Horrible vent design flaw
Submitted by BakerBakerFL -
11/29/2019
We just bought and had this unit installed today. I picked this one specifically because it has two 500CFM fans (for a total of 1000 CFM) and was really excited to be able to cook bacon and saute things with a really good high powered exhaust. (In case you're wondering - CFM = Cubic Feet per Minute. It defines how much air can be moved through the system. With 1,000CFM, you should be able to fry bacon and barely be able to smell it in the next room.)
On most microwaves, when you want to vent it outside, you open up a vent hole in the back (or top) then unscrew the fan and rotate it so it blows out the rear (or top) vent.
On this model, it's different. You still open up the vent hole in the top, but instead of moving the fan, they provide some really flimsy metal plates to cover the exhaust fans at the top of the door where air would come out if you were wanting it to recirculate.
IT. DOESN'T. WORK. About 70% of the air goes out the vent, but 30% of it blows right past the flimsy cheap metal plates back into the house. And I don't know where the 1,000CFM is, but it isn't on this appliance. My old microwave was 400CFM and it had far more exhaust power.
We (the installers and I) went backwards and forwards through the manual, called Kitchen Aid tech support, and I even went up on the roof to verify it was venting some air out. We thought SURELY we have missed a step because Kitchen Aid could not possibly have designed such a terrible product. Nope - it was installed 100% correctly, there were no obstructions in the vent.
Maybe if the plates weren't so flimsy, it might work. Maybe if they had some sort of seals, it might work. But even so, just think about it. If you were cooking bacon or something, tiny bits of grease get sucked up into the exhaust vent. The way they designed this, that grease would be sucked into the top of the microwave where it would sit forever.
I bought it through Best Buy, but it's not an installation issue so all they can do is return the product and refund my money. Before going that route, I contacted Kitchen Aid again and their customer service was extremely impressive. They have a technician coming out on Monday to take a look at it. I don't think he'll be able to do anything with something that is a glaring design flaw, but I'll update my review with the findings after the visit.
I've always been a huge fan of Kitchen Aid and I have a ton of kitchen aid appliances both at home and in my bakeries, but this particular product is a huge embarrassment to the Kitchen Aid brand and is not in alignment with the high quality products Kitchen Aid is synonymous with.
Originally posted on Kitchenaid.com
No, I do not recommend this product
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