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We have this spot under our kitchen sink where there's a spot for the HVAC system to push air into the kitchen. The black item to the far left is our dishwasher. I believe these are IKEA kitchen cabinets and supports. You can see that whomever first did our kitchen cut the bottom panel to the right so that it would not restrict air flow.

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I believe at one point I looked at the conventional air registers at Lowe's, but they didn't seem like they might fix this abnormal situation. Because we had a lot of kids' cars begin to drive down towards this air outlet, we eventually put up a wire mesh, but it's super rough and falls out frequently (in this picture it's not even centered).

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What would be some things we could do here that would look better?

gammapoint
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    Size measurements will matter, but regular floor/wall registers/vents should work. Might want an elbow to push the warm/cold air out into the room. Registers come in many different designs including wood, just a bit more fancy than your wire screening. – crip659 Oct 15 '23 at 21:44
  • Yes, a regular register can be had in about the 4" height of a typical cabinet toe kick. – Huesmann Oct 17 '23 at 13:39

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Find a register that fits the spot. Nothing fits? Find something wider and cut the wood panel to fit (or patch a new piece of wood onto that existing toe kick). A plastic register will be much easier to modify than a metal one, but assuming a metal one....

Drill a pilot hole hole through the flange of the register and into the dishwasher's toe kick. This takes a drill bit with packaging labeled "metal."* Such bits are cheap at the hardware store, but the gold colored ones will work if you already have them laying around your house. Use a short sheet metal screw that's just long enough to avoid hitting anything hidden behind the dishwasher's panel. Take care not to tear the metal toe kick by over tightening (I would use a hand driver).

Drill a hole in the other end of the register so that you can wood screw it into the cabinet's toe kick.

You might make yourself a sliver of wood or even plastic to attach behind the register's long edge. Or both edges. Again, drill holes in the register to attach it or them.

* For a plastic register, any old drill bit will do. Drill bits intended purely for wood shouldn't have a problem punching through the dishwasher's sheet metal.

popham
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  • Whoops. I didn't notice the interference with that cabinet leg. I would probably move a chunk of toe kick from the right to fill the space between the cabinet leg and the dishwasher's toe kick. Oscillating multi-tool would be the tool to make the cut. Looks like there would need to be a spacer between the face of the dishwasher toe kick and the new piece to align things. – popham Oct 16 '23 at 00:02