Ventilation advice needed

To all you cooks-
Our new Highlands house has a kitchen which needs re-doing, but we aren't going to do it for 2+ years when we can do it right. Problem is , while our new kitchen has a gas stovetop ( yay!), there is no ventilation hood or fan of any kind. . With the way we cook ( often and a lot), I can't imagine not having a way to ventilate but as it's an island, there is no way to put in a regular hood. Our only option appears to be a retractable downdraft which is going to cost almost $1500 installed and basically be a throwaway when the final kitchen is done.

We do have a 6 foot door to outside and several windows in the kitchen. Am I wrong that we must have real mechanical ventilation to the outside to get rid of grease and odors? ( I’ve never had anything less) I'd love to not spend that money . Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
Deb

Deb, I'm not a professional so I don't know applicable codes. But because of various reasons, we were without an exhaust fan for several years. We do a lot of cooking as well and this was certainly an annoyance but couldn't get new ventilation run with the type of exhaust I ultimately wanted to save for and get. There is no doubt there is extra smoke and smells but if you are just (2) years away from getting it done right, you might just consider going without the exhaust. You mentioned you have windows and doors in proximity so you might just get enough cross draft when opened to help move out smoke and smell. $1,500 for a temp fix is beyond my budget too. We went without and it got us by. We actually just completed the new hood with proper ventilation (and lighting) and it works like a charm. It was worth the wait to get it done right and a little annoyance along the way was just fine. Again, I'm sure there is likely some code which would frown on this. For extra diligence we installed a good kitchen rated all purpose fire extinguisher to just in case but it was never needed. good luck

Thanks, Jeff- I appreciate the advice and sharing your own experience!

Deb

Buy one of these things and run it when you cook...

$20 at Target, not optimal but it will suck the air out

Thanks, Gary- I've been looking at those.
What I also want is a portable air cleaner that I can run to try to trap some of the air-borne greases/oil/smoke. The HEPA ones will clog too fast with those large particles. Any suggestions?

Deb