houses14, my Imperial range hood is not an insert, rather an under cabinet ss hood. However, the materials used, and the quality of construction, the fan motors, are the same with minor variances to allow for space restrictions within the smaller size of my hood. Construction wise, it is all that I had hoped for, was easy to install, and has functioned beautifully. Packaging and shipping were excellent. The ss is marine grade. This means that the amount of chromium in the ss will prevent rust from forming in the interior of the hood over time. The electrician informed me that their fan motors and switches appeared to be top quality. The warranty for my hood is 7 years, which is almost unheard of in the industry. Their specifications and installation instructions are right on to allow for optimal operation. For example, my duct is 8" from hood to roof jack and had to have a certain rise in height from the hood before the first angle in the duct work. Baffles remove and reinstall easily for cleaning. It was a joy to call Imperial direct with technical questions at their manufacturing headquarters in California. Someone was always immediately available to answer my questions regarding their vent hoods or recommended installation. My installer was promptly referred to their engineer for technical assistance as I requested that the wiring that would automatically turn on my hood once a certain temperature below the hood was reached be disconnected as I did not want that feature. To me, having that level of service available when answers are needed means a great deal. I found that the folks at headquarters were always honest even if it wasn't the answer I wanted and that they knew their stuff. Their light and fan switches are continuously variable which is rare on vent hoods. This means that they both function like a rheostat with a continuous increase, or decrease, rather than clicking up or down discreet notches, such as level 1 to 4. Also, I liked having the option of installing the switches wherever I wanted remotely, rather than being mounted to the underside of the hood. The hood easily handles removal of odors, steam or grease beneath it's surface. I've found that if the hood is allowed to run for about 10 minutes prior to cooking that it can be operated at a lower level and do a good job. The hood on low is fairly quiet but is noisier than I had anticipated at higher levels with having dual fans and baffles. Also, highest cfm level is 1000 which is a factor. However, I used a different size led bulb than Imperial recommended. I now have a gap around the bulb that needs to be filled with a rubber gasket. Also, the temporary roof jack is too large, and the correct one is waiting to be installed so the jury is still out on the noise issue. Noise level was quite an issue for me, but even if it remains unchanged, I would still buy the same hood given how pleased I am with the overall operation and that I can easily live with the noise that I now have. I'll have to look up the name of the online vendor I used and will add that information tonight.

MUA requirements, based on the IRC, start with blowers rated over 400 CFM. Blower ratings are in free air, and not in a hood system, so such systems will have only 200 -- 300 CFM actual flow rate. If the aromatic cooking involves pan temperatures causing peanut oil to vaporize or smoke, then the flow rate into the hood should be 90 CFM/square foot of hood aperture, perhaps a bit less with induction cooking. So it might be apparent that your hood aperture can only meet the flow rate by being no larger than a few square feet. This will be inadequate to overlap the rising and expanding cooking plumes possible from all burners on most ranges and cooktops. And we haven't even addressed reliability yet, although this tends to be an issue with inexpensive hoods with pretensions to electronic grandeur, where simple controls would be fine. Note that there is always make-up air, and it exactly equals the amount of air that flows out of the hood system. Even without safety considerations, or code considerations, if you want to operate the hood system at its best performance level, natural MUA due to house leakage should be supplemented, even if it requires only a duct and damper into some part of the house, unless the house is extremely leaky or your environment allows for normally open windows.

It is actually desirable that the hood capture area be extend some distance from the wall, preferably more than 20 inches, such that it overlaps plumes generated from front burners as well as from back burners. Front-to-back limits due to sight lines to back burner pots need to be considered. An example is the Wolf Pro Low-profile hood that is 22-inches front-to-back, probably 20 inches of effective capture area. It is 10 inches high, so one might want to jack the cabinet over it a bit higher to get 30 to 36 inches of clearance. Spaced out 3 inches for a smooth transition to the cabinet doors one would have very good overlap in the forward direction.

That's a whole lot of reading. remove the upper cabinet and just do a proper vent hood. I have a low ceiling in my kitchen. i had this one made for my vent insert. I think this would be the best bet for yours. (While you're at it, can you raise all of your upper cabinets by removing a portion of that soffit? is that what you were talking about regarding the attic? they look extremely low. This one she actually painted everything, so just mind the actual vent hood diagram. there is a DIY on how to buil this. you could use the same type of oak, or paint the hood vent a diff color. black could work) https://www.remodelandolacasa.com/2012/01/how-to-build-range-hood.html Where is it venting too? Not the attic I hope since that is against code. it must be vented outside.