We have the Viking 1200cfm hood (with external fan motor). ours is installed with the 10" 90 degree elbow mounted right to the hood. The duct work goes through the exterior wall inside the 12" high cabinet that is above the hood. I my opinion it works just fine and the noise level is rather low. Even on the highest setting the noise is still no more than the fan on our old over the range microwave fan (though this could be due to the external motor). For what it is worth ours was installed by Viking factory trained installers and is covered under warranty. I never noticed any stipulation about the 24" height requirement. Since I purchased all the appliances and coordinated the installation I read all of the manuals and never saw that.

I would not go with either of those. Like jgopp, I've had awful experience with Viking. Ten years of repairs. The horror stories on Blue Star are legion and go back for years on the AF. Brand new ranges often require repairs --- what's that all about? The company doesn't seem to be able to fix some things and the back and forth with the company goes on for months. Our DD has a Wolf dual fuel. I've cooked on it and it does a very good job. There's enough power to sear and the simmer is good. Ovens are huge but steady. Previously they had a Viking a-g and it took half an hour to boil 2 quarts of water. Lacanchers love their ranges -- it's difficult to remember complaints and the importer manages to provide superior service. They have options for a big burner or simmer plate as well. Plus grill/griddle. I think the "pro" range market is a bit of a scandal. Prices are astronomical and the best quality on many of those ranges is looks. Drink the kool aid if you like. But it's kool aid.

I love the range Lizzie! We had and OTR microwave when we first installed the range. It would come on automatically every time I used a burner. I didn't even know it had a default to come on automatically (had been using it for 5 years), and EVERY time I turned on the range, the fan in the OTR started. We quickly decided that the OTR wasn't going to work and we had to get a hood. We actually have MORE room with the hood as it is only 10" deep (about 6" shorter than the microwave). But yes, we did have to get a counter microwave and put it in a corner. Are your cabinets already installed? I wanted an under COUNTER microwave, that hangs from the bottom of the cabinets and still leaves me a little bit of open counter space underneath, but they have to plug in inside the cabinet, and since we were retrofitting everything, we didn't have a plug in the cabinet.

They certainly do seem to be stepping up the innovation. That Viking Turbochef oven (assuming it's ever actually released) looks awesome. Granted, Viking didn't develop that technology themselves, but I still consider it innovative since nobody else offers anything like it in the residential marketplace. cssnms, my question about proof was rhetorical. I know that it will come with time. The reason I said that was to caution against making statements about them turning over a new leaf that can't be verified. I do wish them well, but as I said before they have plenty of competition with equivalent or better prices and, as of now, equivalent or better features. I definitely don't think they're at risk of going out of business, thanks to builder sales and uninformed buyers who think they really are regarded as the best. But, while Viking may be alive and kicking, they just aren't at the level of companies like Miele and Wolf. To play in the big leagues, they are going to need to differentiate themselves more. Just being stainless and having all the typical high end appliance features isn't going to cut it. They already have some unique stuff: there's the 3 year warranty, along with all the cool custom color options that only a few other manufacturers offer. Those are great starts, but to really shine they are going to need to come out with more tangible products and use technology to their advantage. They don't have the excuse SubZero does for being out of date in some respects: "We build them like we used to." LOL I don't think anyone wants Viking to build them like they used to! The prostyle induction range and the Turbochef oven I mentioned earlier are great examples of the kind of thing they need to do more of. They will have the help of their sister companies within the Middleby empire. If they can pull that off without having quality issues like they did before, they'll be well on their way to becoming a real competitor and a worthwhile choice for a new kitchen.