I just asked an appliance guy about the same thing. He said they can actually go anywhere, even on a counter if you add bumper feet for raising to allow some air space under it. Also it needs a dedicated circuit available. The OTR is driving me nuts. Always seems to be someone cooking when I want to get in there. And watching all the steam or oil rising up on it means constant wiping down. Do you like your Advantium? I ended up buying a small counter MW because I lost the MW use when cooking. With the above I am a bit leary of countertop, plus the sides are far uglier than what you are seeing. Am still considering under a top cupboard in another area, but having the OTR far lower than currently installed. The sides and bottom can be seen, either cupboards are needed on the sides or panels. You need circulating air for auto filter as the micro deems fit. Placing other appliances under may take away from your visual and still allow air circulation. Not sure about the trim taking this away and if wood is a good option. There are trim kits for built-ins, cannot say if they would work for OTRs. Am also thinking of the possiblity of under counter or a built-in, but the dedicated circuit is not available to do this just anywhere. Regardless of price, a built in is almost worth it. Although looking at them, they do not have the interior space available as do the OTRs. Probably not much help here.

Many kitchens today have a "mantle style" hood that comes down onto the counter, similar to gibbys you need a least 6" clearance both sides and a high CFM vent if you are using a commercial style cooktop For a 36" range or cooktop 48 is possibly ok you may want to go wider Check your appliance specs, and code allowances I think they look beautiful how practical is another story

I have a 36" range hood over a 30" range. I removed a 36" base cabinet that had a 36" electric cooktop in it, but used 3" fluted spacers to reduce the 36" opening. I didn't have need for a 36" gas range, and the price jump between a standard 30" gas range and a 36" gas range was a jump of several thousand dollars. I used the same granite slab on my counters for a backsplash, so it has no grout. As much as I love my granite, I'm glad to have it on the backsplash, too, but even if I went with a grouted tile backsplash, I doubt it would have been a big burden to keep clean. I use my rear burners infrequently, preferring to set flame on lowest setting to simmer on front burners.

uscpsycho wrote: ... "What nobody addressed is this question from my first post: If the center of the hood is 1.5 inch "north" of the center of the cooktop's overall dimensions, couldn't that theoretically be even better? "Looking at the photo above, the center of the actual cooking area looks like it is "north" of the true center of the overall cooktop. So if the hood is off-center but the center of the cooking area ends up being closer to the center of the hood, wouldn't that be better?" I specifically addressed this point in my first response to your questions; viz: "To answer the OP's question: neither. Ideally, the hood's entry aperture center should be centered over the "center of mass" of the outlines of the largest pans likely to be used on the various hobs ..." This would naturally bias the hood relative to the boundary of most cooktop configurations.