and was very well packaged on delivery. Overall a serious upgrade from the "standard" range hood it replaced. Admittedly it is somewhat louder at High speed than its predecessor however, given its intended purpose (increased air movement) I would not hesitate to buy it again.
The hood arrived without damage, although there were some loose parts inside (easily fixed). It works fine, looks good, the noise is moderate, and the lights are just about bright enough. However: the installation manual is so generic that it is completely inadequate. It doesn't even mention key steps (like installing the damper) so one has to guess. Under cabinet installation says to attach the hood to the wall, instead to the underside of a cabinet. There are no drawings showing dimensions -- everything has to be measured on the hood and mounting location prepared accordingly. I've never seen a product with installation instructions as useless as these. Fortunately, the process isn't that hard to figure out without instructions.
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