Eaton Kitchen: floor vent redirect

The plan was seamless: new pantry cabinets were to be installed over the old floor vent, and the vent was to be rerouted through a duct exiting out of the toe-kick.

But a critical flaw emerged: those heavy base cabinets, packed with food, covered with a stone countertop, would sit squarely on the weakest point of the toe-kick – the gaping hole that needed to be made for the thin metal ducting!

To prevent disaster, I engineered a strong, miniature bridge using aluminum tubing filled with a solid oak dowel. Food saved.

Additionally, I added sheep's wool insulation to the duct area to ensure that the food in the cabinet above it wouldn't be affected by the duct's variable temperatures.

Food saved again.