HVAC vent under kitchen cabinets

[JCLP]

Hello Foggers. The kitchen I'm working on has 2 HVAC vents that were placed under base cabinets. Has anyone dealt with this before. I need to build something to re-route the air to the front of the kick plate. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
JC

 

[waho6o9]

"Has anyone dealt with this before." 

Ah no.  I'd call an HVAC company and have them redo the duct work.

 

[tjbnwi]

Bend up a boot, I do it on the vast majority of kitchens I do.

If you can't bend it up use a 3.25x12" duct cut to length, install an end cap on the back side, cut hole for existing duct, cut the toe kick.

Other choice is, if your doing a separate toe kick, seal it to the floor, cover the top, cut hole in toe kick. A simple plenum.

Tom

 

[tjbnwi]

I don't have a picture of the duct built for this one, I do run into it on most kitchens. It is normally under the sink base. Second photo you can see the grille if you zoom in on the right end cabinet.

Tom

 

[Walk On Wood]

Nearly every kitchen that I install floors in has that. Just cut a 2x12" vent holein the toekick, and put a simple drop-in style register in the hole. Forced air goes into the cavity under to cabinet and then is forced out your vent.

 

[waho6o9]

Amazing, I've never heard or seen vents under kitchen cabinets before.

 

[Brent Taylor]

Almost all the kitchens I have done had HVAC vent or heater in the toekick,  very  common in the snow belt.

 

[BMAC]

Same type of HVAC venting under the toe kicks here in Canada, at least in the Western provinces of British Columbia and Alberta where I've lived and also worked in construction.

All of my houses had this same venting configuration. The cabinet void under the bottom shelf acts as the plenum, as has been stated already. Most cabinets have integral toe voids as opposed to kick ladders being built/installed separately. Although I've seen some houses with rectangular ducting off of a round boot to the backside of the toe kick, but that seems to be the exception here.

 

[jtwood]

Amazing, I've never heard or seen vents under kitchen cabinets before.

We don't have that many basements here in California, so there's no HVAC under the floors.

Steve

 

[leakyroof]

Amazing, I've never heard or seen vents under kitchen cabinets before.

We don't have that many basements here in California, so there's no HVAC under the floors.

Steve

. Ah, that makes sense having grown up in Texas where many houses were built on a slab with no basements either due to limestone formations lurking under the top soil like a ledge... [eek]

 

[canadamike]

I see that you are in Canada. I have done a number of these retrofits, but just to get more info, how far away is the kitchen exhaust fan from the heating ducts? The current code requires at least 8ft separation from the cooking surface, unless you have a balanced air system. I can explain better offline if you are interested. Happy to help out, Mike

 

[mastercabman]

I come across this a lot
I like it better than having the vent on the floor
It's out of the way and blows onto your feet!
I like to make my own vent cover Incorporated into the kick plate

 

[overanalyze]

Very common for us to have a vent under the cabinet. Used to use a metal vent cover...I started doing this now. I like it much better. It doesn't take too long to make a quick jig and route. Working on making a nicer permanent jig because we are doing this on every job now.

 

[JCLP]

Thanks to everyone for their ideas and photos. They all look great. One question, how do you get the air flow going to the kick plate. The cabinets I'm installing are on levellers and the base is not sealed. The air vent is near the wall approx 20" away from the kick plate.
Thanks
JC

 

[tjbnwi]

Thanks to everyone for their ideas and photos. They all look great. One question, how do you get the air flow going to the kick plate. The cabinets I'm installing are on levellers and the base is not sealed. The air vent is near the wall approx 20" away from the kick plate.
Thanks
JC

You will need to make a chase. Might be best for you to have an HVAC contractor come in and make it for you. Once you see it installed you'll understand the process for the next one. You could do a 3 sided wood chase with a back, but that is not the best way to do a supply duct.

Tom

 

[Holzhacker]

The proper way to do this install is use either a 3 1/4" by 10" or 12" duct run from the floor boot to the toe kick. You could custom bend your own duct out of pan stock but I don't know why since 3 1/4" by X" are both standard size ducts.
I write up open supplies into floor cabinet toe kick spaces as garbage work regularly. Also does not comply with ACCA standards. Beyond that you don't know how much air loss you'll end up with. What if the bottom of cabinets are open to each other or the back of the wall? How much air will actually come out the register? In most kitchens its probably not critical but in some kitchens lack of proper ducting could result in enough air loss that the kitchen doesn't get warm or cool enough via the supply
As a tinknocker in a past life I really despise wild returns and lousy duct runs.