Thanks, Kas. I was hoping you'd answer. You seem to be the resident expert on all this. Thanks for confirming my suspicion that a silencer is likely needed. As you said, I'll probably have to move to a design with a chase to hide the duct and silencer. Or maybe just a soffit above all the cabinets along that wall. That would save me from having to worry about what else to put above them. :-) I do like the look of the chimney hoods -- I'm going for a fairly simple, contemporary, but not uber-modern look -- but I don't see how I can make one work. Another question: does anyone know if inline blowers have to remain accessible for maintenance? If they do, then I have to use an internal or rooftop blower because I don't have an attic to put the inline blower in. I'm guessing the answer here is "yes", because from what I remember from the NEC, junction boxes and motors have to remain accessible. Even if it's not required by code, I don't think I'd want to rip drywall out to service a bad blower motor. regbob: I realize there's noise from air moving over the baffles, but there's also a fair bit of noise from the fan blades themselves. (At least on all the fans I have experience with.) So I'm pretty sure I want to go with an external fan, unless I can find an internal one that's extremely quiet. barjohng: The Vent-a-hood marketing says that their baffle-free design reduces noise, but after seeing the measurements some folks on the forums did I'm not sure I believe them any more. I also tried taking one of them apart at the appliance store to see how hard they'd be to clean. It was pretty easy, but not something I want to do when there's grease in there. The hoods look really nice, though. Finally, on the aesthetics: I don't think that will be an issue in my case. My duct will exit on a flat, 12' high roof in a spot that's about 20' away from the edge of the roof that faces my back yard. If I'm doing my math right, I won't be able to see it until I get ~50' away from the house. My neighbors on that side might be able to see it, but fortunately there's a big tree in the way. Even with an internal or inline blower there's going to have to be something up there where the duct exits, and an external blower will probably only add another foot or so of height. As for freezing, I live in the SF bay area. We get maybe 1 or 2 light frosts a year, and occasionally about 5 minutes of small hail, but that's about it. Laura

I am reading these posts with great interest as we moved into a house in September that has an island with Jenn-Air 4 burner gas cooktop and downdraft vent. We've always had electric but wanted gas in an island with an open floor plan so I could interact with our guests while cooking. The Jenn-Air system has many drawbacks. 1. I want/need 6 burners 2. Only one larger burner, two medium and one tiny. 3. Fan is LOUD on high and ineffective, even on high. 4. Fan IS EFFECTIVE at drawing the gas flame away from the pots/pans, thus greatly increasing cooking time. I want to replace this with a 6 burner gas cooktop that has enough space between the burners to use a couple of 12" saute pans plus a couple of 6-16qt pots and a couple of smaller pots. Based on the discussion above and the fact that I installed an 800CFM Broan under cabinet hood that barely kept up with the fumes in the old house, I think I'll want a 1200 or 1600 CFM blower (mounted in the attic to reduce noise in the kitchen). Problem is the master bath and walk-in closet is above the kitchen so I will have to shoehorn the ducting in the walk-in closet. I assume the extra run will eat some of the CFM. Does anyone have recommendations for a cooktop and vent/blower for this application, or links to sites with good product selection and design planning info? What about so-called "stacked" burners that are supposed to allow low simmering without compromising high output? If this post belongs in another category please let me know. I did a search but this seemed to be the discussion that most accurately covers my concerns. Thanks, Don

Good luck with your project - you'll need it ... just kidding. Many more decisions will be dropped in your lap as this begins to move forward. We have just completed (well almost) our kitchen renovation after about a 2 year contemplation and 3 + month construction phase. One item I was adamant about was an effective range hood. We suffered for years with the integrated vent on an Advantium. This thing is useless as a hood - see earlier posts by me in archives.?? Great appliance however and we would never be without it - 220 model. We just moved the thing to another area above our countertop and bought a real hood. Don't fret too much over the cost. You'll regret it later if you cheapen out. As my dear old dad always says - "It's only money, doesn't hurt you here or there, only in the back pocket for a while". The time you are spending coming up with ideas and making selections plus the labor cost or your time if DIYing it, is more than the added cost of getting the better appliance - IMHO. Plus once you finally get through this you will not want to do anything again to make changes. We did decide to go with a Best by broan Model UP27E (inline or external fan) since our range is only a 30" - we kept existing range since wife is happy with it and fairly new GE Electric Profile. 30" range has only 4 burners plus a bridge but not the btu of your 36" . We have the 600 cfm inline fan using 10" duct. It works marvelous and do not see the need for more as of yet. Summer may change that but I doubt it. We vent through a sidewall in attic space so no pentration in roof which I would advise against roof units. SLight vibrating noise from unit however and I will try using rubber isolation mounts on inline motor unit in attic which should help minimize that. Motor itself does hum somewhat also and I believe that is a function of the type of motor/speed control. Best should offer an option to upgrade fan motor to a better style of variable speed type control. HOod design is something I looked at before making decision since I belief these flat bottom screen types are not near as efficient as the baffle / capturing designs. IF using a less efficient hood design up the blower cfm. Also the greater the cfm the larger the ducting will need to be. These are low pressure blowers which need a large surface area in duct size to move enough air. And yes you should consult mfgr specifications for proper cfm to btu of range. Remember you can always turn the speed down but you can not make it flow more than it can handle. Regarding cost - remember that the biggest part may be installation not the price of the unit! So if a contractor is giving you a price for the unit and installation then of course it will be much higher than what you can purchase it for yourself. these remote blower units are much more work than an integrated hood. Electric must be run to 2 locations as well mechanical work on 2 locations. MAke sure HVAC guy does install properly - not too long a duct run and minimze turns. Also ask him to use rubber isolation mounts for you under blower :) I'll try posting elswhere on this forum some of our other experiences during KR. Here is a link that might be useful: Best hood UP27E

An update on my comment from yesterday. It's not whether the door is going up or down that locks the remote out; rather it is time. The remote is locked out from activating the opener for 4.5 minutes after its last activation (up or down) -- exactly the duration of illumination of the lamp. So it appears that the controller is going into the mode where it locks out remotes after every activation, even though I do not have the multifunction door control panel. Rick